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Cex, "Tall, Dark and Handcuffed"
After numerous tours of rapping live, Cex has finally released his first album with rhymes. While those who only know his instrumental output might be put off by this, others, like I, who have been following his career a little more closely will be more than satisfied with the first true expression of the Baltimore boy wonder's talents.
Long the enfant-terrible of electronic music, Kidwell has finally given a voice to all the frustrations he has with the creative world he inhabits. Songs like "Brutal Exposure" and "One Cex" let us know exactly how he feels about modern music and the majority of the album's remaining time is spent telling us how he is going to go about changing it. Not by inventing new styles, but by bringing in a new attitude. Every verse on the album is full of it and I don't think I've heard so much sass in six tracks since the opening half of Miss E's 'So Addictive'. Kidwell is pushing the message that art and entertainment are one and the same, so it comes as no surprise to find the occassional song about bicycles, middle school and fisting in amongst the antagonism. Most of the rhymes are amusing, but it's when Cex stops beating his chest and lives up to his self-proclaimed position as the #1 entertainer in the world on songs like "Ghost Rider," that he really excels. The album's beats continue to be influenced by MTV as much as they are by Warp, but its the rhymes that are the focus of 'Tall, Dark and Handcuffed'. Sure, they may be a little self-obsessed but Kidwell is only human, and that's a quality in his music we should all be celebrating.
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