Album Review: T.K. – “Introducing…T.rue K.nowledge
T.K. – “Introducing…T.rue K.nowledge
Released: 2011
Reviewed by: Ed Welch
Rating: 6.6
[xrr rating=6.6/10]
Coming from Philadelphia, let me present to you all…Tru Knowledge aka T.K. This project is pretty interesting. I would say this is my first time hearing T.K. but I guess that’s not true. In doing a little research, I found out he was featured on an old Rob Hodge album I have from back in 2006. So T.K. is no rookie at all.
With that being said, T.K. is a definite emcee in the sense that it definitely seems that he has the ability to move the crowd with his words. His voice commands attention and his lyrical style provokes you to listen. That’s a nice trait considering a lot of rappers don’t have that ability. Even on the songs that weren’t necessarily my personal favorite, I was intrigued to find out what he was going to say next or how he was going to say it. Unfortunately, there is a “but” attached to all of this. Even though he has the persona to move the masses, he didn’t have that much “staying” power with me. In other words, once I made it through the album I really didn’t have a strong desire to listen again.
Some of this may have to do with the production (of course, this is somewhat personal preference). Nothing really stood out to me from the production. The production wasn’t “bad”. It was just predictable. Excuse me as I contradict myself and then explain. There is a pretty good range of different styles of production. The beats don’t sound alike at all. When I say predictable, I mean once the beat has started, you’ve pretty much heard everything you’re going to hear. There’s not much to the production that makes you feel like you’re on a journey. Instead, it’s more like being on a treadmill as you wait to see what T.K. is going to say next. Some beats are smoother which makes this forgive-able, but too many of the other beats are not. Ironically, The Journey was one of my favorite songs on this album.
Everything was “ok” and T.K. has a few times where he had some nice wordplay that made me smile, but there’s nothing on this CD that made me want to hit rewind or repeat. T.K.’s biggest strength is his confidence on the mic, but I only hear pieces of what he’s confident about. I don’t know T.K. I haven’t heard a lot of his work, but I just have this feeling like there is so much more that he has to offer that is not presented on this album. I had no expectations for this project, but I heard enough skill that has me feeling disappointed when I look at this album as a whole. But I guess that’s what an introduction is…just beginning. I look forward to hearing more from T.K. in the future. But hey, everybody’s a critic. I’m just the guy who wrote the review. Peace and much love.
Comprehensive Rating:
- Music 5
- Flow 7.5
- Lyricism 7
- Content 6
- Creativity 6.5
- Credibility 7
- Personality 8.75
- Presentation 7
- Overall Production 6
- Potential Impact 5.25
If you don’t have it already, you can grab the CD here:
