The Streets Are Black

The music in this album is described as: "From dusty 60's beats and shady 70's grooves to catchy 80's keyboards and contemporary Hip-Hop electronicas. From old to new school". Let's get some of the criticism out before we settle to go beyond it, the rapping just feels out of place and not that well incorporated, it'd have been better either by getting someone more adept to guest on the album or by those parts being simply a spoken word. It'd have also matched the lyrics and music better; it would have made it more evocative, more genuine, and more alive.

The music though is a nice chilled out affair with a slightly nostalgic and melancholy vibe going on yet when the bits of reggae come in it cheers up somewhat. Without the Hip-Hop the vocal matched that chilled out mood quite well, though up to the third half of the album, maybe due to the production issues, it felt at times weaker than the music and not lending itself to being felt very easily.