Service with a Beat, a couple Messages, and some Love
-
Artist:
-
Album:
-
Track:
***I don't do album reviews. For one, I don't possess the musical vocabulary that "Frost":http://mog.com/MrFrost and "brittany":http://mog.com/brittanybf navigate so well. Second, I'm waaaaay too biased. So read this as if you were having a lopsided conversation with someone who has a lot of reasons for you to listen to a new artist.
It’s awkward. It’s fun, expressive, soulful; it’s honest, earnest, and wholly original.+"to serve with love":http://www.undergroundhiphop.com/store/detail.asp?UPC=OM0078CD+ is different from your average 200X hip hop CD. At times, it’s really strange, but it works with itself. The opening three tracks sound like they belong to three different albums, but this is the introduction of the body. Hailing from St. Louis, "black spade":http://www.myspace.com/blackspade pulls inspiration from most corners of the music world and stretches his music across genres as he produces, raps, and sings his way through the disc. The awkward stance of the album is like the static of its authenticity for me; hissing in the cassette tape or the fuzzy blur on a throughly played vinyl album. 
I listened, and listened, and listened and thought, “I have to write about this album.†And I did. Then I stopped. I wasn’t sure where to go or how to approach it; so I listened some more. The album dropped on back in March this year (on my birthday), and I've been asking people here and there if they've listened. Most of the time, I got a, "Not yet" or "I heard about him" or "I'll check him out" but you know how that can go.I would love to sit here explaining the intricacies of every track, but neither one of us has that kind of time, so I'll just touch on some of the confounding and some of the sincerity that has me glued.The opening track is like a carnival ride with synth sounds, high hats, and keyboard notes that all arrive a hair out of touch with the rhythm you might expect. Spade’s vocals follow the ups and downs of the tune, and he inserts his lyrics in the gaps nicely. As you might have guessed, I'm pretty slow on the uptake, so it took me few listens to realize just how much I fuckin loved this song.The album continued to unlock itself to me as I struggled with an aural interruption of continuity. It was weird, but refreshing, so I kept going back for more.There are times when he goes from sounding a little like "Danny!":http://www.myspace.com/mcdanny to spittin out some ol’ Anthony Hamilton/Raphael Saadiq-type soul.Tracks like "Evil Love," "Actioneer," "Revolutionary Bullshit," "Love's Right Here" and "Enjoy the Experience" are all so different from one another that listening to each one is its own experience. The music is jazzy, funky, soulful, futuristic and all-around beautifully crafted. Initially I thought that it was pretty good, but it's just a flat-out great. And even though not everyone will like it, you have to love the love that black spade put into it.+to serve with love+ demands attention. It dons the clothes of R&B, Soul, and Hip Hop, flirts with jazz, funky beats, and futuristic sounds,and comes across as authentic as Run’s Adidas. Revolutionary, romantic, or realistic, Black Spade drops the obligatory braggadocio lyric here and there, but ultimately stays true to his art. Oh, and one of my favorite moments is when he pays homage to the inspirational geniuses that inspired his art. OutKast, Black Star, The Roots, Jazzy Jeff, J Dilla, Pete Rock, and Prince are among the names mentioned in the song. You can here the influences from these musical masterminds as well as Sa-Ra, Marvin Gaye, and D'Angelo (is that redundant?). The man himself says that he uses elements of funk, soul, Hip Hop, electro, because he's into everything "from Dilla to Prince to Kraftwerk to Radiohead to Rock ‘n’ Roll."Give this album a spin or two. I doubt you'll be disappointed.peace & loveblack spade - to serve with love1. To Serve With Love (Intro) 2. To Serve With Love 3. Her Perfume She Wore 4. Love’s Right Here 5. She’s the One 6. Evil Love 7. Lavish Life8. Actioneer 9. The Ship Has Sailed 10. Good Crazy 11. Revolutionary Bullshit 12. The Half That's Never Been Told13. Tale of 3214. Not For the Bullshit 15. Enjoy the Experience 16. True Friends 17. The Genius in You 18. As We19. Where I'm Coming From
It’s awkward. It’s fun, expressive, soulful; it’s honest, earnest, and wholly original.+"to serve with love":http://www.undergroundhiphop.com/store/detail.asp?UPC=OM0078CD+ is different from your average 200X hip hop CD. At times, it’s really strange, but it works with itself. The opening three tracks sound like they belong to three different albums, but this is the introduction of the body. Hailing from St. Louis, "black spade":http://www.myspace.com/blackspade pulls inspiration from most corners of the music world and stretches his music across genres as he produces, raps, and sings his way through the disc. The awkward stance of the album is like the static of its authenticity for me; hissing in the cassette tape or the fuzzy blur on a throughly played vinyl album. I listened, and listened, and listened and thought, “I have to write about this album.†And I did. Then I stopped. I wasn’t sure where to go or how to approach it; so I listened some more. The album dropped on back in March this year (on my birthday), and I've been asking people here and there if they've listened. Most of the time, I got a, "Not yet" or "I heard about him" or "I'll check him out" but you know how that can go.I would love to sit here explaining the intricacies of every track, but neither one of us has that kind of time, so I'll just touch on some of the confounding and some of the sincerity that has me glued.The opening track is like a carnival ride with synth sounds, high hats, and keyboard notes that all arrive a hair out of touch with the rhythm you might expect. Spade’s vocals follow the ups and downs of the tune, and he inserts his lyrics in the gaps nicely. As you might have guessed, I'm pretty slow on the uptake, so it took me few listens to realize just how much I fuckin loved this song.The album continued to unlock itself to me as I struggled with an aural interruption of continuity. It was weird, but refreshing, so I kept going back for more.There are times when he goes from sounding a little like "Danny!":http://www.myspace.com/mcdanny to spittin out some ol’ Anthony Hamilton/Raphael Saadiq-type soul.Tracks like "Evil Love," "Actioneer," "Revolutionary Bullshit," "Love's Right Here" and "Enjoy the Experience" are all so different from one another that listening to each one is its own experience. The music is jazzy, funky, soulful, futuristic and all-around beautifully crafted. Initially I thought that it was pretty good, but it's just a flat-out great. And even though not everyone will like it, you have to love the love that black spade put into it.+to serve with love+ demands attention. It dons the clothes of R&B, Soul, and Hip Hop, flirts with jazz, funky beats, and futuristic sounds,and comes across as authentic as Run’s Adidas. Revolutionary, romantic, or realistic, Black Spade drops the obligatory braggadocio lyric here and there, but ultimately stays true to his art. Oh, and one of my favorite moments is when he pays homage to the inspirational geniuses that inspired his art. OutKast, Black Star, The Roots, Jazzy Jeff, J Dilla, Pete Rock, and Prince are among the names mentioned in the song. You can here the influences from these musical masterminds as well as Sa-Ra, Marvin Gaye, and D'Angelo (is that redundant?). The man himself says that he uses elements of funk, soul, Hip Hop, electro, because he's into everything "from Dilla to Prince to Kraftwerk to Radiohead to Rock ‘n’ Roll."Give this album a spin or two. I doubt you'll be disappointed.peace & loveblack spade - to serve with love1. To Serve With Love (Intro) 2. To Serve With Love 3. Her Perfume She Wore 4. Love’s Right Here 5. She’s the One 6. Evil Love 7. Lavish Life8. Actioneer 9. The Ship Has Sailed 10. Good Crazy 11. Revolutionary Bullshit 12. The Half That's Never Been Told13. Tale of 3214. Not For the Bullshit 15. Enjoy the Experience 16. True Friends 17. The Genius in You 18. As We19. Where I'm Coming From
Locating MOG account...
Comments (15)