Black Milk is a hip hop producer and MC from Detroit. He really just started out making beats, heavily influenced by Pete Rock and J-Dilla who he later worked with. But as he was getting more recognition in the game, he realized that most of the "artists" in hip hop at the time were really weak. So he decided the only way to change things and actually make money doing it, was to start rhyming himself. And unlike the mega popular and ego maniac mc/producer who gets most of the love (and honestly deservedly so) that's ruling the airwaves right now, he actually gets better with his rhyming skills on each album. But the cool thing about Milk is he doesnt stop there. In between his second (and best) album Tronic and Album of the Year, he took music theory classes to help him improve upon the music he composes and this in turn help support his improving lyrics. So there is actual piano, drums, guitar, as well as the traditional 808's incorporated into his sound. The result is not a Roots knock off but a breath of fresh air in a stale and auto tuner saturated genre. He rhymes about his life, his influences, the social divide in Detroit, and even has guests like Pharoahe Monche drop clever lines about hipster pants.
The first time I saw him was at The Victory Grill in a set up that literally looked like someone's bedroom. It was about as close to a old school hip hop show as you could get. The bar was illegally selling alcohol, women were looking to get pregnant, and it felt like a break dancing battle could break out at any second. He brings all of the passion he puts into making his music on stage and every time I've seen him the crowd totally connects with that. Plus if right before their set Public Enemy gives you props, that says something. I rate Black Milk as FRESH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_1apOLypPI
"What is your woman, is she just a container for the child?" These are the type of open and honest lyrics you get from Frank Ocean. I wont get into his strange post about falling in love with another man, even though in the homophobic r&b and hip hop community that could do him in. But I think the fact that he doesnt hold anything back is what separates him from the other r&b artists that are out there. Don't get me wrong, he's not the only one singing about personal issues but most of what's coming out now is about why you punched your girlfriend in the mouth or how much it sucks to drown your life in VIP with strippers.
Basically go *&%^ yourselves, no one cares about how hard it is to have money and hot girlfriends. Sorry for the f bomb but try slanging computers for a living and then come holler at me. And this is assuming that their lyrics arent ghost written. That's actually how Ocean started out, as a ghost writer along with working with the underground hip hop skateboarding terrorists Odd Future. He started blowing up with his EP Nostalgia which featured Novacane and Swim Good. And his new release channel Orange is building upon the promise he showed with last year's EP. His voice has the range to sound as sexy as Usher's and to get as high as Prince's. Ok, now it sounds like I am the one falling in love with a man but seriously his range is pretty impressive. I say check him out for yourself, although I am not sure how his show would come across live. So I will have to report back in that department. If you have seen him live, please post on here about your experience. Right now I will rate him as FRESH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CWk-nM1ubM
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