If It's Too Loud...

Photo by David Muessig The most intriguing thing about all the singles from McKinley Dixon's upcoming album is how different they all are. Each song sounds virtually nothing like the one before it. A song like "make a poet Black" is more free jazz than pure hip hop while "Swangin'" is a modern, mainstream hip hop song. His latest, "Bless the Child," is on the more mainstream side of hip hop, but still sounds nothing like "Swangin'" does. It's the kind of track that builds and builds in tension, and while it ends abruptly at one minute fifteen seconds, that short length ends up just adding to the song's intensity. It's like mainstream hip hop meets early 80's hardcore.  In a press release, McKinley Dixon says of the song: " Loosely named after Toni Morrison’s novel 'God Help The Child' this song is probably a direct relay of me trying to do time travel through processing outloud .  Broken up into three sect...

Photo by David Muessig The most intriguing things about the three singles we've heard from McKinley Dixon's upcoming album is how varied they've all been. The latest, "Chain Sooo Heavy," goes even deeper into free jazz than the previous two. On this track, the Richmond, VA hip hop artist destroys everything you expect with a hip hop song. From his flow, to his use of jazz, to the entire structure of the song... "Chain Sooo Heavy" is wildly unique and innovative. At times it sounds like fairly standard modern hip hop, and at other times it sounds like a stream of consciousness free jazz freak out. And others? I can't even describe it. His upcoming album is becoming a stronger and stronger candidate for album of the year with every song we hear from it. You can listen to "Chain Sooo Heavy" below. For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her is due out May 7 on Spacebomb. You can pre-order/pre-save the album here . For more on McKinley Dixon, chec...

Photo by David Muessig Every now and then, the universe works out. Over the weekend, I was listening to a podcast interviewing Lucy Dacus, and she mentioned how when she was starting out in Richmond, VA, she was playing multi-genre DIY shows. One of the artists she would play with was rapper McKinley Dixon. I mentally filed this name away to check out later, which means I immediately forgot it. Yesterday, we received an email alerting us to a new song from Dixon.  Apparently, us bringing you "make a poet Black" is kismet. McKinley Dixon isn't going to sound like anyone you have heard before. Sure, free jazz and hip hop have been blended for decades, but not like in "make a poet Black." Dixon's flow is intense. It sounds almost like a freestyle or a stream of conscious. The start of the song is going to sound like early Wu-Tang Clan, but it quickly branches out into a sound all its own. The music is simplistic while having a huge cinematic sound. The song jus...