Toronto's Kamau is one of those rare breeds. After hearing his prophetic verse on "Ballad of Noah," the last track on k-os' Atlantis, I put Google to good use and tracked him down. Despite several collaborations with k-os, who has become an international star, Kamau has stayed under the radar. His first and only album, 2003's 00:01 First EP, has long been out of print, and all that is readily available are a few tunes on his MySpace and a couple of verses on the Pangea Project's album.
The few tunes that can be heard are like hidden treasures: a few minutes each of stunning poetry, grooves, and positive messages, with beats made from a mesh of smooth funk and jazz samples and live instruments. Kamau's voice is like no other, and he intertwines his rapping and singing so smoothly that his music may well be classified as R&B rather than hip-hop. The aptly titled "Invitation," the opening track on 00:01 First EP, introduces us to Kamau's poetic style: a pulsing rhythm of rhymes over a deep groove:
"I would like to invite you to be / introducing you to me / a man, a poet, an artist, an emcee / inticing you to be a soul of creativity / taking your only lonely life to the Nth degree. / I'd like to give you something to feel / something that's real / something that hasn't been encouraged by mass appeal."
Kamau may be off the map and out of the spotlight, but he is the real deal. Check out a few tracks from his 00:01 First EP below, and visit his MySpace for a few more recent tunes.
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