Review: The Black Keys- Blakroc

Much anticipated Black Keys hip-hop project Blakroc finally dropped so I figured to give it that proper up and down.

Never has getting exactly what you expected felt better. The garage-blues of The Black Keys and Dan Auerbach's bourbon-soaked wail complement the old-school hip-hop stylings perfectly. Opening with the bombast of "Coochie", the track showcases lusty, hypnotic verses from the late ODB and Ludacris. Meanwhile Auerbach rips off a riff more reminiscent of a sitar than an electric guitar. "On The Vista" a sci-fi paranoia track featuring the one and only Mos Def is eerily dark, and unsurprisingly, a standout.

While the bigger MCs such as Q-Tip ("Hope You're Happy") and Wu-Tang members Raekwon ("Get Off The Fuckin' Flowers) and RZA ("Telling Me Things") live up to their names, the less prominent rhymesayers steal their spots. NOE, puts on a Jay-Z impression in "Hard Times" and "Done Did It" that would have you double-takin'. Jim Jones is the biggest surprise for me, as his verses in the single (and my personal favorite track) "Ain't Nothing Like You" brings a wise swag to the stomp of Patrick Carney's drums and the duet between Auerbach and Mos Def.

Don't sleep on The Black Keys involvement in this either. Their bendy, screeching guitar lines and thundering fills add a classic groove-blues background to the canvas for the MCs to improvise on. There's been a surprisingly large amount of solid hip-hop in a year still dominated by ringtone rappers, but who woulda thought The Black Keys (and not -Eyed Peas) would be putting out one of the hip-hop crossover records of the year.

Grade: A-



Buy: The Black Keys- Blakroc

MySpace: The Black Keys