On The Less You Know, The Better, DJ Shadow hints at deep and profound feelings. He opens with "Stay the Course," an uncharacteristically optimistic backpack rap featuring Lateef, Posdnuos and Talib Kweli; dips into the blues on "Sad and Lonely"; and samples the screams of a scorned lover on "Give Me Back the Nights." On "Circular Logic," a voice asks, "Who are you?" Many of these songs aren't strong enough to keep us engaged in Shadow's soul-searching, but a handful, particularly Yukimi Nagano's searing vocal on "Scale It Back," lead to something more attractive than just the abyss.
The Knux's Eraser is all about the sound. Big, beefy drums and hard-charging guitars adorn tracks like "Run" and "Queen of the Cold," but the two Lindsey brothers maintain a boogie rhythm that keeps the album from diverging into rap-rock territory. Their rhymes about bad hoes, good girlfriends, et cetera are disposable, but one exception is "Dead World," an indictment of the global community's woeful affairs that has shades of Funkadelic in it. One wonders what The Knux could become if they focused on lyrics as much as the beat, but for now, Eraser will more than do.
Evidence has a plainspoken meat-and-potatoes approach, and it often seems like his material succeeds in spite of it. Nevertheless, Cats & Dogs bangs. Production from the Alchemist (who raps alongside Ev as part of ad-hoc group the Stepbrothers on "James Hendrix"), DJ Premier ("Epilogue" and "You") and Sid Roams give the album its retro-rap flavor, and Ev responds to the beats with rhymes about his life and career. "I throw raps to sea in a bottle to float/ Like a lost SOS that a novelist wrote," he raps imaginatively on "Falling Down." It's not genius, but it works.
It's clear what Jay-Z heard in J Cole's mixtapes: The North Carolina rapper has a magnetic voice that draws you to his stories. The difference is that J Cole isn't a hitmaker, at least not yet. He produces most of the music on Cole World: The Sideline Story, preferring nondescript beats that focus attention on his lyrics. It makes for an album that's more than the sum of its parts, with few standouts but plenty of solid tracks about abortion ("Lost Ones"), negligent fathers (the No I.D.-produced "Never Told") and trading freaky tales with Drake ("In the Morning").
The Wonder Years collects mixed nuts from 9th Wonder's soundboard. He lathers his soulful hip-hop signature over tracks by industry friends like Erykah Badu and Raekwon, close collaborators like Murs and Phonte, and North Carolina homies like Khrysis and Rapsody. It's 16 tracks deep, but best enjoyed piecemeal, as 9th Wonder's staid production makes these songs blur together. However, he pushes himself on "Now I'm Being Cool," a retro-soul showcase for Mela Machinko, and Talib Kweli's "Never Stop Loving You"; if he had done it more often he would have worked true wonders.
Styles P's Master of Ceremonies is an exercise in block hustling and paranoid thoughts. Once you get past a few would-be radio hits (Pharrell's "Don't Turn Away"), the Yonkers artist delivers some compelling raps. "I'm a Gee," "Ryde on Da Regular" and "Feelings Gone" expand on his gangsta persona and how "selling crack will have you running like a track meet." It's familiar to anyone who has heard Styles, but he makes it sound fresh here with help from D-Block collaborators Jadakiss and Sheek Louch, and guests like Rick Ross and Pharoahe Monch.
Ski Beatz's jam-style funk production turned Curren$y and Tabi Bonney into underground rap stars, but Murs is the first established artist he's collaborated with. As a West Coast indie-rap icon with a decade-plus career, Murs brings a different edge, from name-dropping Antoni Gaudi on "International" to, surprisingly, writing about a closeted gay teen on the tragic "Animal Style." Love & Rockets Vol. 1: The Transformation features guest verses from underrated New Orleans rapper Dee-1 (on "Dream On"), but the focus is mostly on Murs' plainly told, deceptively simple stories.
"Turn that weak sh*t off," MC Spank Rock growls on Everything Is Boring and Everyone Is a F---ing Liar. It's been five years since his debut album, and the B-More party rocker sounds angry and focused. He's still an unconventional rapper, but his flows have improved sharply, and he no longer floats off-beat. And he still makes killer booty bass like "Hot Potato" (which samples from the Cocteau Twins' "Wax and Wane"), "Nasty" (with New Orleans bounce queen Big Freedia) and "Car Song" (with an audibly inspired Santigold). As he says, "Another night, another freaky situation."
The Promise marks Freestyle Fellowship's first album in a decade, and it's substantially better than 2001's Temptations. Producer J Sumbi seems energized, and key assists from Exile (the bhangra-flavored "Step 2 the Side") and Black Milk (the neo-soul groove "Candy") convincingly update the Fellowship's classic linguistics exercises. The indie rap pioneers whip around moochers ("Gimme"), fatherhood ("Daddies"), alcoholism ("Introspective") and other topics with complex yet clearly spoken verses. They dive deep into word association games, and challenge the listener to follow.
Phonte Coleman may have raised expectations for a transcendent solo debut after his acclaimed work singing with neo-soul group the Foreign Exchange. But on Charity Starts at Home,which marks his return to rap, he brings back the Little Brother formula, using the same producers as that defunct group (including a reunion with estranged collaborator 9th Wonder) for soulful yet well-worn hip-hop. A recurring theme about his women issues holds promise and leads to some of the album's best songs, including "Sendin' My Love" and "Who Loves You More."
