Monday, September 14, 2015

Music Review: Nick B.

Artist: Nick B. 
Music reviewed: http://nickb.bandcamp.com/album/unexpected-thoughts-welcome
https://soundcloud.com/713nickb
Links: http://www.713nickb.com/
https://www.facebook.com/713NickB/

The end of Crystal Castles marked the beginning of two promising solo careers. Both Ethan Kath and Alice Glass released singles sounding eerily similar to Crystal Castles output. What better way to peel away Crystal Castles fans? Put less charitably, their musical marriage dissolved, they plotted to kidnap the kids. Accusations flew: Kath can get a female singer anytime he wants, as he did with “Frail”; while Glass can bum a musician/producer from HEALTH, and bring us “Stillbirth.” But to my way of thinking, this question was settled long ago with “Vanished.” The song was light, so Alice couldn't lay claim to some dark aesthetic. And the lyrics were Van She's, so neither could take credit for those. And yet Kath elevated the source material to pop gold via a series of “bings” that can only be likened to elevators and '80s department stores.

For the same reason, Houston-based rapper Nick B also wins. Nick B fascinates by deep-diving a diversity of sources for intriguing samples and production. And since he's not confined to rapping about crime or drugs like a DMX or Clipse, Nick B can follow the music on lyrical tangents. Is Nick B rapping over Raisi K the Raisin Man's Pagliacci-inspired production? Then he uses it as an opportunity to rap about being a sad clown. Rapping atop Jon Wayne's kung fu movie-sampling “You Don't Want It”? Then Nick B can bring battle raps like “Fruity ass niggas is Fanta / Yeah you pop, but easily just fizz out.” Nick B even shows off his softer side on slow jam “The Reasons” (“Make you think you little crazy / To love this lady / And then have a baby”), and showcases his lovely hook-singing on “Prepared (Prod. By The Deli).”
But even beyond using a diversity of production to point in new directions, sometimes it's just nice to be able to appeal to niche audiences with things like kung fu and video games – the latter of which get the Nick B treatment on “Work” and “The Message (Prod. By JonWayne).” There's a danger in mixtapes though. Rapping over established producers like Knxwledge can work wonders. But it's a tricky business trying to rap over a producer as idiosyncratic as Flying Lotus. Very few can do it. Kendrick Lamar earned kudos for doing so over Kamasai Washington. But even Jay Z fell short of topping Jim Morrison on the Doors-sampling “Takeover.”

Nick B's voice can occasionally break high (as on “Contempt”), and can flow without enough tempo changes. But these things can be forgiven on the strength of raps like: “Hold up / 'Bout 9, 9-10 civilians / Wanna talk brilliant / But don't do a damn thing” (“Playing Games (Prod. By dpeee)”). And Nick B found the formula for minimizing these issues on “Art of Fighting Ft. Suicide Scotty (Prod. By Illingsworth).” Just like the Jacka, whose woozy flow carried the risk of getting stale if uninterrupted, Nick B changes up his flow by including guest rappers like Suicide Scotty. And when he does so over musically memorable production by Illingsworth, Nick B's "Art of Fighting" nearly hits the highs of the Jacka's “45.”

By featuring guest rappers, and continuing to tailor his fine lyrical content to tantalizingly diverse producers and samples, Nick B can remain prolific and we'll never get enough. In other words, if you didn't think I Love Lucy could be turned into rap, you haven't heard Nick B.

*** The author of this review, Marvin Freeman, plays the tan-tan for the following band: http://youtu.be/tMS73-1kCr8