Killa Kela - Elocution

Killa Kela – Elocution

Chris George

There’s some graffiti near my house that says “Support UK hip hop” and it’s right – you should. Point in case: UK beat-boxer Killa Kela’s long-awaited debut, Elocution.

It’s not an album of just bare mouth music like that guy from Police Academy, it’s 52 minutes of awesome rapping, heavy bass-lines, rich pianos, strings, good backing vocals (the album features Roots Manuva and Neneh Cherry, amongst others), layered on top of Killa Kela’s incredible beats, breaks, scratching and a multitude of other sounds, all created by his incredible vocal cords. There are a couple of tracks that focus mainly on him, where you can see just how good he really is (On Killa Cello he beat-boxes to one of the string players’ cello like a hip-hop duelling banjos). Even during the other songs, just knowing that ALL the beats, scratching are all his own is enough to make them special. Devoid of the aggressive posing that makes so many hip-hop acts boring and defiantly British, it sets itself aside from so many pretenders.

Elocution ‘s never flippant, occasionally very emotional, with grandiose, rich sounds and always impressive. If you have even the slightest interest in hip-hop, support him and buy it. Now.

8/10