REVIEWS
Daddy Kev
Lost Angels EP
Daddy Kev is like the West Coast DJ Premier. Bold perhaps, but accurate
-- I'd say so. Sure, The Alchemist might be his prodigy,
Evidence snaps-a-neck like him and M-Boogie, well, sounds exactly like
him, but who makes rappers almost sound bad (or at least, perhaps less
desirable) without his beat? Well, Primo for one and Daddy Kev for
another. While acts like Group Home and Jeru The Damaja contest to this
day that they don't need Primo for shit, the post-Prem music speaks for
itself and sadly enough proves that they simply sound more capable over
his music. M.O.P. rip tracks to shreds and they've made bangers with Da
Beatminerz and DR Period, but over a Premier beat -- undebatable. I could
go on, but this is about Daddy Kev.
Now Kev works out irrefutably similar, minus the codependence and
inner-squad beef. If AWOL One's latest, Souldoubt, wasn't a testament
then surely this 8 track EP will, because the Daddy flips accessible
tracks that don't conform his chosen artists but rather encourages
experimentation in turn creating a platform of showcasing wildly styles
that often get overlooked by heads unwilling to sift through more
"eccentric" works. Who would of known The Shapeshifters' Circus could
sound so beautiful when given a beat that didn't sound like it was made
on a UFO. "This Stuff's Really Wacko" almost has a club-bump to it yet
the integrity remains intact as Circus rips as he always does. Mikah 9's
"First Things Last" bubbles in a rippling piano as the marriage of his
subtle crooning and numerical rhyme-scheme bring back memories of
earlier Fellowship classics (the song is simply infectious). Awol and
Kev team-up for another success with a simple bass-lump alongside the
Walrus' archetypal contemplation on "Lick Me I'm Famous". And he claims,
"the roadmap to Hip-Hop is all left turns", Daddy Kev succeeds
countering the curves with simple, effective bangers; custom for his
artists like Premier yet venturing into a sound all their own. -- Peter Agoston, HipHopSite.com
In addition to owning Celestial Records, Los Angeles' Daddy Kev is a
producer and DJ with an impressive resume (Freestyle Fellowship, Awol
One, Q-Bert, Abstract Rude). On this new EP, he's sure to expand his rep
even more. The five tracks here show how Kev's range can create moods
and MC platforms very effectively. When his vocalists rise to the
occasion, everything works together just perfectly. Take Lost Angels
opening vocal volley, "First Things Last": The voice of Freestyle
Fellowship's Mikah 9 mirrors the track's plinky piano run, descending in
tone, starting high and ending lower, even matching the song's stops and
starts. Indisputably borne of the Left Coast underground, this rap
experiment -- it definitely reminds you how few producers out there today
try different methods. Other great collaborations are Kev's work behind
rapper Busdriver on the "Blowed Anthem," with a funky, quirky
breakbeat-looped groove and some up & down Freestyle Fellowship-induced
rhymes, making fun of rappers for chasing women instead of honing their
skills. And Awol One's vocal on the catchy, rolling bass of "Lick Me I'm
Famous" shows a unique, natural wisdom that marks him as another
vocalist to keep your eye on. -- Brian Coleman, CMJ
Trippy. Experimental. Abstract. Funky. All of these words could be
accurately used to describe beatsmith Daddy Kev. While 9 out of 10 cats
making tracks are trying to sound like DJ Premier or Dr. Dre, Kev is on
some shit that makes you think he's hitting acid tabs and eating hash
brownies. And when the mind behind the music is that far out there, it's
only right that for his Lost Angels EP he hook up with some rappers
on that next shit too: West coast veterans like the Busdriver, Circus,
Awol One, Mikah 9 and P.E.A.C.E.. Looking at this compilation, the only
innovative/freaked-out rappers that seem to be missing are Aceyalone,
Del, and Volume 10.
Of course, the risk of being ahead of the curve is that sometimes you
can leave the rest of the pack too far behind. Such was the reaction of
a fellow listener when I played "First Things Last" by Mikah 9 as she
remarked, "If I have to hear a chromatic scale over again one more time,
I'm gonna throw up." I don't think she really caught on to how
phenomenal 9's flow was on the track, or the fact that no other producer
had ever tried to have an MC rap over a series of chromatic scales. What
to one head sounded incredibly advanced and creative struck another as
repetitive and banal.
