Brooklyn Anthems
The Cavaliers: The Breaking
By Sha-OS
Us from the borough of Kings have watched it transform for better or worse, and often as is the case that change has cost those without the means; a dissolution of what can only be categorized as a Brooklyn Culture, that thick stew of gutter and groove, of rasta sensibilities, Kosher Bagel joints, and the supremacy of hood heroes from bodegas bumpin boricua beats: “Regoolahr turkey papi?”
If you close your eyes and listen to Cavalier, you can almost hear that, furlined northfaces, and open laced timbs. His delivery is Brooklyn as f*ck—intelligent, layered, hungry, and not lacking in the least with aggression. His lyrical acumen, is acrobatic, turning turns of phrase, into praise worthy meditations on why weed smoke is a hazy haven, or offering the poetic possibility of revolution: “My best dreams show cops getting murdered, by pops with a burner, modern day Turner, is he dropped, Im awoke before shown, a lot to learn from, wake and bake spark and burn one...” His anger is not uncomplicated or unwarranted, but a response to the reality of present day Brooklyn born angst, the squeeze felt by natives as they watch their neighborhoods flip around them. Nor is the “Breaking” a political piece. Where there are politics in its seams, it is above all a work of art, in the sense that it works through different themes, and finds a way to resolve them into something cohesive. 70’s samples, and drums abound lacing screwface beats that turn the volume up on their own. From straight gutter tracks like “Straight Cheeze” to humorous imaginative turns with tracks like “Cecil Be Cool” Cavalier crosses the gamut of the dreamscape, and produces pure Hip-Hop; existentially probing, entertaining, and relevant. In a lot of ways he’s what Brooklyn needs right now¾ a bard with Bed-Stuy in his veins, Ghetto erudition as complicated as heavy hearted hustlers, and no hints of compromise, like he wakes with “Brooklyn Stand Up” in his mouth. Cav wins. And in the Borough of Kings, that’s saying a lot.
Visit www.cavwins.com/music/ for a sample
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2 comments:
i love this! thank you so much for expressing what Cav makes us all feel!
This is a good album and an equally good review about its feel, tone and homegrown quality. Heavy-hearted hustlers indeed.
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