Kristoff Krane - Fanfaronade

By: Joel Frieders

I knew who Kristoff Krane was because I had listened to the Face Candy album over a hundred fucking times. And yes, there was a shitload more to the Face Candy album's lyrics besides what I'm about to say, I'd just like to take the opportunity to avoid the obvious and make this about what I want to make this about:

"I'm a turtle ya'll."

Okay, cool. Moving on.

I knew Kristoff was a fucking beast with his mouth because I had also seen him perform with Face Candy at Soundset 2011. There is no apprehension, there is no facade, there is just one little dude with a whole fucking bunch of fucking words coming out of his aforementioned mouth. He's entertaining, intelligent, as excited to be rapping as you are to be hearing him be rapping, and what's most surprising is that he's got fucking styles for days.

As every fucking track ends and another fucking track starts on his new album Fanfaronade, the muthafucker is a different rapper. It's got the feel of a mixtape without the annoying ass blends and vocal drops because at no point throughout the entire thing is the dude duplicating one flow from another. Paired with the likes of guests Crescent Moon, (my favezies) Ceschi, motherfucking Illogic, the totez adorbz Buck65 and one of my guilty pleasure chests in Sage Francis, Kristoff Krane never hands over the fucking keys and drives every fucking track like he's trying to make the passenger puke.

In perhaps one of the most admirable attributes of KK as a rapper on his own solo album, you get the distinct feeling that he's just as much of a fan of the music as the people he's rapping for, and it comes across as him being as down to earth and approachable as anybody else who might bump this shit.

Production wise, while I don't know who Jaq is, the fact that I recognized more than a couple drums when the tracks started and then never once paid attention to them as being familiar is fucking awesome. It's a dope fucking way to break the ice on a track and not bite the Fuck out of someone else's shit.

I fucking love it.

Oh. The hook on Becoming Great is probably one of the best lines in hip hop in 2012 and gives shine to the fact that while many of the indie rappers we all listen to doubt themselves, the sad fact is that many have less faith in themselves succeeding than anyone else has in them failing.

SOMEONE HUG THIS FAUXHAWKED BEANPOLE OF A SLICE OF DELICIOUS.