There are a couple of tracks that come a little closer to a traditional
sound for the neuromantically impaired. P.E.A.C.E. goes the Jesus route
and declares he is lyrically "Walking On Water." Daddy Kev's beat is
rather uncomplicated here, but it allows P.E.A.C.E. to completely
dominate the track and attack with lines like "Don't you ever use no
Matrix type of shit/ on me, Star Wars, Yoda'll get ya." If you get the
feeling from this track you just walked into a hip-hop coffeehouse
poetry slam, you probably got the right idea. Awol One's "Lick Me I'm
Famous" might be the most traditional cut of them all, where the raspy
voiced one alternately brags about AND deprecates on himself and others
over a fat snappy bassline. If you already knew and liked his work with
Daddy Kev on the Souldoubt album, this will be right up your alley.
Ultimately how you take this album will depend on your ability to
comprehend and/or relate to some really dusted-ass rap music. The rap by
Circus on "This Stuff's Really Wacko" comes across as kin to a non-stop
adventure in free association. This track either succeeds or is hindered
by it's re-usage of an old Compton's Most Wanted track, but if you ever
heard "Def Wish II" you will be getting flashbacks. Busdriver's "Blowed
Anthem" is definitely not for rap listeners who've been trained to
expect a consistant rhythm of flow diction or ABAB rhyme/punchline
formats (think Ludacris). For this reviewer it's a pleasant trip down
the light fantastic, but a few points are deducted from Daddy Kev's E.P.
for beats that while functional actually seem to be less than up to his
true potential. If you do pick this album up, take two hits and call me
in the morning. -- Steve 'Flash' Juon, RapReviews.com
Los Angeles is currently hip-hop's Mecca, with more underground and
mainstream talent than any other region. But the underground scene sure
is strange. Pioneers collaborate with new jacks, groups are often
multiracial, and tours move from back-alley clubs to high-class theaters
in the matter of a day. Gangstas, college students, toys and Rastas
stand side by side at shows, bobbing their heads in unison. For whatever
reason, L.A. hip-hop is a true melting pot in the tossed salad of
America. Producer Daddy Kev's first album Lost Angels is a perfect
representation of this diversity.
Lost Angels features Freestyle Fellowship members Mikah 9 and P.E.A.C.E.,
slow-rhyming Awol One, Shapeshifter Circus and the emerging Project
Blowed-ian Busdriver. Combined with Daddy Kev's beats, these emcees
proceed to rip the mic in five distinct styles. Kev makes this release a
perfect L.A. underground introduction by keeping it short and not
overwhelming the listener with 20-plus tracks of oddity. I love L.A.!
-- Trey Clark, Daily Nexus
Having recently copped the Souldoubt album, I knew that this would be
essential for the ears. Daddy Kev provided many of the beats for Phoenix
Orion on his material and he beat every past effort when he linked with
Awol One -- the whole package was dope. On this album, the master
beatsmith from the Celestial camp brings his solo project with guest
rhymers from the Project Blowed sectors.
For those unfamiliar with his styles, it's kinda spacey (more like
Supernatural rather than Kool Keith) but with a harder edge -- and he
always pulls out something unique to differentiate it from the other
material out there. Take "Blowed Anthem" with guest emcee Busdriver --
the distorted bassline will screw you up and have both your speakers and
ears thumping. The excellent "First Things Last" with Mikah 9 has the MC
playing catch-up, rhyming parallel with the tinkling piano, making you
wonder how he manages to flow like so. And when the whistling comes in,
you'll flip... it's the perfect touch. P.E.A.C.E. spills his thoughts on
"Walking On Water" which is like an extra track to the Beneath The
Surface album -- it's cool and will have fans excited without any doubt.
On "This Stuff's Really Wacko" with Circus, Daddy Kev creates the
album's masterpiece -- the plodding beat with the crazy noises jumping
over the funky bassline is amazing. Circus proves to be the perfect
lyricist for this track, climbing over the music and ducking down --
sounding freestyle at times, he gives this beat the edge we were seeking
for. Awol crops up on the greatly-titled "Lick Me I'm Famous" reuniting
the pair again and continuing the great chemistry already established.
There's eight tracks here (five with rhymes, three skittish/instrumental
joints) and they're all dope. This gets the Spine recommendation. -- Spine Magazine
Don't worry that it shares its title with a godawful 1989 teen-angst
turkey starring King Adrock, or that it starts off with dialogue jacked
from an equally corny flick, 1997's wannabe 90210-on-shrooms Nowhere
("L.A. is, like, nowhere/Everybody who lives here is lost"). Local
left-field hip-hop beatmaker Daddy Kev's Lost Angels is a real-deal holy
field of dreams deferred. And like most voyages taken during slumber,
Daddy Kev's "producer-as-artist" solo debut drops you into an alt-world
where daily operations are the shit that makes no sense back in real
time. But the "angels" in this fantasyland don't play harps -- they play
microphones.
