BK-One - Radio Do Canibal
Written by Chi Chi Thalken on March 15, 2010DJ-produced albums can be tricky. There’s a difference between a coherent studio release of original material and a mixtape. BK-One, Brother Ali’s deejay for years, surely knows this. How else could he have made such a brilliant, carefully-crafted album built off of Brazilian music samples? If you’ve seen Ali in concert, you know that BK-One is a great live deejay. However, most of us probably didn’t know he was capable of something like this. Radio Do Canibal passes some of my favorite album tests - the first time I put it on, it sounded familiar, like an old friend. Test two - just about every track has me go, “I think this is my favorite track,” but then I get to the next song and say the same thing. The album has a connecting theme in its use of Brazillian samples, but it covers a large range of musical styles. There are laid back grooves, funky party jams, and hard hitting political numbers. There are a large number of guest emcees, with everyone from Raekwon to P.O.S., but no one sounds out of place and everything flows together. There’s even a killer instrumental track in the middle of the album with The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble that’s as strong as anything else on the album. Toki Wright drops a killer song about racial identity. Brother Ali kills it on a couple of tracks. Many deejays try to cross over to studio producers and songwriters, but few make that transition well. Even fewer kill it. BK kills it with this one.
Title: | BK-One - Radio Do Canibal |
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Label: | Rhymesayers |
Year: | 2009 |
Rating: | 9/10 |