Kele - The Boxer

7.5/10

I was introduced to Bloc Party just a couple of years ago, and ended up really liking their stuff. I haven't listened to them in a while, though. This album, the lead singer's solo debut, didn't get too much hype or promotion (at least not that I saw) and I had a feeling it might end up being really great. Unfortunately, I didn't end up liking it all that much.

The album is 10 songs, about 45min long, and instantly much more electronic-sounding and slow-paced than a lot of Bloc Party's stuff. The synthy/electro vibe kind of reminded me of Thom Yorke's solo album, The Eraser, and how much more laid back and electronic that was than a lot of Radiohead stuff. But, as the album progressed, I ended up seeing the album as more of a bad attempt at being Kele's own Eraser album than something different and unique. Lyrically, there were too many songs with almost no verses. Several songs just had a repeating chorus, with the production seeming like the forefront, which didn't make sense to me since this is supposed to be the singer's solo album. With that said, I did really like a lot of the production. It was really catchy at points, and kept me moving along with the music. I just expected something more. Track 2, "On The Lam", has a great, catchy beat and chorus, but there are hardly any words outside of the chorus, which is really disappointing. The single, and third track, "Tenderoni", is also a good song and really catchy, except the part where they shout/spell out T-E-N-D-E-R-O-N-I, which is just incredibly lame and cheesy. My favorite track is Everything You Wanted, which falls right in the middle of the album. There are finally real verses with good lyrics. The main thing that stood out about the song, for me, was the emotion that was clearly behind it. You could feel the heart in the song, which I really liked. "All The Things I Could Never Say" is also really good, yet somehow helped to show me how weak the album was at points. The second to last track, it's the first one where I really felt like the production was secondary and helped to highlight the singing instead of the other way around. Overall, I just felt like it was a very mediocre/average album. There were definitely a few really strong tracks, but I just think it fell short as a whole. It is definitely still worth listening to, for anyone interested.

The Roots - How I Got Over

9/10

The Roots are one of my favorite groups. They started the “rap band”, which I don’t think I could ever thank them enough for. After all, live instrumentation is my absolute favorite type of hip-hop production. Nothing tops hearing drums, keys, guitars, and horns, instead of Timbaland-esque computer output. Needless to say, I was excited about this album when it was first announced over a year ago, I fought through the frustration of several delays, and after having listened to the album several times now, I can say that it was all worth it.

The Roots haven’t disappointed me with an album in a long time. I don’t think that they ever really have, but the last few have been especially strong. They seem to really fine tune their craft as time goes on. The album is a little on the shorter end, at about 43 minutes, so it’s important that just about every song delivers. Of the 14 tracks (including the bonus track) there are 11 songs, with the intro and 2 interludes. I love at least 7 of the 11, and don’t really dislike any. Production wise, as a mentioned before, you can’t go wrong with the Roots and their live instrument vibe. It’s jazzy and fresh. It keeps your head bobbing along the whole time. While I like the prominence of keyboards on the album, I do wish that there was more guitar. Kirk is a really great guitar player, and to not highlight that on the album is a missed opportunity, in my opinion. With how popular guitars have become on records recently, see Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 and Eminem’s Recovery, I’m surprised the Roots didn’t feature more of it. Then again, maybe that’s why they didn’t. Either way, while I feel like the production was a little more toned down and smooth on this album than I would have liked to see, it worked really well for the album, flowed excellently from song to song, and sounded great throughout almost the entire album.

I say almost the entire album because there IS a slight hiccup. To me, the album should have ended after 12 tracks, with the interlude “Tunnel Vision” acting as an outro. The last two tracks, “Web 20/20” and the bonus “Hustla”, come out of nowhere and really disrupt the chill vibe. I don’t really understand how they fit in the bigger picture of the album. I think maybe that’s why they chose to put “Tunnel Vision” between them, almost as a divider. I know it may be picky of me, but had “Web 20/20” been labeled a Bonus Track, too, and “Tunnel Vision” treated as an outro, I would have a better feeling about the whole thing.

Lyrically, it’s not hard to believe that Black Thought kills every verse. He’s gotta be top 5 right now, and my only regret is that there isn’t more from him. The songs provide a really interesting mix of dark and uplifting lyrics. A lot of hope for what’s to come. It’s actually pretty motivation at times, without seeming forced or cheesy. Combine the content with the fact that he just really knows how to rhyme and has one of the most dominating flows in rap today.

The Roots have always been really feature-heavy, which, to me, has always been their worst quality. I don’t like albums with a ton of features, and it bothers me on this album just like it did on Rising Down. I don’t have problems with chorus features, so Monsters of Folk, John Legend, Joanna Newsom, Dice Raw, and Patty Crash are all fine. My issue is with having too many rapper features. Blu and Phonte are on two songs each, one together, and I think they both are great on the album. Maybe they should only have one verse on the album instead of two, but I can overlook it because of how much I like the two of them. Truck North, P.O.R.N, and STS, I’m looking at you guys. The first song, “Walk Alone”, is my least favorite, if only because we don’t actually hear Black Thought until the third verse of the album. Poor planning, in my opinion. There’s a combined 6 verses on the album where Black Thought could have continued to be Black Thought. Why are these guys on half of the album? I just don’t get it.

With all that said, it’s much easier to discuss the albums weak points than its strong points. Like I noted, the production is smooth and fresh and Black Thought kills it in both a lyrical and technical sense. Make sure to check out tracks “Dear God 2.0”, “How I Got Over”, “The Day”, “Doin’ It Again”, and “The Fire”. And yes, I really can’t narrow it down under five favorites, they are all so good. It is easily in the top 3 hip-hop releases of the year (so far), for me. The Roots deserve every sale they make, and every ounce of credit they get for this one. While it would be almost impossible for them to outsell Eminem opening week, it would be great to see them make a strong showing. I hope people go out and support good music.