Bole 2 Harlem

As this album wears on, you may actually forget that it's meant to be a hip-hop take on Ethiopian pop. By the time you're halfway through, the beats spread out and Ethiopian pop's hypnotic circularity starts working its jagged magic, seducing hip-hop's sometimes rigid structure into loosening its proverbial tie. What was a hip, downtown collaboration becomes, simply, good music. Gigi Shibabaw's little sister Tigist comes into her voice, speak-singing with an otherworldly authority that is still somehow as innocent and easy as a young girl on a summer morning. Forget what this album is supposed to be; revel in what it is.