Keep It Clean, Joe

Keep It Clean was the perfect choice for our Record Club's first rap album, because it was short enough to really get a sense of the ins and outs of each of the eight songs. Other artists, rappers and otherwise, should follow this example. When you make bloated, chart-seeking albums like Drake does, it's hard to appreciate the nuances of each track. Innanet James at least gets this right.

In fact, I'd argue that Innanet James gets a lot right on Keep It Clean. Let's start with the production. Even through only eight songs, James finds ways to keep it varied. "Memories" has an awesome bass line that really propels the song forward. "Way Up" has an interesting minimalism built from bubbling synths. "Bag" is a rap over a samba piano rhythm. In a world where everyone rap song on the radio features the same trap bullshit, Innanet James finds a myriad of ways to stand out.

And if we consider James' rapping to be yet another instrument playing on each song, then he utilizes that instrument to great effect. I love the way his flow swings in an out on "Way Up," how his pitch goes up and down rhythmically while he raps. I also was enthralled by the overabundance of triplet and half-triplet usage in "Bag," but maybe that's just the drummer in me. And on intro track "The Cool," he keeps saying the word "clean" in a squeaky falsetto that tickles me.

Listening to rap music that way—appreciating the flow as opposed to pouring over the subject matter being rapped about—is a great way to avoid some of the dumber lyrics here, and in rap in general. Some of the lyrics are kind of clever I guess (there's somehow a reference to Fitz and the Tantrums), and some of them are really dumb ("you Roger Clemens / getting throwed," just because I had to look it up on Urban Dictionary doesn't make it any less dumb), some are dumb because they are such vulgar clichés and don't even try to be clever ("I like getting head and driving fast and blowing smoke / You be clappin' baby shaking ass and dropping low" from the same song), and some are almost so dumb that I like it despite myself ("I really love the lobster, I probably order lobster / And compliment the chef 'cause to not would just feel improper," enough said). James really only drops the pretense and gets real in "Better Without You," where he and two other rappers (hey, I know who Pusha T is!) stop with the hashtag rap and the bravado and just bear their heart and their hurt.

I dunno, man, does this review sound nitpicky? Or contradictory? Maybe. Maybe I just don't really know what I want from rap. Maybe I've just been ambivalent about the whole genre for so long that I'm subconsciously looking for reasons to retroactively justify that ambivalence. Clearly, I enjoyed Keep It Clean; I think it's a good album, and I enjoyed it more and more as the listens stacked up. But it didn't hit me in that sweet spot, the spot where music affects me in some measurable way. It ultimately added up to, in my mind, a collection of mostly great songs, and not much else.

And I can't quite figure out why that is, and that bothers the fuck out of me. I want to love rap (and heavy metal, and ambient, and classical, and jazz). I want to figure out how to connect with these genres. I wanted to be able to write an objective review, but I've failed, because I'm not quite there.

One day I will figure out how to love artists like Innanet James, and I'm glad that Innanet James will be there for me when I get my shit together.

GRADE: 3 pukes out of 5