Another day, another disc. This time, I found myself enjoying an album a little bit less with the passage of time, after being pretty impressed at first blush.
Disc 178 is...Joyful Rebellion
Artist: K-OS
Year of Release: 2004
What’s Up With The Cover?: The album's title on a yellow background. That's about it - very understated, as at one point K-OS was very much against self-promotion.
How I Came To Know It: I saw the videos for "Crabbuckit" and "B Boy Stance" on MuchMusic and liked the sound of it, so I bought this record.
How It Stacks Up: I have two K-OS albums. I had three, but his third record (Atlantis) was not very good, so I sold it.
Rating: 3 stars.
It is fitting that I should roll this album right now, when I am enjoying K'Naan's new album "Troubadour". K-OS is the K'Naan of five years ago. They are both hip hop guys from Canada, who like to rap about fairly innovative stuff, and have a good singing voice that goes beyond the phrasing and timing that defines most rap and hip hop artists.
As I noted in the teaser, when I first heard this album I was thrilled by it. It took hip hop in a positive direction, without sounding preachy. K-OS' message on "Joyful Rebellion" is to himself, but indirectly to all similar rappers. It is, don't take yourself too seriously, and don't let the music industry turn you into something you aren't. Always keep it about the music.
This is evident throughout, but I particularly like "Man I Used To Be" which starts out:
"Things I thought I'd never do - I did 'em"
From the top, K-OS admits he's already off the path he set for himself. In fact, I recall he used to say he'd make a record or two and then quit the music industry. Of course, we know he didn't do that after all, so the lyrics that follow: "Now I just got to get back to be/back to the man I used to be" are more than a little ironic with the passage of time.
This theme culminates near the end of the album with "Neutroniks", an exceptionally clever rap about how to bring the music back to the pure form in which it started. To reprint the lyrics without the rap wouldn't do them justice, but through the song he manages to rap about metabolic rates, impressionist paintings, Duke Ellington and Megatron. And he makes it all not only work, he makes the subject matter important and interesting.
Along the way, he samples Ray Charles' "Hit The Road, Jack" in "Crabbuckit" and James Brown's "Ain't It Funky Now" in "B Boy Stance", both to good effect. "Crabbuckit" also provides insightful social commentary, as K-OS shows how captured crabs could escape a bucket if only they would just stop pulling each other down as they reach for the top, and start working together.
Put all this together, and this album would be a solid four stars, but there are problems.
First, the album doesn't end with the amazing, "Neutroniks." Instead, we are 'treated' to three very average songs which cause the album to fade away when it could have gone out like a rocket. In particular, the ten minute plus, self-indulgent "Paper Cutz" rambles on and on, and has very little to say. Along the way it features strange voice effects that K-OS uses to make himself sound like a space baby, and also about two minutes of dead air. Don't even get me started with the spelling of the title. Know when to say when, Kevin.
Finally, this disc has annoying copy control technology on it that makes it difficult to upload to a portable device like my MP3 player. Even when you succeed, it has little cuts in the sound, so you can't listen to it properly. I have three of these songs uploaded to my PC right now (Sheila managed it somehow). When I put the disc in the PC disc drive to play it (I usually listen to a disc again while I review it) I was advised by windows I would "have to add files in order to play this CD." I can only imagine what kind of files and no, thank you.
I can understand artists protecting their work, and I am firmly in the camp of paying for the music I enjoy (hence this neverending CD Odyssey I'm in the middle of). That said, here's a situation where I bought this album to enjoy it, happily supporting the artist, only to find barriers in the way of me doing so.
Is that the kind of thing the man you used to be would go for, K-OS? Things you thought you wouldn't do - you did 'em. Minus one spirit point to an otherwise excellent record.
Best tracks: Man I Used To Be, B Boy Stance, The Love Song, Neutroniks.
Disc 178 is...Joyful Rebellion
Artist: K-OSYear of Release: 2004
What’s Up With The Cover?: The album's title on a yellow background. That's about it - very understated, as at one point K-OS was very much against self-promotion.
How I Came To Know It: I saw the videos for "Crabbuckit" and "B Boy Stance" on MuchMusic and liked the sound of it, so I bought this record.
How It Stacks Up: I have two K-OS albums. I had three, but his third record (Atlantis) was not very good, so I sold it.
Rating: 3 stars.
It is fitting that I should roll this album right now, when I am enjoying K'Naan's new album "Troubadour". K-OS is the K'Naan of five years ago. They are both hip hop guys from Canada, who like to rap about fairly innovative stuff, and have a good singing voice that goes beyond the phrasing and timing that defines most rap and hip hop artists.
As I noted in the teaser, when I first heard this album I was thrilled by it. It took hip hop in a positive direction, without sounding preachy. K-OS' message on "Joyful Rebellion" is to himself, but indirectly to all similar rappers. It is, don't take yourself too seriously, and don't let the music industry turn you into something you aren't. Always keep it about the music.
This is evident throughout, but I particularly like "Man I Used To Be" which starts out:
"Things I thought I'd never do - I did 'em"
From the top, K-OS admits he's already off the path he set for himself. In fact, I recall he used to say he'd make a record or two and then quit the music industry. Of course, we know he didn't do that after all, so the lyrics that follow: "Now I just got to get back to be/back to the man I used to be" are more than a little ironic with the passage of time.
This theme culminates near the end of the album with "Neutroniks", an exceptionally clever rap about how to bring the music back to the pure form in which it started. To reprint the lyrics without the rap wouldn't do them justice, but through the song he manages to rap about metabolic rates, impressionist paintings, Duke Ellington and Megatron. And he makes it all not only work, he makes the subject matter important and interesting.
Along the way, he samples Ray Charles' "Hit The Road, Jack" in "Crabbuckit" and James Brown's "Ain't It Funky Now" in "B Boy Stance", both to good effect. "Crabbuckit" also provides insightful social commentary, as K-OS shows how captured crabs could escape a bucket if only they would just stop pulling each other down as they reach for the top, and start working together.
Put all this together, and this album would be a solid four stars, but there are problems.
First, the album doesn't end with the amazing, "Neutroniks." Instead, we are 'treated' to three very average songs which cause the album to fade away when it could have gone out like a rocket. In particular, the ten minute plus, self-indulgent "Paper Cutz" rambles on and on, and has very little to say. Along the way it features strange voice effects that K-OS uses to make himself sound like a space baby, and also about two minutes of dead air. Don't even get me started with the spelling of the title. Know when to say when, Kevin.
Finally, this disc has annoying copy control technology on it that makes it difficult to upload to a portable device like my MP3 player. Even when you succeed, it has little cuts in the sound, so you can't listen to it properly. I have three of these songs uploaded to my PC right now (Sheila managed it somehow). When I put the disc in the PC disc drive to play it (I usually listen to a disc again while I review it) I was advised by windows I would "have to add files in order to play this CD." I can only imagine what kind of files and no, thank you.
I can understand artists protecting their work, and I am firmly in the camp of paying for the music I enjoy (hence this neverending CD Odyssey I'm in the middle of). That said, here's a situation where I bought this album to enjoy it, happily supporting the artist, only to find barriers in the way of me doing so.
Is that the kind of thing the man you used to be would go for, K-OS? Things you thought you wouldn't do - you did 'em. Minus one spirit point to an otherwise excellent record.
Best tracks: Man I Used To Be, B Boy Stance, The Love Song, Neutroniks.
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