He might not be a Q-Bert or a Cash Money in terms of his technical ability
on the decks, but he has some beats, and he spins them right round, baby,
right round, like a record baby (that was King wasn’t it?).
East and west coasts clash throughout Lyrical Graffiti, and for me the east
almost always comes out on top - especially after the unwise inclusion of
Snoop’s awful posse cut Ghetto Symphony, which sees weak west coast and
dirty south emcees embarrass themselves one after the other as if entrants
in a competition to find America’s wackest emcee.
This mix has its moments, however, such as Ram Squad’s excellent reworking
of Jay Z’s club banger Big Pimpin’, and the ever-dependable Wu-Tang’s Cream
Team Line-Up. Nas tag-teaming with AZ on The Flyest, and BDP’s classic We
In Here offer the other main highlights of the mix.
It is fair to assume that Lyrical Graffiti is King’s debut mix, and there is
much room for improvement. Brief glimpses of his limited scratching and
beat juggling abilities are more than enough, but he’s probably practising
as you read this.
Lyrical Graffiti is a very listenable mix, so let’s give King the benefit of
the doubt and hope that the inclusion of those west coast howlers was a
little tongue in cheek.
posterman90@hotmail.com
Reviewed
by Fraser Syme
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