Thursday, August 16, 2012

ALBUM REVIEW - V.A. BLACK SWAN 3 -In the Case of BES from SWANKY SWIPE-


You've probably never heard of BES, unless you've heard him featured on a track or happen to know who SWANKY SWIPE is OR have the 2008 Ultimate MC Battle DVD, otherwise you could have very well missed out on one of the best young MC's in the game today. Now that you have an idea (albeit small) of who BES is, I'd like to introduce you to the label that has made this album come to be. BLACK SWAN INC is an independent record label based out of Tokyo, which was created for the sole purpose of exposing those who people tend to ignore, the "BLACK SWAN's" of the music basically. Since May BLACK SWAN INC have been releasing monthly albums in the form of BLACK SWAN 1/2/3, which typically deal with multipe artists, which makes sense, seeing as their slogan is Music for Multiple Fanatics. BLACK SWAN 3 features just one artist though, with multiple track makers with all lyrics by BES from SWANKY SWIPE.


BS3 begins with an intro simply titled INTRO, a Jazzy track that has been edited by famous DJ, MUTA (LIBRA RECORDS) and the beat is produced by HIMUKI and features BES doing a short freestyle. This track features some amazing scratching and delay effects. キヲツケロ。。。 (BLACK SWAN CASE#7) is next and where the intro was Jazzy, this song is pure Funk courtesy of HIMUKI. The whole CASE, in this case #7 is because every song they release of their albums are numbered by CASE. not including instrumentals and acapella. This beat works perfect with BES's flow.

ドツボ (BLACK SWAN CASE#8) has a beat produced by JAKK POT that you cannot explain in words and that's amazing in and of itself. The closest would be like Indian (India) style vocals and beat, I suppose like a tribal kind of beat. Regardless, BES does his thing on this track as well. Next up we have My Style (BLACK SWAN CASE#9) which as the title says is a trip back to the basics. The beat is also a throw back to old school hip hop with a lot of harp,hi-hat, drums and bass. The beat is courtesy of  WATT a.k.a. ヨッテルブッテル. One thing that you get when you buy the actual CD is a special freestyle break by BES which features him freestyling over very small samples that are used just to set up the next freestyle.

Besides the 4 main tracks there are also instrumental tracks for the songs, not including the intro as well as 3 short acapella for キヲツケロ。。。 (BLACK SWAN CASE#7)ドツボ (BLACK SWAN CASE#8) and My Style (BLACK SWAN CASE#9). BLACK SWAN 3 may only be around 30 minutes long, but it is a diamond in the rough or should I say a BLACK SWAN among WHITE ones. I picked up my copy from HMV, because it's sold out everywhere else.

BES from SWANKY SWIPE - TWITTER
MUTA - TWITTER
HIMUKI - TWITTER
JAKK POT - MYSPACE
WATT a.k.a. ヨッテルブッテル - TWITTER
BLACK SWAN INC - TWITTER
RELIEANCE WORKS - TWITTER




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