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DJ Alibi

Let's Ride

12-inch single

(Tres; US: 12 Jun 2007; UK: Available as import)

The surging anthemic beats of “Let’s Ride” grabbed me and then jetted right to the meaty socio-rhyming and lyrical licorice of emcee Insight, who sparkled over Toronto-based Mikhail Galkin’s (aka DJ Alibi) foundation of classic crashing boom-bap, sweet background soul samples, and multi-layered charging army of cymbals, organs, and horns.  The soul-crooning samples kept coming with “Don’t Look Down”, and lifted off the table when Bamboombox, a second guest emcee, set fire to DJ Alibi’s fine jazz-stitched table cloth. This debut three-track EP shows that Galkin can certainly set the table via a firm grip on the basic utensils of hip-hop’s decks and knobs. Though the brevity caught me off guard, and I was bummed that this was only an EP and didn’t grow into a full meal of hip-hop samba-sliced beats and live lyrics, the good news is a full length is due to drop in 2007, a true test to see if DJ Alibi can serve up a full meal.

Rating:

Based in Chicago, Chris is also the author/publisher of Live Fix Blog (www.livefixblog.com), a merging of his Popmatters and other music-based writings (reviews, interviews, features) exploring fan behavior, social media, community and artist performance in live concert culture.


Tagged as: dj alibi
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