WIN A SAMPLER CD FEATURING THIS ARTIST!Hip Hop/Rap: K-OS' Exit

“You’ve got rock ‘n’ roll. You’ve got R&B. Some hip-hop. My question to you, just tell me, with all of this different stuff on this one record, what is it?”

That’s the “interview clip” that opens up Exit, the 2003 album by K-OS. Sounds like a question I’d ask! I knew I’d like this album.

K-OS (Kheaven Brereton) launches into the album after that interview clip with “Fantastique,” a song about getting a phone call—“This is serious business/Hip hop is dying/It’s all Darth Vader/So pick up your mic and swing your lightsaber.” This seems to be the manifesto of K-OS, to save hip-hop, to bring all of this different stuff to bear on the battle to keep the beat alive.

Of course, who called K-OS and asked him to save hip-hop? The caller never identifies himself. Can we really expect that he is the chosen one to single-handedly save a whole genre? Does this album really live up to such a lofty goal?

This album won’t change the genre by becoming a crossover hit like Outkast’s Speakerboxx/Love Below. However, like Outkast’s ability to take many varied inspirations in order to build their hip hop sound, K-OS uses all of this different stuff to expand a genre that could easily become very stifling, very small, very limited.

“Heavenly Only Knows” has great raps, but it is built around a neo-swing type chorus. “Masquerade” has funk and soul as a foundation. “Superstarr Pt. 2” comes on like a singer-songwriter. And out of nowhere, there’s the Spanish guitar on “Follow Me.” “Patience” is a R&B ballad on which K-OS sings quite well and has the desired effect of getting the listener ready, eager, for the next beat. And so the next track, “Higher,” bridges the sound with an R&B melody while adding some raps.

Another game to play when trying to find out where K-OS gets inspiration to create hip hop saving music is to listen for all the references to other artists. For instance, the song “Neutroniks” has these references: The Police: “I knew a girl by the name of Roxanne/Met her in ‘86 at the local bandstand,” Michael Jackson?: “Get your back up off the wall.”

There’s a lot of spiritual stuff going on here too. Liner notes make reference to the Most High, the Great Architect, Valhallah, Yahweh, Allah, and Nirvana. “Heaven Only Knows” looks at the spiritual reality beyond the material desires (“It's kinda hard when you rhyme sometimes/Everybody wants to scrutinize/Re-define who you are/But every person is a star/So let your light shine far/And praise God”). It’s a theme that keeps repeating and is worth fuller exploration for another time.

The first 2 people to email me and request it will win a CD Sampler from Astralwerks, featuring tracks from K-OS, Placebo, and other great artists.

Thanks to Astralwerks and to Katie for their help in providing review copies.