BlakRoc

Blakroc | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 27, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: BlakRoc
• ASIN: B002PHVGXG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,134 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. On the Vista (feat. Mos Def)

2. Hard Times (feat. NOE)

3. Dollaz and Sense (feat. Pharoahe Monch & RZA)

4. Why Can't I Forget Him (feat. Nicole Wray)

5. Stay Off the F*%$#n' Flowers (feat. Raekwon)

6. Ain't Nothing Like You (feat. Jim Jones & Mos Def)

7. Hope You're Happy (feat. Billy Danze, Nicole Wray, Q-Tip)

8. Tellin' Me Things (feat. RZA)

9. What You Do To Me (feat. Billy Danze, Nicole Wray, Jim Jones)

10. Done Did It (feat. Nicole Wray, NOE)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Rap-Rock Collabo Ever, December 2, 2009

By 

John Ceraso (glover, vermont) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: BlakRoc (Audio CD)

Are you kidding me? If this is shlock, I'm Kim Jong-Il. This is the most creative and imaginative rap-rock, popular music collabo to come along in years. And no, I'm not calling it pop, it's too great for that. The Black Keys can be considered underground rock, which may be why the album is being marketed the way it is, and which has allowed them so far to keep the integrity of their music intact. The rap artists who participated are some of the greatest in hip-hop, including Mos Def, the RZA, and Raekwon, and Jim Jones turns out incredibly strong performances, considering his career took off with the one word "Ballllin." The webisodes (available on YouTube) showing the making of the album offer a peek into the creative process that spawned it and an understanding of just how great it is that this music even exists.

And for anyone who can't make out the lyrics enough to identify the theme(s) of this album overall, there are at least three discernible ones: a sort of battle of the sexes (with Nicole Wray's presence serving to help combat the misogyny in so many hip-hop lyrics); the scrappy roots (not necessarily in the negative sense) of many rap stars and the costs and benefits of becoming rich and famous and a cultural commodity; and finally, perhaps represented best by the way the album was produced, a fighting back against the commercial forces than ruin so much of popular music.

This album is for fans of both hip-hop and stripped down blues-rock. If you don't care for raw and infectious riffs and beats, compelling rhymes, and amazing singing (Nikki Wray), you may not like this album. If all of the above sound like your thing, get this album now in order to support higher quality in popular (not pop) music overall.

Also, one final groundbreaking achievement of the album, after listening multiple times, I realized the word "bitch" is only used, I believe, once.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In Desperate Music Times...Blakroc is A Funky Reprieve, January 19, 2010

By 

Arlene Spencer - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: BlakRoc (Audio CD)

Fresh sounding blues laced hip hop has never sounded so well blended and natural. Already a huge fan of WuTang, Mos Def, and the Black Keys it was a no-brainer to pick up this disc (yes, we bought the CD) and we're glad that we did. The variety of music, song to song, the use of some of ODB's last recorded vocals, but especially the different kinds of grooves places this into heavy rotation in our home. The bringing together of Rock/rap or rock/hip hop projects may come and go (and some should go) but I honestly hope that these artists re-group again to make more music. It's a great album.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything I hoped it would be, August 3, 2010

By 

John P. Anderson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: BlakRoc (Audio CD)

Huge fan of the Black Keys. Also a fan of "Hip Hop", so this was a must as soon as I became aware of it. Every song on the CD is quality. It almost has an OutKast meets Wu-Tang meets "newer" Roots vibe.