Kool Keith - The Lost Masters
The Lost Masters, it's Kool Keith unreleased music time again! Does this hold up? There's a cohesion to the rhyming and consistency of flow that suggest to me, a large portion of this project was recorded in the same sessions. Regardless, it's an interesting listen and despite what you may have heard, one from the Kool Keith vault that's worth investigating.
"You Can't Go Outside" is some classic Kool Keith! You get what you want as a Keith fan on this one. Keith rhyming over a repeated stab and ultra bare bones drums. But as is often the case with these more basic Keith tracks, this just works. An attack on super star fronting rappers, it's nice to get a high dosage of classic Keith on this one so early on, in the album.
"Freaks" is more sexual perversion from the twisted mind of Keith. The subject matter at this point you've heard a thousand times, but the off kilter almost serial killer vibe beat and loopy Kool Keith hook, is always welcome. Pretty much the same cookie cutter formula on "Girls Want You"
The crashing organic clatter of "New York City" with the squelching Moog sounds is a little more constructed. Keith raps "The high price, hookers gamblers pushers / Subways no way, cab some days / Town call always I all days / Honest but dishonest, regardless / I'm heartless, cause money is endless / No heart to get clipped you trip you'll get clipped / The weak will slip, hit is what they get / Heat spark avoid the jack don't talk gun spark"
"Shit Expands" has some lovely hard drums featuring a super hyped up Keith as he goes at Hot 97 bar after bar. A great track, one of the best on here. "Telephone Girlfriend" stands out for its genuinely disturbing, almost asylum mental sounding effects and off key instruments on the hook. Plaster on top some rhymes thrown at the listener as only Kool Keith can? Bellissimo!
"Taking Pictures" maybe takes the sexual exploits a little too far for my stomach, but it's all part of the weird and wonderful Kool Keith make up. And if "Trying To Talk To You" isn't a left over track from the Black Elvis sessions, then I'm the pope. And of course, for that very reason, it's Keiths best vocal performance on this collection.
The Lost Masters is weird and wacky. Has lots of highs and lows quality wise as far as the actual music goes, but for what is essentially a collection of left overs, I actually enjoyed this release more than I expected.
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