Since 1998, the L.A.-based progressive beat-and-rhyme imprint Celestial
Recordings has gained acclaim with creatively daring, sometimes
spaced-out sounds, and two of the label's most notable releases, Fat
Jack's Cater To The DJ and O.D.'s Beneath The Surface, were
compilationlike MC gatherings where the real star of the show was the
guy behind the boards. The oddly inspired Lost Angels EP is a similar
affair, though with far fewer tracks its conceptual focus is
understandably tighter. Collaborating with L.A. underground rap's most
eccentric, bugged-out wordsmiths, Kev exposes a taste for the weird
while coming correct by custom-fitting each loony lyricist's distinct
mic personality with snappy drums and cleverly chopped samples, all
well-versed in low-end theory. While Aceyalone is Freestyle Fellowship's
most recognized fella, Daddy knows best by enlisting the talents of the
group's two furthest-reaching improv flowmasters, Mikah 9 and
P.E.A.C.E., on the list-making "First Things Last" and the
miracle-working "Walking on Water" respectively. Leimert Park's
legendary Thursday-night hip-hop workshop Project Blowed gets an
energetic theme song with Busdriver's "Blowed Anthem," while AWOL One,
who recently paired with Daddy Kev on the critically lauded album
Souldoubt, advises, "Respect your elders/Stay away from graveyards" on
"Lick Me I'm Famous." Strangest of all is the non-rhyming
free-association freak Circus on the appropriately titled "This Stuff's
Really Wacko," a twisted take on SoCal street life complete with
breakdancing cops in riot gear.
Unlike the majority of sound scientists operating in the dirtiest depths
of indie hip-hop, Daddy Kev delivers productions that are both brainy
and funky, abstract yet accessible, packing enough boom-bap and nod
factor to make DJ Premier approve while still satisfying geeky
backpacker rap snobs. Taking flight with inspired originality, stoner
friendliness and bumpworthy appeal, Lost Angels has more wings than
Linda McCartney sitting on a cloud drinking a Red Bull. Wack shit says
goodbye, Daddy Kev says halo. -- James Tai, L.A. Weekly
LA's in the house on this one with the guestline of Mikah 9, Busdriver,
P.E.A.C.E., Circus and Awol One. For those of you that might have slept
on LA these past few years and haven't heard about the Freestyle
Fellowship or Project Blowed this is a good wake up call. They are
easily the illest freestyle MCs on the left coast. The LA underground
has been very fortunate to have venues like The Good Life to cultivate
many under rated MC talents.
This isn't stir fried hip-hop, Daddy Kev is serving up home brewed beats
and just the right amount of lyrical content with a dash of Awol One
beats. No gun clapping -- no oochie wally-wally, just crunchy spits from
LA's finest. Track 2, "First Things Last" has this falling piano melody
with Mikah's vocals sitting right on top of the melody almost as if he's
playing it live. His breath control is sick, the piano actually sounds
like it needs a break and not him. -- b-boys.com
The hypothesis: Some emcees are only good as the music they rock on.
Rasco, Tone Loc, and Nas immediately come to mind as skilled emcees
that once enjoyed wonderful syntheses with certain producers but later
floundered over the beats of others. It's Soso's production that makes
Epic's 8:30 in Newfoundland palatable enough to allow listeners to
notice that Epic is (despite his much debated flaws) doing something
interesting after all. Guru, indeed, is not really Guru without Primo.
The opposite is also true. Sean Combs would not be a household name if
it had not been so closely associated with Christopher Wallace.
It is rare to find that perfect match between emcee and producer, where
one doesn't surpass the other at all turns. It is worth note then that,
on the Lost Angels EP, Daddy Kev works with five emcees, radically
differing in styles, but all perfectly complementing his music, and
vice versa. Unlike most producer-driven albums, which often live or die
depending on whose voice is inserted, there is a consistency to Lost
Angels that can only be experienced and marveled at.
Souldoubt, released earlier this year, showed that Kev and Awol One
shared a common vision; musically, they completed each other in a
manner that is rare in the underground. The reunion of Kev and Awol on
Lost Angels does not disappoint. "Lick Me I'm Famous" is a bass heavy
treat laced with Awolrus's hallucinogenic poetry. Possibly not even
Awol One knows what he is talking about in this song, in fact at one
point he almost says, but he gets distracted: "Some call me genius/
some call me stupid and they really mean it/Lick me I'm famous, so
what's this about/I take a look out and then I scratch my scalp." What
follows is delightful gibberish.
