Kev Brown

Those who have been paying attention to underground hip-hop releases over the past couple of years will recognise the name of producer Kev Brown who has been appearing with increasing frequency. Not only has his gritty yet butter-smooth style graced a number of twelve-inches in that time period, it blessed one of the better of the countless reworked versions of Jay-Z’s The Black Album and much of Jazzy Jeff’s The Magnificent album. Freely admitting his artistic debt to producers such as DJ Premier, Jay Dee and Pete Rock (whose brother Grap Luva appears on the album), Brown assumes a front and centre role on his full-length debut. Manning the boards as well, Brown also holds down much of the lyrical weight for the record. As he announces at the outset and the title of the record itself infers, he’s not trying to change the game. While his lyrical flow is adept and his approach is full of blue-collar humility, the topical variety is hardly wide-ranging. Brown does get notable mic assistance from his fellow up and coming associates in his Maryland-based Low Budget crew such as Oddisee and Kenn Starr, but it’s clear the real attraction here are the refined and addictive soulful beats Brown seemingly constructs with ease.