Kool Keith

Editor's Review:

The beauty of Kool Keith's Career (which has spanned years and includes time spent as a founding member of the ground-breaking NYC crew Ultramagnetic
MCs) is that he is beholden to no one. As an artist who answers only to himself, Keith holds no allegiances, and even when recording for a major label (Dr. Octagon, Dreamworks; Black Elvis / Lost In Space, Columbia) the man only ties himself to a one-record deal, thereby absolving himself of any responsibility once the recording - and in some cases, the touring - is done.
This is all good for Keith, and probably the smartest business move an insane man can make, especially given the lyrical content of Keith's latest offering, Matthew. The only way to describe this album is to say that Keith is pissed. The album's opening track, "F-U M.F." (that would be, "Fuck You Mother Fucker"), is one of the most scathing lyrical assaults ever recorded, sporting lines like, "The average MC is bullshit," referring to MTV rap as having a "gay-ass production new millenium homo sound" and saying the rappers are "posing with ugly bitches in your video that take AIDS medicine." And that's just the first song. Other telling titles on Matthew include "Operation Extortion," "I Don't Believe You," "Live In the Projects" (chorus: "you never lived in the projects / you ain't no drug dealer") and "Backstage Passes," each ripping on a different facet of the rap industry. Wack MCs and bullshit perpetrators beware; Keith is on the hunt.
- Max Sidman
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Record Label Threshold / Funk Ass Released July 2000

Tracks 1 F-U M.F. 2 27 Shots 3 Errand Boy 4 Operation Extortion 5 Baddest M.C. 6 Extravagant Traveler 7 Recoupment 8 I Don't Believe In You 9 Lived In The Projects 10 Keith N Bumpy 11 Set Up, The 12 Shoes N Suits 13 Diamonds 14 Sweet Unique Pete 15 Do You Masturbate? 16 Back Stage Passes 17 Mad Man Departure

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