k-os

Very rarely do I criticize artists on this blog, but this could be the first "negative" post.


Last night Props and I checked out k-os, an artist we enjoyed listening to early in college and never before were able to see live. Considered the "original rapper from Canada," k-os incorporates a positive message and diverse musical styles to his hip-hop sound. When he put out his second album "Joyful Rebellion" in 2004, k-os demonstrated perfectly his ability mix his influences and sing, rap and play music where he seemed ahead of his time now that you have artists like Drake, B.o.b, etc.

That said, last night's performance for a relatively small crowd (we both noted how surprising it was not to see him at a bigger venue with more fans) disappointed us. His energy was noticeable, and he moved back and forth from rapping to singing to playing guitar, but I wasn't really impressed. His DJ impressed us on the 1s and 2s, but k-os didn't flow as well as I thought he could, and most of his songs seemed average. Maybe this is a fault of higher expectations, or maybe just the style when he switches from singing to talking. Now, you might not understand what I mean until you listen to a song of his, but many times after a chorus, he transitions to him talking (not really rapping), and that could get lost in a live performance. I thought his singing outshone his rapping, which is fine -- him singing was enjoyable. Though I didn't really pay attention to his albums after Joyful Rebellion, he did perform a new song that intrigued me:

Last night (live) he really emphasized and extended the beginning of the song as the intro song to The O.C. --



Despite the disappointment, try listening to these songs which we now realize is hard to do live:

Crabbuckit -- good use of the saxaphone, from the album Joyful Rebellion

Man I used to be -- you'll notice the "talking" I mentioned earlier, from the album Joyful Rebellion

Heaven only knows -- his first single, from the album Exit