Hip Hop legend Kris Parker, also known as KRS-One, is a phenomenal voice in Rap music. He was there in the golden years with the group Criminal Minded who dropped their influential debut back in 1987. His musical partner Scott La Rock was killed during the recording of their second album which eventually set Kris onto a solo path, releasing his brilliant "Return Of The Boom Bap" solo debut in 93. Since then he has been rather consistent releasing records every few years up to this day. Kris is a very bright and intelligent voice within the Hip Hop community with an eye for observation and mouth for impacting social commentary. His talent for clever, witty lyrics with a sharp, potent point holds up to this day, flow and delivery so fine tuned its probably effortless now.
"The World Is Mind" plays like a rolling collection of strong 90s themed instruments with thoughts, topics and ideas brought to them through the lyrics. Pretty standard stuff, no overarching theme, unpredictability or challenging sounds. In its strengths it falls down, covering no new ground and rarely providing a spark of excitement, doing the old formula to a science. Kris recycles lots of themes, stories and commentaries Ive heard him recite before. He criticizes the modern scene, talking down young rappers and boasting about how it was done "back in the day". Its all delivered with the finesse and brilliance you'd expect but its a tired experience when tuning in with oldskool rappers who haven't evolved their direction.
Littered through the album you can find knowledge and wisdom in various lines, verses and themes of the track. Kris's rap style is as potent as ever but given my tiring ears for a recycled sound it becomes a bit dull against the rigid boom bap beats that barely evolve beyond their entry loop. A few modern ideas emerged on a scarcity of tracks like "No Problems", using lush synth sounds and snappier beats. This would of been stellar fifteen years ago but in 2017 their is more exciting music happening elsewhere in the scene, I can't fault the record for anything other that not been inline with my taste right now. The record does however wrap up with a fantastic title track, a poetic fable deciphering the album name meaning, that the world is constructing in your mind.
Favorite Track: The World Is Mind
Rating: 4/10