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Track Listings
| 1. Coochie (Featuring Ludacris & Ol' Dirty Bastard) |
| 2. On The Vista (Featuring Mos Def) |
| 3. Hard Times (Featuring NOE) |
| 4. Dollaz & Sense (Featuring Pharoahe Monch & RZA) |
| 5. Why Can't I Forget Him (Featuring Nicole Wray) |
| 6. Stay Off The Fuckin' Flowers (Featuring Raekwon) |
| 7. Ain't Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) (Featuring Jim Jones & Mos Def) |
| 8. Hope You're Happy (Featuring Billy Danze, Nicole Wray & Q-Tip) |
| 9. Tellin' Me Things (Featuring RZA) |
| 10. What You Do To Me (Featuring Billy Danze, Jim Jones & Nicole Wray) |
| 11. Done Did It (Featuring Nicole Wray & NOE) |
Product Description
Review
Rap and rock don’t always make easy bedfellows, and the combination of the two genres has mostly produced a case of ever-diminishing returns over the years. It all started so well, with Run DMC and the Beastie Boys successfully melding giant riffs with ingenious rhymes. But in 2009, the most talked-about rap/rock alliance is Lil Wayne’s Rebirth, which has been delayed and rescheduled by a record company who appear to have got cold feet over the whole idea.
So it’s with some trepidation that anyone will approach Blakroc, a brief blast into the rap/rock world from Akron two-piece The Black Keys. Their savvy move was hiring Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella partner Damon Dash to help with the project – he enlivened the 11-day recording sessions in New York by bringing RZA, Raekwon, Mos Def and Ol’ Dirty Bastard on board, the latter appearing from beyond the grave.
ODB gets the album off to a fine start, alongside Ludacris, on Coochie, full of vast, echoed drums and an infectious treated guitar line. Mos Def has plenty of experience working with live bands and sounds like the most comfortable performer here on the straightforward blues jam On the Vista, but the album works best when Timbaland-inspired odd noises and circuitous loops are stirred into the mix. The best example of this is Pharoahe Monch/RZA effort Dollaz & Sense, which is played out to a heavily tremolo’d guitar riff that bounces all over the track.
The key template of Patrick Carney’s cavernous drum sound and thick, raw, overdriven guitar noise from Dan Auerbach remain a constant throughout, but the band also introduce other influences. Hard Times pulls hard on a whistling riff that could have been lifted straight from Harlem River Drive’s Idle Hands, and Nicole Wray’s soulful Why Can’t I Forget Him, delivered over squelching wah-ed out guitar, is a welcome diversion from the norm.
It doesn’t always work – RZA’s Tellin’ Me Things veers too far in the direction of uncomplicated, clumpy rock, sounding like an off-cut from Mos Def’s The Ecstatic – in this writer’s opinion, something of a misstep. But for the most part this is a surprisingly compelling and welcome rejoining of the rap and rock worlds that successfully captures the off-the-cuff nature of the recording sessions. --Nick Neyland
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
real hip hop + balck keys = good music!!!,
By
This review is from: Blakroc (Audio CD)
What surprised me the most about the 'Blakroc' album initially were the hip hop features it contains. No fake MCs that you see on the TV and hear on the radio every day, but some of the most legendary and talented hip hop stars ever including the RZA, Raekwon and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard who are all 3 of the most notable members of the Wu-Tang Clan (the best hip hop group ever), and also alternate hip hop stars like Mos Def and Q-Tip. I highly reccommend this album for any fan of either the Black Keys or Real Hip Hop. It is an excellent album.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unexpected yet brilliant detour...,
By Geo "Lipsocutor" (Brighton, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Blakroc (Audio CD)
There's no way when I first saw The Black Keys perform to a small, half-empty room above a pub in Brighton shortly after the 2003 release of their second album 'thickfreakness', that I would ever have predicted this latest artistic detour. Anyone who's followed their career and seen them live will know what a force of nature they are on stage, but until very recently the music stayed pretty firmly rooted in the blues. Maybe it was a result of working with Brian 'Danger Mouse' Burton on the 'Attack & Release' album that turned them on to Hip Hop or perhaps they were privately into it anyway, whatever - they've now teamed up with a cracking line-up of authentic Rap aristocrats and produced this gem of an album.
At just under thirty-eight minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome but that means there's not a dull moment here. The slightly old-school rap stylings and Auerbach's finely-judged guitar playing mesh brilliantly and avoid the tiresome cliches that usually abound on other rock-rap crossover projects. There's a sense that these blues boys have a genuine feel for hip-hop and all concerned sound to be having a ball. I might be showing my ignorance of recent developments in hip-hop here but I hadn't heard the rapper NOE before and his similarity to Jay-Z is absolutely remarkable. Another revelation for me is the contribution of vocalist Nicole Wray, who I'm ashamed to say is another artist I was previously unfamiliar with and who brings an extra touch of class to every track that she features on. Also listen out for the excellent Q-Tip on 'Hope You're Happy' which makes me want to punch the air every time I hear it. This album has single-handedly revived my flagging interest in hip-hop and I would unhesitatingly recommend it to any fan of the Black Keys, Wu-Tang Clan or old-school rap generally. Wonderful stuff!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
New version?? Just one less track!,
By
This review is from: Blakroc - New Version (Audio CD)
Ok, firstly the 1 star review is misleading. I bought the 'original' verison of this and would have given 5 stars had i done a review. Absolutely brilliant! (read the reviews for it)
I gave that CD away as an emergencey xmas present (someone id forgot!)and bought this 'new version' for myself. As far as i can tell, its exactly the same as the original version... but the tracks are in a different order and there is one track 'Coochie', missing. So the 1 star review is really just to say DONT buy this, but DO buy the original! If im missing something then please let me know. More Blakroc to come this year apparantly. Great news! Cheers Rich
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