Eugene Weekly : Music : 7.29.10

Nappy Gets Happy
Jamming with a message
by Sara Brickner

Kentucky MCs Nappy Roots specialize in party jams with a conscience. Though unintentional, it’s interesting that the crew’s fourth and latest, The Pursuit of Nappyness, employs obscure producers while using its title as a comment on Kid Cudi, an MC whose debut album’s success owes more to the big-name producers backing him up than real rhyme skills. Nappy Roots, on the other hand, have passed a lot of years honing their wordsmithery, and there are plenty of examples of this on The Pursuit of Nappyness. Oddly, the band’s MySpace doesn’t feature any of the new album’s best tracks — in fact, one of the songs offered is one of the weakest of the entire album, which suffers from inconsistent production quality. When a beat works, it works well — one of the album’s best tracks, “Live and Die,” features a Gothic organ and a thumping bass line — but the repetition of tracks like “Fishbowl” falls flat. Though The Pursuit of Nappyness is no Watermelon, Chicken, & Grits, the album’s highlights make up for any inconsistencies. For the undecided, the crew’s also got a pretty decent mixtape, Nappy University, available for free download on the band’s website.

Nappy Roots (pictured), Undermind & KI, Starbuks and DJ Crown. 9 pm Sunday, Aug. 1 • WOW Hall • $15 adv., $17 door.