Fat Beats
Announcing itself with a self-congratulatory pat on the back Album of the Year hearkens back to simpler times when Public Enemy wore its hip-hop crown and commanded battalions of militarized youth ready to tear down the establishment.
More concerned with feeling good than making a political statement Black Milk shakes a leg on the bumper “Welcome (Gotta Go)” while issuing a steady stream of Mos Def-calibre raps. Motown mojo goes poltergeist on “Keep Going” as ghostly vocal swipes and Richter scale-tripping bass lines invoke Missy’s future-shock cool; the track holds true to its title clocking in just shy of the six-minute mark. Jerky boys Royce Da 5’9 and Elzhi pay homage to The Truman Show — recasting Eazy-E as their new leading man — on the flippantly ballistic “Deadly Medley.” Meanwhile Melanie Rutherford joins Black Milk (a.k.a. Curtis Cross) on “Distortion” bringing a rare flash of clarity to the producer-cum-rapper’s ambitiously crowded fourth solo effort.
