Mission: – One

Crown City Rockers is stacked with talented musicians who have mastered their crafts. On the keys we have Kat Ouano. She started playing the piano at the age of 4 to “emulate her older sister” (although I suspect her Asian mom had a hand in her decision). Her mastery of the jazz piano is amazing – it’s especially apparent on the track “It’s the…” where she and Headnodic re-envision classical music as Herbie Hancock would’ve written it.

Which brings me to Headnodic – beatmaker and bassist extraordinaire. This guy has been on the scene forever, making beats for some of the biggest names in underground hip-hop. His latest album, Red Line Radio - released earlier this year, featured artists such as People Under the Stairs, Othello, Gift of Gab, and One Be Lo. I’ll have to do a KMC post on it sooner or later, it’s a solid album. Needless to say, he cuts his samples from the right places and grooves the right basses…sorry, I had to make it rhyme. Yeah…moving swiftly along!

Rashaan Ahmad is currently one of my favorite MC’s. His voice is one of a kind, easily distinguishable as it cuts through whatever track he rhymes over. His rhythm and meter are delivered almost spoken word style – jazzy and metered perfectly, with pauses and run-ons that garner his rhymes attention. Attention that is well deserved, due to the powerful social messages he makes it his Mission to convey (excuse the pun). The way he phrases things is interesting; the words he uses together are seldom heard together, and yet his message is always clear, even heightened at times by his wordplay. His solo work is definitely worth checking out.

I love it when live instruments, catchy mixing/production, and great rapping come together to create inspired, soulful hip-hop. And that’s exactly what we have here. A fresh yet familiar sound that, in the band’s own words, draws from the likes of “Ice Cube – when he was still thuggin’…Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, KRS-One…NWA…Run DMC, and LL Cool J”.

Just to clear up any confusion – Mission is Crown City Rockers. They were asked to change their name after the release of this album, and now they go by Crown City.

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