Posted on 04/16/2009
Early Believers is the sophomore solo effort of Bay Area artist Kero One, released on his own Plug Label and consistent with the jazzy, keyboard-driven hip-hop established on his debut, Windmills of the Soul. Musically, there is a clear progression; Kero’s self-produced beats are bigger and more developed relative to previous work. Latin-flavored guitars, congas, and trademark keys make for very enjoyable grooves, to the extent of suggesting a potential way to reach beyond core hip-hop audiences. Kero has also progressed with regards to his lyrics and vocal abilities, though not to the extent that he has completely overcome some of his flaws in this regard.

In his delivery, and this is particularly true of the debut album, there is a vibe as if his lyric-writing skills were developed on paper, the product of writing words independent of music. The forced sound on some of the lines suggested that lyrics were being made to fit the music, emphasizing specific ideas and concepts over the musicality of the delivery. In contrast, many great MCs spit lyrics that are of questionable meaning, but that sound as though they make sense merely because of how right they feel in the performance on top of the music. It’s a difficult speculation to reconcile, because Kero One clearly has an ear for musicality, as is proven in his beat production. It is almost as if he has compartmentalized these two areas to the extent that the lyric-writing is almost wholly conceptual and the music is almost wholly visceral, instead of blending and blurring the two worlds.

To be clear, he has improved on these flaws with Early Believers, but perhaps not significantly enough to appease all of his detractors. In terms of feeling, Kero has it ---there is no doubting his sincerity and passion. Even if you want to dislike certain aspects of his flow, there is something very real in his expression that cannot be completely dismissed. The album’s title implies, among other things, the knowledge that he is still early in his career, and if the progress between album one and two are any indication, further improvement is still to come.

- Justin Deremo