Lexington, Kentucky underground veterans CunninLynguists return seven years after the release of their sixth studio album, Rose Azura Njano, with a brand new EP via Old Soul Music. The trio, consisting of Deacon the Villain and Natti & Kno, have produced classics over two decades, including their feature-length debut album Will Rap for Food, or more specifically their third LP A Piece of Strange and follow-up album Dirty Acres. As L’Orange’s new independent label has been growing over the past year or so, The Heartstring Theory is sure to be the trio’s debut.
“Forever” is the EP’s booming synth-driven bap opener, the trio Find Forever is similar to what Common did 17 years ago, while “When Your World Falls Apart” has some jazz-rap influences and talks about doing what you can Things are looking like everything is starting to fall apart, and you admit it’s not going to be easy. “Fading (Clock Struck 5)” kicks off the EP’s second verse with a groovy instrumental that finds them resolving their romantic interests, while “Wasted (Cloud 92)” featuring Kelly Moonstone prompts a soulful boom bap Finished, talking about being really screwed and they booed.
These guys have been keeping a pretty good record for 24 years, and even when they took a 6-7 year break like they did with the time gap between their last few projects, they continued to deliver great results. In addition to adding some synths to the equation to get the gears turning, Kno’s work incorporates elements of boom bap, jazz rap, and soul music, dealing with romantic themes while also adding a hint of awareness.
Score: 8/10
