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Artist: Knobody |
“If hip-hop is dead I’m about to necromance it.. . .” Wrong Clock
To know who Knobody is, is to know who he’s not. He ain’t a gangsta or a backpacker. He ain’t commercial or underground. He’s the somebody else that everybody else is not. Get it? Caught amongst the sea of underground somebodys (Common, Mos Def, Kweli) and over-hyped everybodys (do we really need to name them?) is this Knobody, who is dropping his latest release Tha Clean Up on September 18th.
Truth be told, this album is both an entertaining and intelligent. Every single track drops some knowledge and damn near all of ‘em could bump from my system (which is the sweet Chocolate plus speakers). Plus, this is the first hip-hop album that I’ve heard in a long time that didn’t name drop every rapper that topped MTV’s list. Instead of casting himself amongst the shadows of the known, Knobody is staking his claim in the game right now on his own merit. Which he perfectly states his case in the syncopated beat of Wrong Clock, “if it ain’t my time to shine, you watchin the wrong clock. . .or your watch broke.” Clever.
The entire album is laced with Knobody’s humble tauntings that he’s next at bat, the next best thing coming. On Sacrifice, he casually explains if he was “broke (he) ain’t eatin off my dreams or my hopes,” over a mellow piano-looped track, proving that hip-hop ain’t gotta be loud, angry, and hard to prove a point. Hustling can be on some regular shyt, too. On “Back,” Knobody uses his signature blend of rhyme and spoken word (rappetry) to spit about higher learning, while Beathoven lays down nice melodic production on “Supa.”
Although my musical side is really feelin I’m On It-he kid’s skills are tight and 80’s inspired fusion of rock and hip-hop is perfectly executed- in my opinion, this wasn’t the best track. Hands down, A Caged Bird, is my favorite track on this album. The slow-tempo rap-ballad is the personal story of being young, black and deprived just trying to make a way. This song is the truth, for real yall; and no bullshyt, but I didn’t even get to the last track ‘cause I had this one repeat. Nobody is working with their hustle harder than Knobody. You gotta respect that. Pick this one up.
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