"Joyful Rebellion" came out in 2004 as the second album from k-os, a Canadaian Hip Hop MC who performs in a style similar to that of Mos Def, Q-Tip and Common as he fuses the concepts of conscious Hip Hop and the Jazz Hip Hop that A Tribe Called Quest presented, and uses this as his main motivation when performing his music.
1. "Emcee Murdah"
To start off the album you have a track which has the artist deal with "the definition of a real MC" as many have before, and whilst doing this, he kills off all those who obviously do not fit this mould, and in fact have been detrimental in achieving the aim of the Hip Hop genre.
As well-reputed as it is, k-os shows his range of musical influences by doing a Dub-based joint whihc has him exploring a little Reggae whilst singing in this stlye to authentic-sounding work which is only let down by its old-fashioned composition and general content.
**Two Stars**
3. "Man I Used To Be"
This was one of the singles, and it really sticks out in the album.
I can vaguely remember the hook of it, however the rest of it sounds new to me as you have him on some hard beats which have been heard in LL Cool J's "Paradise" and Teedra Moses' "Be Your Girl" in the past.It is based on both East Coast Hip Hop material and Funk, and this blend seems to go down without any struggle: it's a natural fusion.
**Four Stars**
4. "Crabbuckit"
This is the single which brought the artist to my attention as he came with something fresh and original (but with the power to win over a more mainstream fan base) to finally get his name out there to a wider audience. You have him rapping a scatty-Jazz kind of way to match with the bass-led production, which empowers him and gives him the motivation to work in this way.
**Five Stars**
5. "B-Boy Stance"
Coming straight off the hype of the last track, this one gets him using samples of LL Cool J to give him the correct support to launch him into a track which has him fully express his position as a true Hip Hoppers, one who has retained the original ideas of the genre (without distortion of sub-genres due to his geographical location in Canada).
**Five Stars**
6. "Commandante"
This is a rather militant track from the artist,. and gets him working to some revolutionary drumming to inspire you as he speaks. The effects of which are highly successful, although this style isn't one that you can really develop after doing a single run through of it. The latino elements of it show great originality, however it takes a while to truely accecpt.
**Three Stars**
7. "The Love Song"
With opening word to this one being "This is not a love song, it's a sonnet.", you would think that this would be a track which has the audience immeditely switch off. However since k-os eases you in with hard Hip Hop beats, he mass the fact that he is doign something quite original, in spite of the fact that most who typically listen to Hip hop wouldn' go for something like this.
**Four Stars**
8. "Hallelujah"
I wasn't into this one at all as the artist completely changes what he is about and sings in this one. His voice is decent, but not strong enough to drive this recording, so I have to say that I was rather bored by it all and the fact that its lyrics only consisted of a few lines put me off too.
**One Star**
9. "Clap Ur Hands" (Lude)
10. "Dirty Water"
The artist experiments in this one as he chooses to sing once again, and on this occasion he doe so as part of the Rock chorus, but raps some fresh rhymes in the verses, and does so to grea effect as he speaks on the state of the genre, whihc seemed slighly ahead of its time (despite the fact he tends to quote past material frequently).
**Three Stars**
11. "One Blood"
The beats are pretty cold in this one, and they shape the way that the track is performed as he slows things down and raps in order to show off his lyricism. He only does one verse in it, but by repeating it, you get a full understanding of how complex and interesting his work is (although I wasn't fond of the thing as a whole).
**Two Stars**
12. "Papercutz"
To end the album off you have a track which starts off with lots of energy as he comes with an unstoppable flow and lots of lively actions to get things going, however it progressively get taken over by the jazzy backing which is present throughout as by a few minutes into it, it eventually leads to it just becoming an instrumental one. However you don't really notice this transition as it is so mellowing and just lets you chill out.
**Three Stars**
This album is highly-varied in terms of both its musical diversity and quality too. I foudn that he was best when keeping it simple with straigh Hip Hop cuts, and lost it a bit with the Rock and Reggae amongst others. There's a lot to like here, and if you like the Alterantive Hip Hop stuff from the likes of Mos Def and Q-Tip (in particular) this is for you.
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