Denizen Kane returns from obscurity
»
Typical Cats took us into the 2000s with an instant underground classic, but a decade later, while Qwel and Qwazaar were touring the planet, Denizen Kane was nowhere to be found.
Denizen Kane left Chicago to raise a family in Alameda, CA. Rumored to be tending bar at a dive and repairing ratchet wrenches at the Sears in Fremont - he was living a few steps removed from the rap life. But, as a seasoned poet and emcee, he never stopped writing.
Earlier this month his long-time home label Galapagos 4 released Brother Min’s Journey to the West, Denizen's third solo record and return to form. Told in the voice of Min, youngest brother in the Kane family, he represents the most tragic of the young, gifted, and dead - the suicide. Produced entirely by MrREY, the record relies heavily on jazzy piano samples that give the journey from side A to side B a steady bounce. While the production is consistently intoxicating, it's Denizen's soulful croon that flushes life into the sound.
Brother Min's Journey to the West is available digitally through G4.
Posted on October 13, 2009.
typical cats were the bees knees
— Always Right on October 13, 2009