ALBUM REVIEW: McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?

    Rap has certainly not had a poultry year as far as 2023 has gone so far - ignoring towering releases like the seemingly always great SCARING THE HOES collaborative project that I will continue to praise, as well as the recent billy woods project in Maps, but I've heard my decent share of smaller works that still pack a punch (I haven't even mentioned the extended edition of Tyler's CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST album, which contained quite a few treats). That of course brings us to the topic of McKinley Dixon, an eastern rapper who's been at it for a decade now, mostly with a smooth style of jazz rap (if the album's title was any indication, you're getting jazz rap here, too). I'm aware that I'm probably very late to the party with this one, although to be fair I've been late all month - putting all conjecture aside, Dixon's latest project packs a lot of punch in its minimal running-time. In less than half an hour, Dixon gives us not only some great rapping ability, but some fantastically produced songs that usually have just as much funk as they have jazz. It's certainly a quickie, but oh boy is it a goodie!

    For me, the absolute strongest aspect of this Dixon release was the production - the entire sound of Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? is somewhere between laid-back and energetic, no doubt in part from the jazz influence. You're immediately hit with it on this album - "Sun, I Rise" is every bit as lush and intricate musically as it is energetic with its driving beat and funky bass. This occurs on later fantastic moments throughout the album, such as the thematically dark but musically fun and catchy "Run, Run, Run" that stands as a highlight on the album or the more straightforward "The Story So Far", which is one of the album's lyrical strong moments, although there are plenty of those throughout. There was also the industrial-leanings of the fantastic "Mezzanine Tippin'" that made for one of the album's most galvanizing and in your face musical moments - it may be one of my favorite instrumentals on the album, all things considered. As previously mentioned, however, the album is just as funky as it is jazzy, and no moment is better representative of this than "Live! From the Kitchen Table" with its smooth horns and lively bass part, all of which is boosted by the fantastic harmonies on the chorus. The finishing touch on the formula is, of course, Dixon's rapping, which is not only solid throughout on any given moment, but often touches on personal moments from his childhood, ranging from discovery to survival. It's a fantastic affair throughout on the rapping front, and with some solid features from the likes of Teller Bank$ or Seline Haze, it all works together to give us a brief but satisfying product.

    It feels good to be back, especially to talk about such a satisfying release. Dixon's latest record is a fantastic mini-album with beautiful production and great flows on both the rapping and album sequence front. It's a sharp and tight project through and through, clearly one that was intricately thought through and given all the care in the world it needed. Amen to that, and the product certainly speaks for itself; Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? makes for one of the year's strongest rap projects in its scant time.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Beloved! Paradise! Jazzz!?