So a few days ago or to be more precise, on Wednesday August 18th, emerging Portland Rapper-Vocalist + Producer duo Moxie Black released their 11-track Free début album 'How Did This Happen?' but we'll get on to that in a minute. I suppose right now though, you're asking 'Well Who are/is Moxie Black?'.
Moxie Black consists of Super-Producer Brian Dekk Dekker, who you might remember from Luck-One & Dekk's 'Beautiful Music' EP which we raved about right HERE a little over a year ago & Vocalist/Rapper Adam IllaJ Lewis (not to be confused with the younger of the Yancey brothers), who is a next generation emcee, musician, producer and tireless businessman, according to his myspace page. Both from Portland, OR, Individually making significant strides in their separate musical journeys have come together to create this beast, this monster that is Moxie Black! I first heard the duo back in February & this is what I heard...
'Risky Bizness' is the lead single off of their brand new debut album 'How Did This Happen?' & you may have heard it in the past 2/3 weeks over on a number of music blogs (this record sent the internet crazy so much so that it made it unto Complex Magazine's 5 O'Clock Shuffle upon release!). When I first heard it though, I was a little surprised because I associated Dekk with the soulful hip-hop production he laced for Luck-One on tracks like 'Coulda Been Me' & 'When I Forget' from 'Beautiful Music' but I quickly got over it.
I remember before he sent me this record, Dekk asked me "You a fan of electro-pop new wave type hip hop? or are you more a traditionalist?", to which I replied "I'm on everything G as long as it sounds good, would say though that my 1st instinct is still always traditional sounding hip-hop...", which is still so true but there was something about the record. I said at the time that the first stanza reminded me of Theophilus London which as Dekk pointed out is not even a bad thing. I liked the record so much & I even loved the singing parts that much more. IllaJ is a clever, witty & talented dude and these two work together, it's a great mash-up & their album 'How Did This Happen?' is an amazing testament of this...
This album is quite hard to describe or explain. Yes it's Electronica, its New Wave, it's Alternative, it's Experimental but it's also quite more than that. Each song on the LP is different, with a totally different vibe from the previous or next song. I press play on this album & it's an experience every time so I'll just share with you, some of my favorite records from the album & you can check out the rest of it at your own time (which should really & truly be right after you've read this piece!)
This here record titled 'Chosen' is my favourite record off of the album & in all honesty, one of my favourite records for 2010. I'm most definitely certain that the play-count of this record on my blackberry is on some astronomical level! Everybody I've played this song to has fallen in love with it & I'm sure you will too. IllaJ on vocals is amazing on this & Dekk unleashes a massively head-bopping musical backdrop that is just right. It's minimalist in parts, under-stated in others and never overbearing. This record just comes together perfectly!
& there's more where that came from...
What about those drum patterns on this record? Simple yet it gives the song all the life in the world! I hear this record & I just wanna break-out into a mad dance. I love this record so much like! It's titled 'When I Think of You'
All in all, I must say that 'How Did This Happen?' is a beautifully put-together piece of work. It's a little short of 40 minutes which works perfectly because it leaves you wanting some more, well at least it left me wanting some more after I listened to it & I like that! It's not filled with unnecessary fillers or tiresome records and as a whole, it comes out pretty compact, congruent, very thought-out & most importantly it's GOOD Music from Track 1 to the end. Even the three bonus-tracks that conclude the album DO NOT disappoint. I implore you to download the album via the link right below... Even though you might be a 'traditionalist' when it comes to Hip-Hop Music or Music generally, I Still think Moxie Black are worth your time... At least 40 minutes of it!
Download: Moxie Black - How Did This Happen?
Until the Next Time...
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