Black Knights Are Not Quite Right ...

It all starts with the first track of the album, "Medieval Chamber", from this up and coming LA based hip-hop duo, Black Knights.
You are greeted with orchestral strings juxtaposed ingeniously against rhythmically unappealing gun shots, which all come together to form, in our opinion, something quite distasteful but interesting to say the least. This, however, is abruptly pushed aside and makes way for a tempo signature change, introducing flat synthetic keyboard synths. This choppy production style continues throughout, and is, to us, rather disappointing.
Finally, the vocals kick in, in a rap style courtesy of Rugged Month and Chris The Sharpshoota. Being a rap-duo, we were suspecting something more along the lines of rap-veterans Jay-Z and Kanye West but sadly this was not the case. Their performances lack the power needed for the cut-throat industry they have found themselves in and what we have all grown to know and love. They lack the rhythm necessary to accentuate the outstanding, and raw, production from former Red Hot Chilli Peppers guitarist, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member, John Frusciante.
Like many others, we were shocked and surprised to see his name to do with this project, but this is somewhat to be expected with his most recent musical outputs. To us we don't quite understand it… we're not sure what he is trying to achieve by abandoning his fans and forgetting his roots in guitar rock. We did, however, appreciate his ethereal backing vocals but can't help but wish he was to the forefront of the music.
Overall, we've found ourselves underwhelmed by Black Knights, but feel that, with a little more effort and time; a music video, and more focus - this group, could be at the top of the rap business.
Jake & Matthew.