Hott real hip hop

this is a good album and is of course underrated as an album the album is nice and has alot of hott beats and nice lyrics, KRS continues to keep things real and this is a mesage to KRS-One; I think one day, Hip Hop will rise and come back to order, we will have our chance one day, we just gotta wait patiently and we will come back when these brain dead kids finally realized and see what the hell they were really listening to.

Incredibly Witty and Refreshing

Man, where does one begin when writing a critique of anything done by KRS-1? He's our Stanley Kubrick of Hip-Hop, creating more than just music; but visions. Unlike our mainstream "legends" of today, KRS actually has something to say. And more importantly it's actually worth saying. Music Marketing has done a good job of tailoring amoral lyricism with troglodyte message-making, courtesy of artists like 50 Cent, Eminem, and The Game. Which is no dis-respect to any of them. They are all very talented, and quite good at creating a marketable product. Actually, mentioning those artists names doesn't stray far from doing a review of "Keep Right", since several songs on the CD are a critique of the massification of what once was an authentic music form. The "Hip-Pop" syndrome is a recurring theme with KRS-1, and the name of this CD itself is his call for true hip-hip appreciators to continue to support the real hip-hop culture.



What's so intriguing about KRS is that many of the accolades that go to other rappers, are more deserving to KRS than anyone else. A good example being Tupac, a name so venerable that he has become a dubious standard by which so many other rappers measure themselves by. And why? The answer we hear so often is that Tupac was "real." But in reality, that credit goes best to KRS. On this CD, as well as all his others, KRS says exactly what he wants to say, never compromising his thoughts or lyrics for record sales. He is more concerned with how his music reverberates on the streets. Even Pac, a self-described street soldier, compromised most of his music for what the record labels knew would appeal to the streets -- even if that appeal fed into an already self-destructive downward spiral. KRS ignores those appeals and gives us the true street voice and the true hope for the preservation of the street population. Of my opinion that is more real than any Gangster Rap or Thug Life that claim to represent the streets.



Eminem is another example. Who can argue his tongue twisting witticism? Eminem is a true master of rhyming. But KRS is a true master of language AND rhyming, which is why he deserves the title of "genius" more so than Eminem. Unlike Em, KRS performs the same verbal acrobats, the same wit and weirdness but with more complexity, more depth and more meaning. KRS can serve an entire history lesson in one song (see "Edutainment" CD). He can discsuss politics, religion or just whack MC's with the same linguistic posturing as Eminem. And more suprisingly, he can do it without a single X-rated word if he so chooses.



All of this you'll find on "Keep Right": a healthy serving of street lyrics wrapped up in a clever, tongue twisting delivery underscored by some of the best and most progressive productions I've heard in quite some time. In fact, I would have to say that the beats on "Keep Right" are a long awaited return to the twisted juxtaposed sounds we heard from KRS's classic album "By All Means Neccessary". Who can forget how "Fat Albert" was infused in "Illegal Business"? Well, that same type of creative musical hybrid can be found in Keep Right. Songs like "You Gon Go", "Everyone Rise" and "Me man" are absolutely infectious and encapsulate the true New York sound before it began taking it's cues from Dr.Dre "Chronic." And "Still Spittin" with it's twisted carnival-esque anthem could probably be ranked as one of the most original productions in hip-hop history.



The only bad thing I can say about this CD is that the skits from Afrika Bambaataa -- and I hate to say this about the man -- are just downright corny and pass more as rhetoric than a rap session. I'm not even sure how that made it on the CD, with the exception of "dream", which seems more down to earth and almost inspiring. The other skits are just pseudo-philosophical eccentric manure worthy of the skip button.



Even if you aren't a KRS fan, or if you faded away because of his more questionable CD's from old, you owe it to yourself ot add this one to your hip-hop collection! It is by far a rap classic.

The Truth

I give KRS-One credit, he hasn't made a bad album yet. He's a petty consistant. This album he doesn't really stray from that, but this one is different. It seems he is trying to give you the most for your money. The cd is a couple dollar cheaper than most hip hop disks. It comes with a DVD. It has extra video and documentation that is only available when you pop the music disk in your computer, and on top of that the album itself is 23 tracks long. The album while not bad, doesn't feel cohesive. It feels more like a collection of songs..he includes as one of the tracks "Stop Skeemin" which is the hidden track on his I Got Next Album, which I felt was unnecessary on the album.



For value you have to give this work a 5...but the album itself, I give a 4. This one while keep you busy for a while.