Kool Keith gives zero fucks about any of the numerous recurring characters on Tiny Mix Tapes’ monthly Favorite Mixtapes feature. Not that he’d ever call any of them out by name, or have any reason to do so — it’s just that one can’t help but consider their so-called “prolificacy” as nothing more than a series of derivative and repetitive duds, when compared with Keith’s 2015 output.
Keith and Red Apples 45 founder Ray West might’ve recorded these tracks sometime ago, in sessions that eventually became part of the LUV NY album (which, by the way, is aging like fine wine), but if so, they were apparently shelved, and their timely release now — on the heels of Time? Astonishing! (Keith’s collaboration with old time radio flipper L’Orange) and the Total Orgasm box set (a collection of three mixtapes previously available only on Bandcamp) — should put all Lil Jay Young rappers, as well as all “rap is a young man’s sport” naysayers, on notice.
Here is a man, who, even past the age of 50, continues to drop multiple fully fleshed projects in one year and to reinvent himself with each. And even more impressive, for Keith, this is just business as usual. “I’m running the field, calling the shots,” he croons on song three over a trademark Ray West beat, minimal but full of funk, Keith’s hook offering just a sampling of the tastefully mature R&B hip-hop platter to come. Effortlessly, inextricably ahead of his time, Keith once again delivers something remarkably fresh, even if for him, it’s just A Couple Of Slices.
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