Since first reporting on the the Blakroc project in September, we’ve been eagerly awaiting the full-length release, a collaboration between The Black Keys and several of the finest and most creative rappers on the scene today.
On paper, it can’t fail. The Black Keys consistently deliver the sort of songs that freeze time and frame it. Take any sentimental moment from your life, set it to a Black Keys song, and you can take it to Sundance. Put that kind of songwriting behind Q-Tip, Mos Def, RZA, Raekwon and Jim Jones, and you should at least get one of the most creative rap albums to come along in awhile… If not one of the most creative in any genre.
Sounds like we’re setting you up for a big “However…” doesn’t it? Well… It’s not a bad album at all. It’s just not quite the instant classic it “should” have been. The best track is the one that we posted three months back, Ain’t Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo), featuring Mos Def and Jim Jones. It’s an effective- nearly perfect- blend of the two dimensions of cool at play, and the first tease encouraged the expectations our imaginations were dreaming up, perhaps more than it should have.
Opening track Coochie, featuring Ludacris and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard, sounds more like a Ludacris track produced by The Black Keys than two creative hemispheres coming together to form a whole. Patrick Carney plays a two-note beat while Dan Auerbach plays a simple lead riff like it’s a loop in a sampler plugged into his pedalboard. Ludacris has his moments, but the track doesn’t come close to living up to its potential.
The same complaint could possibly be filed for Stay Off The Fuckin’ Flowers featuring Raekwon, as well as for Telling Me Things featuring RZA, though the white guys step it up a notch more in both of those cases, and they’re that much more balanced. Not that we’re playing favorites, or can’t handle too much of either side, it’s just that the midpoint between the two is a great place to be.
On the upside, while nothing trumps Ain’t Nothing Like You, several cuts do come close. Dollaz & Sense featuring verses by Pharoahe Monch & RZA and a chorus by Auerbach, comes off as a cohesive work of collaboration between talents, for example.
Rapper NOE is a surprise MVP, a (genetically healthy) cross between Jay-Z and The Game. NOE carries two outstanding tracks, album closer Done Did It (with Wray), and Hard Times:
Missy Eliot protégé Nicole Wray contributes R&B vocals to several tracks, adding a layer of depth that at worst is a welcome contrast, and at best recalls early Massive Attack, such as on Why Can’t I Forget Him, which she handles unassisted.
Hope You’re Happy is a more crowded elevator. Nicole and Q-Tip lead, doing the Michael Jackson / Paul McCartney singing squabble. Her refrains have heart, while his delivery compliments the climbing blues scale well. And then Billy Danze of M.O.P. comes in… and it’s kinda like if Sticky Fingaz jumped in with a verse on The Girl Is Mine. There’s a time and a place that calls for that kind of in-your-face delivery, but it just doesn’t really work here.
The bottom line is that unfortunately, Blakroc is a bit of a disappointment. But that’s not a very harsh criticism when nothing short of a classic was expected. If it’s only the sum of such high-grade parts, it will still manage to go down as a collectable commodity, and a handy source of eyebrow-raising mixtape fodder.
- 01. On The Vista (feat. Mos Def)
- 02. Hard Times (feat. NOE)
- 03. Dollaz & Sense (feat. RZA, Pharoah Monch)
- 04. Why Can't I Forget Him (feat. Nicole Wray)
- 05. Stay Off The F#$%in' Flowers (Raekwon)
- 06. Ain't Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) (feat. Mos Def, Jim Jones)
- 07. Hope You're Happy (feat. Q-Tip, Billy Danze, Nicole Wray)
- 08. Tellin' Me Things (feat. RZA)
- 09. What You Do To Me (feat. Jim Jones, Billy Danze, Nicole Wray)
- 10. Done Did It (feat. NOE)
“The Black Keys consistently deliver the sort of songs that freeze time and frame it.” Very astute of you and how true, Skwerl. I’m not a big hip hop fan as, to my ears, the genre has degenerated to craptastic, repetitive and crass bluster from both the male and female violators alike. No fan of Jay Z, Lude, 50, blah blah blah, but I do go gently by way of Common and Mos Def and such. I may pick this up (or at least d/l to see if it’s worthy of me) because I do appreciate when seemingly opposing forces/worlds collide. If only Cornell could’ve pulled it off.
I realize this site is geared more towards fans of rock/alternative music than hip-hop (judging from the list of artists here), but as a fan of the best of both genres, I think this review hits the nail on the head in several specifics but misses the boat in its overall assessment of the Blakroc album.
I agree with the highlights and the weaker points on the album pointed out by this reviewer, but having just listened to it several times through, believe it holds together quite well as a whole from beginning to end. Even the first song that seems to largely build on a previous Ludacris hit, works as an opener, as does the last song quite well as a closer, and the perfect track “Ain’t Nothin Like You” as a mid point, with plently of strength, skill, and soul in between.
I’m actually very pleased with the album as a whole and think it is an instant classic. So, while the reviewers pick it apart for things they deem to be imperfections, I’ll continue to enjoy the whole album with no need to skip any track and miss out on some new little “just right” touch it bears.
i wish all disagreements were as well written and respectful. appreciated.
I dig this album.
No problem, skwerl. I do suggest maybe listening to this album/record (it’s actually available on vinyl!- although I have the CD) through another few times. I just got through listening to it twice more, and the more I listen, the more I love it. Even the parts I originally felt weren’t as strong are more complex than I originally heard them. Again, as a whole, the album works for me on a number of levels. I won’t get tired of listening to it for a long, long time.
KarCer…favorite track?
shitniggers
crazy motherfucker named auerbach
How can this even be a proper hip hop cd, without any skits?
Fair review, I’d give it more than 3 stars, though.
‘How can this even be a proper hip hop cd, without any skits?’
Wasn’t aware the genre was defined by skits. Hmmm…
I really enjoyed this Blakroc album and agree fully with KarCer’s views. The more i listne to the more i enjoy and savour som of the moments i wasn’t too keen on upon first/second listening.
It also reminds me of the Gnarls Barkley project. Big blusey feel in production and in the sung vocal parts.
Does anyone have any good suggestions for similar sounding albums?? Alongside The Roots ‘Phrenology’ album and Gnarls Barkley i’m finding it hard to think of good rock/hip-hop albums.