Kano (ft Damon Albarn) - 'Feel Free'
I don't claim to be any kind of authority on hip hop. It's definitely the kind of genre you could devote your life to studying, and still only scratch the surface of what people are actually doing in the field of rhyming-over-beats (there's a joke I could make here about the music-creation software Reason,and how people who use it to make hip hop could be said to be combining rhyme with Reason, but it's not a brilliant joke, so I probably won't mention it). And anyway, there's too much other music out there to bother specialising.
So, no scoffing if I come across like your mum in an art gallery (y'know, that whole "I don't know much about art, but I know what I like" thing), but...well...is it just me, or has 2007 been something of a brilliant year for homegrown rap talent (amid a disappointing turnout from hip hop's biggest US stars), and in particular, a great time for rappers and rockers working together on loads of exciting hybrid sounds?
Off the top of my head, we've had Lethal Bizzle working with Kate Nash, Babyshambles and Gallows, Dizzee Rascal working with Arctic Monkeys, and now here's Kano, bringing the ever-ready Damon Albarn along to try and imagine what hip hop might have sounded like if it had got started in a primary school in the Victorian era, rather than at New York block parties.
Sure, there's your classic drum machine/squitty bass noise rap combo which starts the song. And a tongue-twisting plea for peace from Kano, but suddenly there's a thickening of the atmosphere, and with a consumptive rasp, Damon launches into one of his "la la-la la la laaa laaa" sections, and there's a sudden swirl of ancient East London smog, while a choir of ghost urchins in rags try and catch your eye to beg for a farthing for a mug of gin.
This dank atmosphere tarnishes the shiny robotic hip hop skeleton Kano brings in, but it's the kind of tarnish that makes your belongings truly yours, like the scratches on your ipod, or the flaky paint on the shiny bits of your phone.
And as this song could only have been made in the UK (and in 2007, truth be told), it really doesn't matter if this goes on to sell in the kind of enormous quantity which would satisfy a Kanye West or Eminem. It's OURS, y'see. The fact that it exists is proof that you don't need to be a rap professor to know that we live in very special times. Enjoy!
Released: December 10th
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comments
Great review Fraser, tis a good song. I like Kano and I love everything that Mr Albarn has ever done (including being the tea-man on the most recent Band Aid), so it's fair to say I'm pretty impressed with this team up.
It's not quite as good as the previously mentioned Gallows & Bizzle collaboration, but good all the same.
Talking of US Hip Hop and Rock/Rap collaborations, look out for Busta Rhymes and Linkin Park teaming up for a tune! If Reanimation and Collision Course (previous LP hip-hop ventures) and Fort Minor (Mike Shinoda's hip-hop side project) are anything to go by, it should be a belter!