Solo debut album for Keith Elam aka Guru who, after contributing to the birth and spread of jazz rap with the debut of Gang Starr in 1989, produces this experimental attempt to fuse hip-hop and jazz: is the first MC to do it, accompanied by a live band consisting of Donald Byrd on trumpet and piano, Simon Law on keyboards, Branford Marsalis on sax, Zachary Breaux and Ronny Jordan on guitar, Lonnie Liston Smith on piano, Roy Ayers on vibraphone, Gary Barnacle and Courtney Pine on sax and flute.
The production is entirely made by Guru, helped by the guests in the realization of the music. The Roxbury rapper relies on fluid jazz rap rhythms, some decent and simplistic East Coast boom baps, functional to the music of the instrumentalists, reducing the use of samples to the essential. Overall, the musical carpet that he makes is decent and ordinary, not optimal, there are good samples and the skeletal drum is often distant to leave more space for the jazz sound. Lyrically, the project doesn't excel, Guru plays it safe and puts out braggadocio verses and battle rap, with socio-conscious extracts: the execution of these lyrics is inspired, but clearly, he doesn't want to make a mistake. His flow is light and regular, smooth and monotonous, however, it feels that his rapping flows with less agility than usual, he's not completely effective on the essential rhythms he has created himself.
Released by Chrysalis, the album gets a good commercial response, reaching the top 25 among hip-hop records, and critics applaud his effort. Consisting of 12 tracks for a total of three quarters of an hour of listening, Guru's experimental attempt succeeds in half: the jazz parts are relaxing, however, the beats made by him aren't up to par, his rapping style isn't eye-catching and he sounds like he's not at his best. N'Dea Davenport offers a couple of hooks, but she doesn't sound inspired either. In any case, the record is nice and fresh, important and influential within the genre, with some great tracks: Donald Byrd, Branford Marsalis, Lonnie Liston Smith and Roy Ayers realize some of the best moments of the project, with brilliant performances, while the only guest rapper of the album, the Senegalese MC Solaar, brings back a bit of freshness with an excellent slow and smooth flow in "Le bien, le mal". Recommended for jazz rap fans.
Rating: 7.5/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment