Average Music Fan: J.Period & K’Naan presents The Messengers

J.Period & K’Naan presents The Messengers

To be honest I’d never heard of K’Naan before coming across this mixtape trilogy that he’s released with J.Period, and to be even more honest it’s mostly because of J.Period’s name on this project that I allocated some of my download quota on this free mixtape. First off I downloaded their Fela Kuti mixtape. I was introduced to Fela’s music last year and was blown away with the whole afro beat style. I’m a sucker for horns and combine this with the African chants, it just blew my head off.

On my first listen of the Messengers mixtape I felt Fela Kuti was dominating the musical soundscape and K’Naan wasn’t really coming through with his raps and stepping up to the plate. However this mixtape is a grower. There is some really standout tracks that both showcase K’Naan’s lyrically ability and mixed with Kela’s instrumentals deliver some spine chilling results. Tracks such as “Ololufe Mi” which talks about needing a high profile collaboration to get some air play or using auto tune to create a hit for the radio or “Got My Dreams” which sees K’Naan flow effortlessly over a Fela horn riff with Biggie dropping in on the cut. The mixtape is intertwined with snippets describing Fela’s rise as an African political figure and how K’Naan has been influenced by his music.

This formula is copied on both the Bob Marley Tribute and Bob Dylan Tribute, which once again delivers some memorable moments. Stand out track on the Bob Marley Tribute are “Fatima/Stir It Up” where K’Naan tells a heartfelt story about Fatima, a childhood love interest left behind in Somalia who falls victim to the troubles back in his homeland. My favourite track on the Bob Dylan Tribute is the opening track “Introduction to Bob Dylan” where J.Period has given Bob’s harmonica a nice backing beat with cuts in the background while K’Naan tells the listener about his Somalian roots, poetry and discovering Bob Dylan’s music. This opening track prepares the listener for another remarkable collaboration that makes you feel like all three musicians are in the room at the same time.

If you’re sick of the commercial hip hop on the airwaves at the moment, looking for something different, a fan of any of the artist’s above or just after something a bit unique then I highly recommend downloading this trilogy, you will be amazed.

To Download the mixtape follow this link - http://www.okayplayer.com/news/J.Period-x-KNaan-The-Messengers-Deluxe-Edition-Extended-Mixtape-%2B-Bonus-Tracks-%2B-Selected-12-S.html - Scroll down the page to find the download link.

Video - The making of the Messengers