by David W.“Slide out your clothes and baby take off your shoes/that coochie got me so confused that I don’t know what to do.” Sounds like a lyric from a Lil’ Jon song, doesn’t it? Usually if those were the first words off an album, it would have me running in the other direction but The Black Keys’ rap/rock album has me coming back for more. I usually like hip-hop, but I LOVE hip-hop that can musically hold it's own against any recent rock album. You won’t find any flat overused synth drums here: every snare beat and cymbal crash has the slick style I’ve come to expect from The Black Keys' drummer Patrick Carney. It’s a start-studded album too, with tracks from Mos Def, Ludacris, Raekwon and Rza, and even a track from beyond the grave by ODB. It’s a Jay-Z track shy from hitting all of white people’s favorite rappers. At times it can be a little dumb, (like on Coochie when ODB describes a girl as having “a body kinda like a horse, if you know what I mean” She has big thighs? A big dick? Jockeys like to ride her? People make jokes about her long face? Sorry ODB, but I guess you’re gonna have to explain that one) but Pharoahe Monch said it best: Fuck the white ones, The Black Keys got so much soul.
Significant Sounds [Album Highlights]
1. Coochie
It may be brain dead, but that's half the fun. Just don't play it around a girl you like.
2. Why Can't I Forget Him
Nicole Ray lends her heartache to this classic tale of love lost. Dark and moody, somehow even the xylophone (Vibraphone? Who knows...) is depressed.
3. What You Do To Me
The song that packs the most punch on the album, it's the best fusion of The Black Keys' blues rock and classic hip-hop.
initial reaction: the black keys as in the black keys? mrehhhhhh?
ReplyDeletemore blog please! I stumbled upon this, caught up on the bag logs and now I'm hooked. More blog!
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