The Knux

On their excellent self-produced debut, New Orleans brothers Krispy Kream and Rah Amillio proficiently blend elements of rock and rap without sounding contrived. Their love of rock is evident on guitar-heavy tracks like "Life Is a Cage (Electric)," where they spit guttural, confrontational raps, and "Roxanne," which features a jarring six-string solo. Overall, fun party anthems like "Powder Room" are in abundance, but with songs like "Shine Again," an intricate story about lost souls, the duo proves they think below the surface. If hip-hop is dead, albums like this will fuel its rebirth.

Two geeky hip-hop siblings who left New Orleans after Katrina and wound up in Los
Angeles, the Knux draw their sound from astonishingly diverse precedents: OutKast and De
La Soul, obviously, but also Fishbone, the Cars, Prince's Controversy, the Prodigy's big
beats. What that hodgepodge adds up to is the year's best hip-hop debut. The
juxtapositions reveal a wit that runs decades deep. "Life in a Cage" name-drops E... More >