| Guardian |
 For a while rap/rock collaborations were an easy way to double your fun, at least during the late 80s and early 90s, when Run DMC and Aerosmith's Walk This Way and Public Enemy and Anthrax's Bring the Noise instantly located fertile common ground – hedonism and unfocused rage respectively. Then the soundtrack to forgettable 1993 action flick Judgment Night ruined everything, pairing Ice-T with Slayer, Faith No More with giant Samoan hip-hop crew Boo Yaa Tribe, in the process inventing the most justifiably maligned genre of recent years: nu metal. From there on in, the whole notion was hijacked by white men dressing and behaving like toddlers, waddling around in over-sized shorts and shouting rude words. Linkin Park's album with Jay-Z might have sold well but you wouldn't want to listen to it unless you were cross about being made to tidy your room.
Wisely, Blakroc – a rough'n'ready project comprised of white blues duo the Black Keys and a roster of MCs, including the RZA, Mos Def and, from beyond the grave, Ol' Dirty Bastard – take things right back to basics. The premise is simple, but effective. The Black Keys knock out a lo-fi riff, the rappers strut about, sticking to the themes that have preoccupied both bluesmen and MCs throughout the years, notably sex, heartbreak and cash. Star turns include Ludacris and ODB leering all over Coochie, and R&B singer and former Missy Elliott protégée Nicole Wray swaggering through Done Did It, with help from Baltimore newcomer NOE, whose Jay-Z impression is so spot-on he could well be the hip-hop Alistair McGowan. The loose, spontaneous nature of the exercise means there's the odd dud, but there are far more hits than misses. The result? A dead concept is temporarily revived....full text |
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| Slantmagazine |
When rock and hip-hop collide, the results are as inconsistent as they are overestimated. There's no denying that the Beastie Boys made a string of remarkable albums fusing the two, and since then Zack De La Rocha's raucous flow helped forge the very best from Tom Morello's instrumentals. But, on the very extreme contrary, we've been subject to Limp Bizkit and the nü-metal phenomenon of the late '90s and early '00s, a movement that suffered from a baffling lack of talent from its god-awful beginnings to its tortuous twilight. And how about that collaboration between Linkin Park and Jay-Z? As I said, the results are inconsistent. With Blakroc, the eponymous debut from Ohio based blues-rockers the Black Keys and a band of hip-hop's most talented heavyweights, there seems to be an attempt to circumvent the polarizing facets of the rock and rap genres, instead concentrating on producing a cohesive record birthed from the subtleties of both.
The album kicks off with "Coochie," modeling an oriental sitar hook and pounding drums with Ludacris and an exhumed Ol' Dirty Bastard alternating microphone duties. The contrast between the soft strings and the booming percussion section works exceptionally, and suffice to say the emcees don't drop the ball. It's a blessing to hear fresh ODB material, this verse apparently lifted from his recordings while signed to Def Jam that never saw an official release. He simply has no peers, wailing "I got somethin' to prove/I done got my groove back/I'm all in the news/But papa got a brand new weed bag and some blue suede shoes" with the same uncompromising conviction that he barked his finest rhymes. Mos Def, perhaps the most experienced of Blakroc's emcees in working with a live band, smoothly croons over the easy-listening blues jam "On the Vista"; his byzantine wordplay may be tricky to decipher, but with a voice this silky it's easy to forgive the Brooklyn utility man. Following a screeching guitar solo, Mos indulges in the singing we've forcibly become accustomed to since The New Danger, then fading out with soft-spoken commentary....full text |
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| Guardian |
| Rap-rock has become a reviled genre, synonymous with white rockers with bad shorts pretending to be straight outta Compton. However, this should restore some of the lustre lost since the likes of Run-DMC and Aerosmith collaborated to produce their mighty Walk This Way. Blakroc brings together blues-rock duo the Black Keys, Jay-Z's old partner Damon Dash, producing, and various A-listish MCs. Together, they have crafted a succession of enormous, swaggering grooves and mostly compelling raps about rock and rap staples such as sex and drugs and cash. Coochie hauls Ol' Dirty Bastard back from the grave to spar with Ludacris about a "habit like a rabbit". RZA and Pharaohe Monch strut their stuff on the other standout Dollaz & Sense. The endless big drums, snaking guitars and Raekwon's less welcome rhymes about "bitches" could suggest an overly male bastion, but former Missy Elliott protege Nicole Ray gives various tracks a different flavour entirely, convincingly shifting things into rock-rap-soul with the hauntingly bruised Why Can't I Forget Him....full text |
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