Post by Admin on Dec 12, 2008 11:05:46 GMT -8
Myka 9 :: 1969
Fake Four Inc.
4 out of 5 stars
Reviewed on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 by Dan Vidal
The forgotten pioneer of alternative L.A. hip hop is back with another heavily concept-driven effort. The album is dedicated to the year of Myka’s birth, and it chronicles some of the many period influences that formed his eclectic style as an MC. As always, Myka steers toward jazz, funk, and soul oriented production, although in this case he leans more heavily toward the latter two for obvious reasons. He even throws a bit of disco flavor into the retro sound stew with “To the Sky,” where one of the more impressive examples of his intricate, carefully-crafted lyricism can be found. On “Options” he teams up with former groupmate Aceyalone to deliver tag-team rhymes over James Brownish horn hits. The laid-back ambling drums of “Monte Carlo” are reminiscent of Issac Hayes’ Shaft theme, while the melancholy electric guitar riff on the title track conjures up images of the psychedelic rock movement – that’s if Myka’s listing of rockers, cultural figures, and events from the era don’t already do it for you. Myka also bares some of his personal memories on tracks like “Cadillac Nights,” on which he free associates various moments of nostalgia involving Cadillacs, including an awkward fumbling in the backseat of an El Dorado with his first girlfriend. Another interesting thing about the track is that Myka delivers his lyrics as a spoken word poem, similar in style to artists from the time such as the Last Poets or Gil Scott Heron. Myka seems to have a bottomless well full of ideas and concepts. He’s successfully brought another of them one to life with this one.
www.urb.com/reviews/cd/feature.php?ReviewId=949