Krizz Kaliko - Go Album Review
Right from the jump here, I want to say that I like Krizz Kaliko’s music. When I first was coming across the Strange Music camp, I felt as if Kaliko was a Spliff Starr type of dude, meaning he was more of a sidekick or hype man for Tech N9ne instead of a very well talented artist himself. Once I got further into Strange Music, I realized this guy can really spit pretty much as good as anybody on the roster. But, I’ve always felt that he was similar to Cee-Lo Green. Sure, the guy can rap, and rap better than most rappers in the game. But, I’ve always felt like his singing is what would make him a star. I’ve always really like Kaliko singing more than his rapping. And on his latest album, Go, Krizz Kaliko gives us a lot more of that singing that I feel he’s so great at, and the album is better off because of it.
The album starts off with an introduction from a motherly voice talking to Krizz and pretty much setting us up for what’s to come the rest of the way on the album. The next six songs that follow the intro are all great songs with heavy R&B feel and very minimum rapping. I absolutely love that Krizz did it like this, because all of the songs jam, and flow smoothly. Behave, which is my favorite of the bunch, has a really smooth, kind of 90’s R&B feel to it. Sure, there’s a verse from Tech N9ne at the end, but it doesn’t sound like your typical R&B joint with a BS rap verse. Everything works in this song, and I feel like this is one of the best songs to showcase Krizz’s singing vocals.
But, after that six song stretch is where Kaliko takes his first misstep. The song, No No’s is easily the worst song on the entire project in my opinion, and just doesn’t add anything to the project. I’m actually shocked that this song made the cut, especially following the six songs that preceded it. It just doesn’t flow well with those songs at all. The only other song that I feel isn’t very good in the grand scheme of the album is Wallflower. It’s not a horrible song, and nowhere near as bad as No No’s, but I feel like this is one of those songs that could’ve been cut from the project. Even the Tech N9ne verse isn’t very impressive to me here, which is very rare for me to think about a Tech verse. It even sounds like Tech didn’t take his verse serious here.
Speaking of Tech N9ne, while I love Tech and I definitely feel their chemistry on records, I feel like maybe, just maybe, Krizz could have a few less Tech features. Tech is featured four times on this album. I get that that’s your man and all that, but it almost seems like Tech is an unneeded crutch for Krizz, especially on this album. Tech’s verses here are also hit or miss when he’s featured, and really, the songs would probably be good without Tech featured. I think the Tech verses here should be limited to two songs.
Beyond those issues, this album is solid. When Kaliko is focused on his rhyming, it’s great, and when he’s singing, it’s also great. An example of the great rhyming is his verse on Orangutan, which just so happens to be in between both of the songs I don’t like on this project. Krizz absolutely kills this song with the rapid fire delivery, and all of the features on the song deliver strong verses, with Rittz closing things out. It’s definitely one of the best songs on the album, and one of my favorites that I’ve repeated throughout. The album closes with the song Happy-ish, and this song is something I would like to hear a lot more of from Kaliko. The singing here is top notch, and I really love how simple the song is with just his singing, and the guitar in the background. Whereas I said that Behave is one of the best songs on the project to showcase Kaliko’s singing vocals, Happy-ish is THE best song that showcases his vocals because he let’s it all loose and hits a bunch of different notes and all. Plus, the song just feels good, and as fans, isn’t that all that matters in the end?
In closing, I’d say that even with the few blemishes, this is probably the best full album that I’ve heard from Krizz Kaliko, and I’d go a step further and say that this the album I’ve been waiting to hear from him. I think from here, he just needs to fine tune it a bit more, and cut out those filler tracks, and he may really be onto something truly special that the world will be forced to acknowledge. While his rapping is still very welcomed here, I’d still love to hear a strictly R&B album from Krizz Kaliko. Meaning no rapping from him throughout, just singing and more songs like Happy-ish throughout. But as for Go? I give this album a 3 out of 5, and I’d definitely recommend you all checking this project out, and I look forward to seeing where Krizz Kaliko takes us on his next musical journey.
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