KURIOUS - Majician - 2LP - Red & Yellow Vinyl [SEP 20]

2LP - Limited Edition Opaque Red and Yellow double vinyl with dust sleeves.  

By his early 20s, Kurious was already an in-demand voice on the mic. His 1994 major label debut album, A Constipated Monkey, is a classic of its style, marked by heavy beats and nimble rhymes that are razor-sharp yet frequently hilarious. Despite being hailed as one of hip-hop’s most compelling lyricists, he didn’t release another solo LP for the rest of that decade, but he continued to be sought after. Rap fans the world over know him for his verse on “?,” one of the standout songs from his longtime friend and collaborator MF DOOM’s heralded Operation: Doomsday.

As he prepares for the release of his new album, Majician—the nickname his peers blessed him with a generation ago—Kurious is well on his way to establishing the legacy he’s long deserved. The LP, which was executive produced by MF DOOM before his passing, is a mesmerizing blend of technical wizardry and personal introspection. Take “Eye of Horus,” where the pulsing drums convey an urgency that borders on panic; Kurious weaves a complex tapestry of history and insight, but does so while ducking through and under each pocket in the beat.

Produced in its entirety by Mono En Stereo, Majician is filled with songs like “Eye of Horus,” which dance on the line between confession and confrontation. “Separation Anxiety” is a personal bloodletting in the form of lyrical exercise; “Par For the Course,” which features the elusive Mr. Fantastik, makes drum breaks from the early Reagan era sound totally revitalized. Through the radical amount of work Kurious put into the writing and recording of this material, he’s removed all ambiguity from the question of whether he can stand as one of the premier MCs of his time. 

Tracklist: 

01. Unknown Species 
02. Untainted 
03. Tis The Season 
04. Eye of Horus 
05. 1984 
06. Teach & Forgive 
07. Separation Anxiety 
08. Cow's Eye 
09. Bacalao Opera 
10. Majical Journey 
11. Barry Gibb 
12. Par For The Course feat. Mr. Fantastik 
13. Open feat. Homeboy Sandman 
14. Majic Interlude 
15. Come Back