★★★★★
There was a time when a double album from Kool Keith would have been an event. After breaking away from the forward-thinking Bronx troupe Ultramagnetic MCs in the mid-'90s, the rapper released four solo albums credited to four different personas. All of them pushed the boundaries of hip-hop structure and storytelling, and all of them were stuffed with polysyllabic streams of consciousness made up of equal parts sexual and scatological obsessions and fever dream imagery that would make William S...
- www.popmatters.com
2014-06-09
★★★★★
Kool Keith has no intention of quitting. We're long removed from his Ultramagnetic 1980's and his indie rap icon 90's at this point. Keith thrives on the reputation he built up
in those respective decades, even though the music he's
released since the dawn of the millennium is highly variable
in terms of its impact and listenability...
- rapreviews.com
2014-06-03
★★★★★
Being a fan of Kool Keith is challenging. If you tried to explain to anybody why he's great and played them something he both produced and rapped on in the last 15 years, they'd probably stare at you like you were touched in the head. In his Dr. Octagon era there was magic in his unrepentantly scatological and sexual raps, and not just because he had better production. Keith's unconventional and at times vulgar rhymes were a challenge to the hip-hop mainstream...
- rapreviews.com
2013-09-10
★★★★★
Ostensibly Kool Keith is giving away the "Total Orgasm" mixtape as a thank you to his fans for supporting "Love & Danger," the latest in a long series of retail and direct sale albums from one of hip-hop's most enigmatic and eccentric emcees. Don't take my word for it though - that's what the press release from his PR firm Audible Treats says. Apparently Keith found the time to record this album while touring everywhere from New York to Australia to the Gathering of the Juggalos...
- rapreviews.com
2012-08-30
★★★★★
"True Religion on double X Dimes rubbed together Lane Bryant support, no heartburn She can't breathe at the food court Text no talk Whales need sports And you love thaaaaaaaat And you loooove that"When listening to the second track of Kool Keith's brand new album "Love & Danger" entitled "You Love That," it's entirely open to interpretation if Keith is celebrating oversized women who love to eat or mocking their obesity...
- rapreviews.com
2012-06-21
★★★★★
Possibly hip hop's last true maverick - and certainly the oldest on the block - New York City-raised veteran has sliced through the past 15 years (plus) of rap without second-glancing trends. The -sampled, erstwhile member's 13th solo studio album doesn't change that either, defying advancing age (late 40s, as far as anybody knows) with lyrical lunacy to spare...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2013-04-23
★★★★★
Whatever nom de plume he chooses to use, there can be no doubting the impact that Keith Matthew Thornton has had on the sound, and look, of hip-hop. It's hard to keep count on the sheer volume of music he has released but some judicious research points to this new album Love & Danger being his eighteenth solo album...
- www.popmatters.com
2012-06-04
★★★★★
"Legend" is such a small word compared to the largess of Keith Thornton. The man is hip-hop's reigning king of dissociative identity disorder. Far from confounding his fans, hip-hop fans treat each change like Tara Gregson's family on Showtime - they show love and try to roll with the punches no matter how crazy things get. Not every personality results in #winning rap music...
- rapreviews.com
2011-04-25
★★★★★
Less than a year after wacky rapper Kool Keith launched hip-hop into outerspace and himself into stardom with Dr Octagon, he returned to rape sex rap with his off-kilter Sex Styles. In 1997, his raunchy raps and scathing disses were revolutionary, and still haven't been topped. Add Kut Master Kurt's minimal, dark funk as the perfect backdrop for Keith's freaky tales, and you have the first of their three classic collaboration albums (so far)...
- www.urb.com
2010-04-17