With a sweeping light synthesizer and a steady drum punctuation, the listener is transported into the other worldly soundscape of Cliff Notez, a Boston rapper who incorporates all sorts of instrumentation and musical styles into his works. His latest album Why The Wild Things Are could make him a major league rapper on the national scene, and, his experiments with other, older genres could find support among previous generations of music fans.
Opening track “Voodoo” develops a fine contrast between soft sweeps and peppy percussive sounds. A mellow vocal application from Mr. Notez works another sharp contrast with gritty voiced raps. A shift of tempos pulls the listener more deeply into Notez’s world and a choir of voices rides over a magic carpet sweep of horn to complete his whispery vision. An inclusive cat, Mr. Notez has along for this ride artists Forte, Tom Hall, and Haasan Barclay.
“Massochists” begins with an intriguing repetition of vocalized rap. A more spoken rap travels with a brisk clip through tongue tying lyrics as a drum program keeps one glued with its combo of soft and hard hitting beats. A shift into a darker, lower toned section creates a sense of foreboding, completing Notez’s work with a glossy smooth touch.
“Rebel” finds Mr. Notez delivering a fast, fierce rap surrounded by a glass tinkling hypnosis. Featuring STL GLD and Photocomfort, “Rebel” rebels against itself with great success when Notez switches gears toward a low end dominated section. Angelic female backing singers add a dreamy texture with rides prettily over a thumpier electronic sound to good effect. There’s a lot of moving parts here moving ever so rightly.
By now, the listener is immersed in Cliff Notez’s world of sound, everything is familiar but at the same time all the vocals, raps, instruments, and styles are used in a refreshingly new approach. On “Losing Crowns I” there are electric guitar notes and honey smooth vocals that feel good to hear, their soothing tones reaching the listener on an emotional level.
Without missing a beat, Cliff Notez moves right into “Venus Incarnate,” another dreamy soundscape song. Incorporating a mix of old school R&B vocal coos and a jazzy saxophone, this dandy floats by like a cloud. Eventually, a rap emerges, a warm delivery, inducing sympathy for the images and story within. Another adept shift and Cliff Notez rides out with a funky keyboard shuffle. Credit must be given to Cliff Notez’s passengers Killian Whall and Eric Seligman.
“Get Free I” (featuring Clee) hints at 1800s field songs and early African American spirituals. The full emotive quality of this song is enunciated even further as adept hand claps and a thick, low drum beat puts a tender modern twists on the percussive support of yesteryear.
Contrastingly, “Stevie’s Ribbon” is constructed upon a soft touch of keys, a melodic line that just kisses the ear. Over that beauty of a line, Cliff Notez raps about mind over matter, delivering his words at a variety of tempos and accents. Some of his rap is like a gentle run of words. Suddenly, he can talk it with just a touch of grit over flinty bits of keys. Mind over matter turns into a plea to get minds out of prison and its perfectly augmented by some more of the old school R&B saxophone.
Rapping about black unemployment in “Happy,” Cliff Notez brings his hip cat feel to his knowledge of the world today. His rapid delivery is impressive for maintaining a consistent tone and attitude. The most upbeat lyrically, musically piece on this disc, “Happy” could find airplay on modern radio because its spirit is so infectious. Support from keyboards, hand claps, and earthy, bitty chants keep this tune rooted in early Motown as much as rap, and the combo could make this go over well with many age groups. Cliff Notez isn’t exactly flying solo here. He wisely includes the talents of Latrell James, Moe Pope, Optic Bloom, and Tyrek.
Acoustic guitar strums carries us into “Losing Crowns II.” Featuring Anjimite, Aisha Burns, and Will Daily, Cliff Notez concocts a confection of classic rock guitar touches, folksy, mellow vocals, and rippling keyboard notes. Like many fine pop ditties, it moves from down tempo to mid tempo with an accompanying widening of sound. It’s uncanny how well Cliff Notes stretches out here, spreading his myriad of instruments and voices within this gauze of peaceful joy.
The most moving track here is “Black Incredible.” Featuring Anson Rap$ and Mint Green, this tune mocks the ludicrous white mind set that a superhero will usually be a Caucasian. “Don’t you tell me Avengers assembled but I wasn’t invited” is laced into his rap about Kryptonite, superpowers, and laser beams coming out of his eyes. His rap flows with poetic beauty over lines of mellow electric piano and saxophone. A woman’s chorus sings “It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s another black man getting through the pain” before Cliff Notez resumes his mighty rap over that puff of music. Whiffs of old school R&B waft through this one too, and it’s crazy that Notez isn’t already on national radio.
“Worth It” features Steve Chandy and Dzidzor, and offers a thick, chunky coo, a smooth, backing chorus, and wafting electronic sounds. Focusing on self-esteem, the girls chorus said “if you love yourself, clap your hands,” a playful take on the early school song we all had to sing with our music teacher and a broken down piano. The track’s blend of vocal styles, rap, and funky modern instrumentation make it another fine moment on this album.
Close out track “Get Free II” features My Compiled Thoughts. This mostly up tempo rap get a fine augmentation from electric piano touches, a swooping low end, a soulful girl’s choir with a few other artistic flourishes tossed in. Cliff Notez expresses the frustration he feels with present day racism by adding a desperate plea to his vocal tone, unfurling a stream of images that strike sudden realizations about what he’s living through on the indifferent streets of supposedly progressive Boston.
Cliff Notez is on a roll. This is an intelligent, witty, well-conceived follow up to his previous work When The Sidewalk Ends. Notez proves his worth as a rapper, composer, arranger, and a musical historian. Mr. Notez utilizes his well thought out raps to guide us through amazing soundscapes that combine hip hop idioms with 1960s R&B and some other jazzy passages. The only thing this cat needs is to bring larger attention to himself from outside his Boston enclaves, and then the world will know his name.
