BlakRoc

When hip-hop producer and industry executive Damon Dash decided the Black Keys were one of his favorite artists, he contacted the duo and initialized a recording project, hooking the Keys up with rapper Jim Jones. Other hip-hop artists soon came aboard, and BlakRoc is the result of what one imagines to have been numerous hazy, smoke-filled late nights in the studio. The beauty here lies in the easy, almost organic feeling of the recordings, with flows and rhymes of varying intensities syncing up with the Black Keys’ gritty, psych-tinged blues with surprisingly satisfying results. Artists like Raekwon, NOE and RZA bring the street edge, and a sultry layer of R&B is delivered by Nicole Wray; a heavy lidded Mos Def spars lazily and delightfully with Dan Auerbach’s brawny guitars. Black Keys fans will especially get their groove on to “What You Do to Me” and the single, “Ain’t Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo),” where the Keys’ undulant grind and Auerbach’s own rusty-throated growl mingle gloriously with their rapping counterparts.