A 14KT Mixer in Waterworld

By cobwebsandstrange on 1/9/09 6:25pm
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I’m always stunned by the self assurance of not just rap dudes, but musicians in a very general sense. To be successful, you’ve got to be more sure of yourself than anyone else on the face of the earth.

14KT is that sure.

And probably, coming outta the Athletic Mic League helped build that kind of backbone. First coming to national attention during the ‘90s, AML unleashed a slew of singles and discs from the likes of Binary Star and their Michigan (aka Water World) brethren. Since that time, the rap world has seen One Be Low transcend the genre with overtly poetic and thoughtful raps that not too many can really even grasp fully, little lone emulate. So, for 14KT to be self assured, in light of that, isn’t really a stunning thing at all.

And I guess neither was his being dubbed the producer of the best instrumental mix of the year.

Reportedly only a small sampling of the music that 14KT has compiled has been released. And The Golden Hour definitely includes a great deal of soul singing, but that’s not necessarily what makes the disc a standout from the rest. The disc still sounds somehow tied to Detroit and Dilla. There’s that auto-industry influence that even Slum Village availed itself to. The music isn’t mechanical, like German factories and Kraftwerk, but there is something overtly modern to it – something just shy of apocalyptic.

No one can claim to be the progenitor of stuttering beats that somehow still sound organic – well they could, but not everyone would care. The Golden Hour, though, so aptly utilizes that bizarre time delay as to take a bit of the sugar out of all that soul.

In reference to the title – and the veritable load of unreleased swag – 14KT explains that the golden hour is the time after a traumatic injury when a patient can be properly cared for and maintain a good chance of survival. It’s an odd open window. And for whatever reason, 14KT feels that the time is now his to unleash whatever it is that he’s got. Thus far, no one can be disappointed, but we have all of 2009 to find out.