Review Summary: Southern ghetto street conscious intellectual lyrical flows on basic beats. Sound good?
Houston’s K-Rino, for what it’s worth, should not be as polarizing as he’s often perceived. The Southern Hip-Hop pioneer (rappin’ since ’83) has a gigantic catalog (mostly independently released) of albums containing some of the most lyrical, socially-conscious, introspective raps I've heard. Each album also comes with 3 or 4 lethal battle raps (100-bar no chorus songs aren’t uncommon). After 30 years of roughly following this same template for most of his albums, it’s surprising that he’s improving with age. Last year, K released 7 albums on the same day, getting a Guinness world record for it and believe it or not--the whole thing is dope.
Universal Curriculum serves three purposes: First, it makes it very clear this is not a production-heavy album. K-Rino’s aggressive in-your-face delivery and complex vocabulary make it very hard to focus on anything else. Second, it gives you a preview of what “oldhead” hip-hop looks like in Houston, which still remains one of the bastions of “good” (opens* the floodgate *woosh*) Hip Hop in the country. So what can you expect? Slower, more soulful, synthetic sounding beats with very heavy snares. You can expect a lot of soul and funk samples and live guitar recordings while a Southern Rap General teaches us a thing or two about how to put a rhyme together. Introspective songs like “Once It’s Done,” “So Grateful” and “Wish I Could Smile” (Ft. Z-Ro and Klondike Kat) ooze with manly feels. “Family Fools” and “Only in the Hood” give comic relief and a poignant reminder that the same place he makes fun of is his home. Finally, songs like “Extreme Malice” and “Raising the Bars” make very compelling arguments for why K-Rino would leave your favorite rapper in a sleeper hold. Lastly, it really sets the tone for the rest of the 6 albums yet to come. You’ll see what I mean if you give em a chance.
Now for the cons. His production has never been imaginative or original. For the most part, they exist in the background while you focus 100% on Rino’s lyrics blasting you a track at a time. It’s a weird combo but it works effectively if you’re willing to look past. Oh,... then there’s the “**** Eminem” thing and that he has anti-vaxxer viewpoints, the fact that he is 100% behind the Nation of Islam and he fully believes in Alex Jones-level 9/11 inside job conspiracy theories. I think a lot of people got caught up on his personal viewpoints that they forgot how impressive this guy really is.
Rec Songs:
I'm a Problem
I wish I Could Smile
SPC
