Last Judgement: Reviews of R. Kelly and Blakroc

By Mark Lorenz on December 4th, 2009

Blackroc-1

Blakroc – Blakroc

There are some collaborations that don’t pop too well, like The Raconteurs, there are collaborations that quasi-pop, like Danger Mouse and Beck, and then there are collaborations that come out of left-field to put your ears on the walls. Blakroc is of the last category.

Ohio’s The Black Keys subscribe to the same stripped-down blues ethos as the Whites Stripes, and though they don’t sound as chaotically raw, they still know how to put on a live show and make people move to minimalism. So much so that a project spearheaded by Damon Dash and Jim Jones doesn’t even sound that weird on paper, and it sounds even better in your ears.

Some people might find the arrangements between the vocals and the music too distant, but the psychedelic backing tracks compliment the rapid-fire delivery from hip-hops brightest (including Ol’ Dirty Bastard, RIP) in a way that gives them heaviness and depth that wouldn’t be provided by the borderline electro-house beats that are currently en vogue. Put this album on at a party and watch people torn between dancing and lying down and staring at the ceiling. It’s that good. Highly recommended.

R. Kelly – Untitled

Untitled-1 R. Kelly’s albums periodically have been exercises balancing the sublime and the ridiculous, oftentimes plowing through one end to the other, but Untitled brings in another element: R&B inspired yodeling.

You heard me. Borrowing a page from Woody Guthrie and mountaineers, the opening track, “Crazy Night” mixes in autotuned non-singing with a chorus that would make goat herders proud. Followed up with the stream of consciousness, “Exit,” where the chorus is literally Kels repeating the word Exit, and asking if you’ve seen it. So far, I haven’t. Unfortunately, I’d like to see a normally structured song. “Echo” fulfills these wishes. And his yodeling lifts an otherwise mundane track close to the sublime, which is what we expect from Kels. “Bangin’ The Headboard” signals a low point for the album, which continues until “Number One,” where his insatiable sexual appetite is apparently controlled by Keri Hilson’s balancing presence. Overall, though, this is an album that’s more of a vehicle for singles than one you’d listen to all the way through. Pick up Echo, Number One, Elsewhere, and Religious, if you’re a Kels fan, if you’re not, this album won’t present anything to you outside of conventional R&B.

And if you want a song where the lyrics are literally, “Girl, you make me wanna get your pregnant,” buy “Pregnant.” If it weren’t a Kels song, it’d be a great Flight Of The Conchords thing.