As tight as Awol's track is, Mikah 9's appearance blows it away.
Blending the line between rapping and singing, the Fellowship alum
follows a tinkling piano figure down the scale again and again on
"First Things Last," with the occasional drum flourish reminding the
astute listener that his rhymes are also completely on beat. It is one
of the more impressive vocal deliveries in recent memory. And there is
a whistling solo to top it all off. This truly is experimental hip-hop
at its very best.
Daddy Kev also brings the very best out of Busdriver, who delivers a
blistering performance on the heavy, driving "Blowed Anthem." Circus
and P.E.A.C.E. also shine when blessed with Kev's drums. On the one hand, it
is impressive how the production accentuates the strengths of each of
the individual emcees; on the other, it is obvious that, given such
promising tracks to work with, they put forth their very best efforts.
If you are unfamiliar with Daddy Kev's body of work with the Celestial
Recordings family, and his guest production for such emcees as Sole,
this is the ideal starter kit for you. -- Hip Hop Infinity
IN FRENCH: Membre fondateurs des deux labels jumeaux Celestial et Vortex
Recordings, Daddy Kev personnifie l'hyperactivité. Non content d'être un
des producteurs les plus en vue de la côte Ouest des Etats Unis, il
cumule les postes de directeur artistique, responsable de l'artwork des
sorties Celestial, mixing ingeneer pour de nombreux projets (tels que le
nouvel opus d'Abstract Tribe Unique ou celui de D-Styles), webdesigner
et j'en passe. Récemment acclamé pour son magnifique travail sur
Souldoubt, album où il partage l'affiche avec le rappeur Awol One
(Shapeshifters), un autre personnage majeur de la scène West Coast,
Daddy Kev récidive. Le présent EP Lost Angels se propose de démontrer
son éclectisme sur 5 titres où sont invités dans l'ordre Mikah 9,
Busdriver, P.E.A.C.E., Circus et Awol One.
Une (trop) courte introduction entame le disque de manière très simple
nous invitant à pénétrer la Cité des Anges et ses ambiances contrastées.
Le premier véritable titre de ce EP "First Things Last" voit Mikah 9
(Freestyle Fellowship) poser son flow nonchalant et presque chuchoté sur
une petite mélodie de piano dégringolant en cascade le long d'un beat
réduit à la portion congrue. Changement radical avec "Blowed Anthem" où
Busdriver s'envole comme à son habitude dans des sphères torturées et
complexes sur un beat fat aux percussions très présentes. Le emcee et
son flow ballotté tout en accélérations off-beat se lance dans un hymne
frénétique à la gloire du crew avant-gardiste Project Blowed qu'il
fréquente. Poursuivant sur sa lancée, Daddy Kev persiste avec
l'excellent "Walking On Water": tempo ralenti, samples discrets et
écrasants, atmosphère plombée; P.E.A.C.E. y dépose avec brio ses mots
en adéquation parfaite avec cet environnement sonore abyssal. "This
Stuff's Really Wacko" est quant à lui fait d'un tout autre bois. Circus
(Shapeshifters) profite d'une composition décontractée (voire
cartoonesque par moment) pour laisser aller sa diction jusqu'à la
quasi-fainéantise et ainsi conter une histoire déstructurée qui commence
sur une bicyclette et se termine dans un sac de couchage (!). Le dernier
morceau de ce EP échoit à Awol One qui confirme ainsi tout le bien que
l'on est en droit de penser de son association avec Daddy Kev. En effet,
"Lick Me I'm Famous" est un enchantement: le rappeur lâche un texte
caustique sur le fanatisme de certains fans de hip hop tandis que le
producteur se fend d'un beat enjoué et percutant. Le titre instrumental
'Ascension' clôt ce mini album sur une note plus sombre et nous laisse
sur notre faim...
En définitive, Lost Angels fait mouche à chaque fois. Les compositions
sont toutes plus qu'agréables, fouillées et superbement arrangées,
laissant entrevoir l'étendue du champ d'action de Daddy Kev; le
producteur angelino fait preuve d'une ouverture musicale et d'une
qualité d'exécution qui font plaisir à entendre. Qui plus est, les
différents invités parviennent tous à se distinguer que ce soit par
leurs flows, leurs textes et même par les deux à la fois. Seule ombre au
tableau: la concision extrême de ce EP qui ne dure que 24 minutes, de
bonheur certes, mais 24 minutes tout de même. GIMME SOME MORE !!!!!!!
-- HipHopSection.com