Jeff Weiss
Since it's rare that I post something that hasn't already been shared by at least a half dozen other blogs, the fact that I've got the new Knux single first has me running around my apartment doing my Best DJ Clue impression. Granted, there are probably a few other places the song has already appeared and really, all I did was play “Exclusive New Shit,” a couple times, but hey, its a good song.
So is “Bang Bang,” the track that pretty much confirms what I had already suspected: The Knux are very much for real. I've long thought that you could cleave the good rappers from the great by judging how they fared on bad or un-rappable beats. So when I heard the first 35 seconds of “Bang Bang” with its Studio 54 drums, Gnarls Barkley chants and sub-Bloc Party guitar churn, I feared for the worst. Then the Knux start rapping.
The effect is something akin to Stankonia-era Outkast. Big words sure, but it's almost impossible not to hear the influence of “Bombs over Baghdad,” in the Knux's tangled but perfectly paced raps and Crescent City accents. It's a little jarring at first but catchy and when you listen to it enough, you realize that all three of the Knux's first three singles rank among the year's catchiest and best rap songs. Save for the fact that Krispy uses the phrase, keep it poppin' like Reddenbacher which was played-out when Wayne used it earlier this year. Personally, I'm just waiting for a rapper to use the phrase, “keep it poppin' like John Popper.” Because Blues Traveler is funny. Inherently.
Download:
MP3: The Knux-“Cappucino”
MP3: The Knux-“Cappucino Remix”
Bonus (I Mean Why Not?):
MP3: Nature-“Exclusive New Shit”
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