Blakroc

Call it Blakroc; call it Dame Dash's ressurection; call it what you want, it's damn good! Blakroc is the new collaborative project between Ohio rock duo The Black Keys and 11 urban music artists (including Q-Tip, Jim Jones and RZA). Their self-titled album came out yesterday (to coincide with Black Friday in the States) and is probably in the top 3 CDs I've heard this year.

The project came to be when Damon Dash, co-founder of the now defunct Roc-A-Fella records, started listening to the Black Keys and wanted to meet them in person. At the time, he was working on a project with rapper Jim Jones and set up a recording session for Jones and the Keys to experiment with each other. While recording, Mos Def walked in and he must have liked what he saw because he's featured on two tracks. After that, Dash started inviting other artists to come record and voila, the record was made in only 11 days.

All the backing tracks are performed by the Black Keys and ultimately, the fact that they sound exactly as they would had they been recording one of their own CDs is kind of cool. But more impressive is the fact that Dash picked skilled diverse rappers who effectively spit heat over pure rock tracks. This is pretty much what Linkin Park and Jay-Z wanted to do...

Also, rumour is album #2 is on the way; but for now, check out the album's trailer below and download "On The Vista" featuring Mos Def here