Dirty South Hip-Hop Blues

Chris Thomas King | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 15, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: 21st Century Blues
• ASIN: B00006RY8K
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #239,235 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars the bricolage eats itself., November 17, 2002

By 

S. Mulliken (Philadalphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dirty South Hip-Hop Blues (Audio CD)

I bought this cd on the strength of a number of very postive reviews and i am very disappointed. the combination of deep blues and hip-hop holds an incredible promise, both musics of strongly rhythmic, repetitive structures, one focusing on the minimal sounds of voice and guitar, the other on the timbres of bass and drums...they seem to be made to be combined, but here is not the success of the bricolage.
King should be commended for playing, singing, producing, and mixing nearly every note here. his motivation is right on, but his ear lies elsewhere.
The best hip-hop, musically, has an almost insane attention to detail. the crack of a snare, the sound of kick, the sixteenth note repeat of a break. King's beats never rise above the standard presets of a drum machine, without variation. in another context, this could be considered old-school, but with King's highly ambitious vision, it sounds amateurish. His rhymes are okay, while not groundbreaking, are at least well-stated. His guitar is nice, often quite nice, the best part of any track (see "Ghetto Child...").
But the Biggest crimes here are the tracks that are not rapped but sung; his lyrics are so convuluted and cliche that even his voice, as emotive as it is, can't save the track. "Gonna take a miracle" (which would appear to be about 9/11, given the interlude that preceeds it) complete with fake, wooshing, easy-listening strings, and lyrics that sound like they are straight off an "uplifting statement-a-day" calendar is nearly unlistenable.
King has a brilliant idea at work, and he may yet create a groundbreaking musical statement with his muse, but this isn't it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars listen to this!, June 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Dirty South Hip-Hop Blues (Audio CD)

Many of the negative reviews on here are by a reviewer who admits that he liked the music, but didn't like what King supposedly said in an interview. Do I have to like everything that somebody says to appreciate their art. Hell no! I don't like everything that the members of Public Enemy have said. Some of it has been absolute crap. I still enjoy much of their music. It's OK for me not agree with everything that somebody says. I haven't read every Chris Thomas King interview, but I've read a great many of them. The man is insightful at times, but I don't agree with everything he says. I don't agree with everything that anybody says. So what? He probably wouldn't agree with everything I say. Do we all have to agree on everything? No. Should CD reviews be reviews of CDs? I think they should. That's why they are CD reviews. It doesn't mean you agree with every possible view that an artist might have. Do I truly think that Dirty South Hip Hop Blues is a phenomenal CD? YES! Dirty South Hip Hop Blues is a five star CD.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars So much potential, but fails to deliver, January 31, 2003

By 

Sweet Lys (Plainfield, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dirty South Hip-Hop Blues (Audio CD)

I must agree with the Seth Mulliken's review below. I also purchased the CD thinking that the combination of blues and hip-hop beats held so much potential that there was no way this album could fail. Unfortunately, I was proved wrong. The only plus on the disc is Chris' guitar work, which is quite impressive. However, the tired rhymes and less-than innovative beats more than make up for it, truly deeming much of the CD unlistenable. Frankly, I am thinking of a way to exchange it and get something a bit more easy on the ears.