Leeds Hip Hop Scene

Weds 27th Feb 2007

Good collaborations lead to good music. Patrick Dooner and Lady Paradox collaborate as producer/DJ and lyricist/MC respectively on their debut effort- Kind of Peace. The 14 track album offers jazz styled beat making from Pat D and a straight no nonsense rap from Lady Paradox close to eminent rappers of last decade like ‘A Tribe called Quest’, ‘Gang Starr’ and ‘Goodie Mob’. Moreover, the sound is so appealing in the first listen that even a casual listener is bound to take notice owing to the fact that the collaboration of this kind is in itself so alluring – imagine Erykah Badu rapping to the abstract grooves of Amon Tobin or Aphex Twin.

‘Intro’ begins the album with a distinctly spooky feel to it, with droning keyboards playing out over a series of spare percussion patterns; the heavy echo and crumbling, lo-fi bass feel and varied confluence of voices creates an ominous introduction to the album. There are male voices in between talking about jazz, professions, music and everything related throughout the album as in this first track. Second track ‘Perspectives’ introduces the soulful voice of Lady Paradox. As opposed to other female MC’s, Lady Paradox sings in a rather laid back style with lesser aggression and more of a straight rap with lesser emphasis on verses and stressing a story-telling style of Rap. The album features guest appearances from Logan, Sam Sure, Lauren Jade, Selone and Karizma. Logan gives rap on the track ‘HipHop Quotables’.

Though one can find the signs of struggle in Lady P’s singing at times to keep up with pace with the beats and the album seems more of a concept album highlighting Jazz with spoken words; all this is belied by the fact that the production by Pat D is flawless. Rather than putting up straightforward bass n Drum breakbeat background out here, Pat D’s music is so fluid and sparse on every track that even as a standalone production it would have sounded as a complete entity in itself and Lady Paradox rap perfectly here just like any other seasoned rapper. The producer/ DJ is usually the most important and overtly overlooked artist in any hip-hop/Rap group and helps get the best out of a rapper, just like probably Danger Mouse collaborating with C-Lo and unearthing the rappers quality of being an unequalled neo-soul sound of the decade. This album targets a much more mature audience rather than many hip-hop duos and I look forward to listen to the Pat D’s debut ep “This is the time”.

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