Music Forum / Nate's Rap Review

I actually wasn't going to post this, until I found out CoasterEd has his Cd. Glad you like him! BTW, Kamau is from Toronto, and his CD can be purchased @ www.kamau.ca

Artist: Kamau
Label: Pangea Project
Genre: Hip-Hop

Other Albums: Pangea Project (Various Artists)

Release Year: 2003

This is Kamau's (pronouced Cam-ow) first album. Kamau has some incredible lyrics, amazing creativity, great beats (all the songs were produced by him) and some deep, thought provoking ideas. Buying this album proved a huge challenge because it's not sold in major stores. So I had to email a few people and phone a few people then find this little hole-in-the-wall record store to purchase it, and well, this is the best album I have ever heard. And below you will find out why.

CD 1 = First

1. Intro (Invitation)
Welcome to the beggining of one of the greatest disc's of all time. Kamau introduces himself because this is his first album. "I would like to introduce you to me, introduce you to me/ A man, a poet, an artist, an emcee/ Enticing you to be a soul of creativity/ Taking your only lonely life to the nth degree/ I'd like to give you something to feel something that's real/ Something that hasn't been encouraged by mass appeal" is the beggining of this short accapella. A perfect entrance.
Rating- 10/10


2. Old Soul
This one is Kamau's take on the saying "Old Soul". The beat is comprised of a base line and a flute, and it sounds incredible. His lyrics are like none other. "I'm a spirit sent to the earth in human form/ Now you hear it, whether quite war or silent storm/ Some fear it, so afraid to stray from the norm I rever it, although my narrow path is torn/ My past goes beyond the day I was born" are lyrics you can expect. The chorus is really hot with "Old Soul/ I really can't explain it/ Second hand canvas when the portrait was painted/ I just pray my soul remains untainted in the fold/ Old Soul"
Rating - 10/10


3. Inspired
This is about as commercial as Kamau gets. He shouts out some of the artists he's listing to in the chorus. He shouts out artists like Outkast, Mos Def, Hi-tek, Gorge Brown and Canadian artists such as Saukrates, K-Os and Oddities. Outside that, his lyrics are about hip hop and it's state. "I am an artisan I create to survive/ I need inspiration to stay alive" and "I'm just tired these days, tired of cliches/ Tired of everything, I'm rarely amazed/ Only a few could quench my thirst for inspiration/ Get my hear racing/ And thinking of things that I would not usually think/ Make me place paper to ink". All that on top of a really hot beat and you've got yourself a winner.
Rating - 10/10


4. Brainstorming
"Keep collecting words while I'm losing my breath/ Also collecting gears from the best of my peers/ Already wearing wrinkles like a map of my years" and "On the mic I hold energy like alkaline/ I'm like a vigilanty in rhyme although badly defined/ Combined with human imperfection erecting each line/ Emcees know me as a true friend, a real threat/ A planted stem that hasn't fully budded yet" are lyrics you can expect from the first verse of this one. Kamau is telling us that he has a lot of ideas that he's gained through his life and he's about to tell us them all, once he get's his time. "Some people think they're not sinking in this sea of lies/ Your still drowing if the water lies just below your eyes/ I see a mass of terrible emecees/ Might be incredible to some but unberable to me" explains what he thinks of the genre right now, and he hopes he can bring it back to what it once was. At the end of the song, he gets some guy doing some beatboxind spits what sounds like a freestyle.
Rating - 10/10


5. Glorious LIfe (Featuring Syreeta Neal)
"Glorious life, how wonderful you are in your majesty/ To lose you or any aspect of you a tragedy/ That I cannont fathom or bare to comprehend/ I have little faith in the goodness of men/ Still I move on, your light gives me sight/ The day gives me strength in the night" and that's the first few lines. Every line in this song is quotable. The beat is very good, and makes the song that much more enjoyable to listen to.
Rating - 10/10


6. Jacob Two Two
This is, without a doubt, one of, if not my favorite song ever made. It is so creative, and so intresting to listen to. If you like word play in your rap songs, this one is for you. I'll let the lyrics speak for themselves: "I'm trying to move faster then the speed of thought/ thought carries me/ Beyond were I out to be, caught in this conspiracy/ Don't pay me any mind, mind you I'm inside/ Of blind eyes, blind eyes seen through minds as telepathy/ Kind of strange, strange in that I need change/ Change the way we look life in the brightness of days/ Dazed and confused stares, stares unto new cares, enlightenment/ Stairs step us to freedom, would you fight for it?/ Fight for it if you will, my will is weak if we keep/ Weeks down to hours what's ours is speech/ Speech for the people, people who might be meek/ As I, eyes see glory of this new peace". And that continues for two more verses, and it gets better as it goes along. "Biting my nails, nails the last in my coffin/ Coughing cause we couldn't laught last too often". I just can't get over how incredible this song is! Definetly one of the greatest songs ever made. Period.
Rating - 10/10


7. On Our Side
(Recorded live @ The Kathedral in Toronto)
This is an accapella. Actually, the last half of this was featured at the end of "Masquerade" by K-os. He has some great lines in this, such as "Not wasting words unheard this is the reason I write songs/ Hoping I won't be coping with this struggle life long/ Trying to improve things by doing things of my choosing/ Proving myself with a soothing voice keeping cassettes cueing/ Keeping the music moving therein lies the problem/ The falled forced to grow again from the stems of the autumn/ Remind me of a time before our ranks were infiltrated/ Said I didn't love the music I was just infatuated/ It doesn't even matter how their chatter would paint us/ With love on our side they could barely stand against us"
Rating - 10/10


8. Freedom Calls (Hidden Bonus Track)
Kamau shows of his singing voice, and it really sounds good. Here it sounds very haunting, and as the lyrics tell, they should be. "She cried her self to sleep at night/ Thinking of how cold it seemed/ Wondering is this how life is supposed to be?/ Wondering is it love why he's holding me?/ Or is he holding me in vain to gain control of me?/ But he charms her with his golden speech/ A promise he can never keep/ Have her walking miles on swollen feet/ Stolen peace, watching her bleed from folded sheets/ Living open eyed but blind, inside she knows knows the beast" are the powerful lyrics you can hear here. Kamau tells a story of a women trapped by her violent boyfriend. In this case, freedom is heaven, and it calls to her.
Rating - 10/10


Final Thoughts:
This is without a doubt the best album I own. I don't see how any album could be better. The lyrics, creativity, beats and concepts are all top notch. And it all makes you think, and think very deeply at that. "Jacob Two Two" is definetly one of my most favorite songs ever made, and any album that contains a song of such calibre deserves a high rating, but when all the tracks are perfect... The only reason this recieved a 99 out of 100 is because it's an EP. If it had a few more tracks of the same calibre, it is entirely possible this could have recieved a perfect score. Great job Kamau! All you need to do now is create a new album and make it easier to purchase!

Final Rating = 99/100

Written By: Natelox

this must be some great stuff

Nice read nate

I liked the Begging For Change sample you posted. He sounds cool.