MIND INVERSION

I don’t think I talk enough about how happy Minneapolis Hip-Hop makes me. For the last 15 years there has been Hip-Hop pouring out of the great city of Minneapolis from the Rhymesayers team. Ever since I was in 10th grade I’ve had the great pleasure of finding out about it all, or so I thought. A lot of people don’t know that there are still a lot of other great emcees in the Twin Cities, and Knonam (pronounced No Name) is a great testament to my previous statement. I found this gem on the internet a little while ago, to be honest I can’t remember where I found it, but I wish I did so I could give them the props they deserve.

This EP is only technically seven tracks long (Brother Ali does the intro), and it features some of the biggest names in the midwest on guest appearances (Brother ali, Eyedea & Royce Da 5’9″). This EP also has stellar production from behind the boards courtesy of Knonam and Jake One. Knonam is one of those guys that fires off rhymes like a machine gun, all while making it seem so effortless. Every track on this EP is quality, I don’t think there is one track I would skip if I was listening to this album. Knonam’s production is very heavily influenced by 80’s music and it’s very easy to tell on tracks like “1988” & “Ransom” . The track “Hold It” featuring Brother Ali is pretty close to as perfect as you are going to get. In the first verse Knonam spits: ” The day I retreat to ya’ I’ll spit without clips/watch me swallow a Rubik’s Cube and shit it out fixed”, and Brother Ali spits: “We come to your town umpteen deep, and wipe your legacy out in one clean sweep!”. That’s the common theme of this album, dope ass rhymes with punchlines on every track.

Knonam actually dropped a debut album last year called Length of the Blade which you can purchase here. I am going to make sure I get myself a copy of that album, and everything else this guy does. It’s always really refreshing to me to be able to find out about such great talent so close to home. This is probably the most refreshing EP I’ve heard besides The LAyover EP in years, Knonam really brings the heat. I’m telling you, don’t sleep on this, you will truly regret it.

10/10

Guess what? You can download this EP for free! HERE!

This entry was posted on Monday, February 23, 2009 at 1:47 pm and is filed under Downloads, Music Reviews with tags Brother Ali, Eyedea, Knonam, Loud.com EP, MPLS Hip-Hop, Rhymesayers, Royce Da 5'9". You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.