Kyle Rapps: On Air Ep
New York City rapper, Kyle Rapps teamed up with producer Nate G to make his latest EP, On Air. The premise of the album is to make rap songs based off of samples of French downtempo act Air. Helping Rapps out are fellow rappers KRS-One, Homeboy Sandman, Talib Kweli, and C Rayz Walz.
To start, the EP doesn’t impress much musically. Nate G’s samples and mixing leave much to be desired. The opening track heavily features an electric piano sampling that does little to support Rapps’ vocals. In fact, Kyle comes off sounding rather monotone. It gets to the point that he reminds me both in sound and style to Canada’s Moka Only. In the end I felt like it was a very amateur attempt at a mashup.
And Kyle’s lyrics are off the beaten path as well. I feel at times he focuses on trying to make lines that rhyme rather than paying attention to what he’s trying to say. On the track “Angel” he raps “She look gentle like she wouldn’t harm a pillow/Her mental got armor, though, she a armadillo”. I won’t get into a discussion on how easily one can rhyme pillow, but armadillo seems like a stretch even if you can live with the truth that an armadillo does have armor.
Still, Rapps does have some influential hitters who collaborate with him. KRS-One and Talib Kweli are probably the more famous of the group. C-Rayz Walz should be recognizable, too, even if it is only for his appearance on MTV’s Made. Still, the album doesn’t do anything for me. The production is average and I don’t find Kyle to be making music that stands out amongst the plethora of artists out there. I know he may be excited for his EP dropping, but I’m not impressed by On Air.
Rating: 2.1/10
MP3: Kyle Rapps “Universe Traveler featuring Talib Kweli”
Buy: Free On Sendspace