Can't Fly Without Gravity

The National Lampoon's Vacation parody on the cover of k-os' 2015 LP is a stumper, but this out-of-time, out-of-place reference is a better fit than the album's title. Can't Fly Without Gravity is a brilliant, heavy phrase that sits on an album that is more lifted and light, so much so that the highlight "Spaceship" joyfully jettisons the lyric "People think I'm crazy for thinking so high" over a beat that's polished pop. The twitchy funkster "Dance in Yo Car" sounds like Prince when he's uptempo and poignant, and somehow, they found a way to jam strings into this wonderful rave-up. EDM fuels "WiLD4TheNight (EgoLand)" where fame and doubt rule the show, but what cripples Kid Cudi into a depression spiral only makes k-os stronger, as the hooky song warns of these temptations without succumbing to them. The man's outgoing nature protects him from such pratfalls with kinetic energy and connectable lyrics filling the songs, and while the artist may see this as a "more stripped-down" effort after the ambitious, two-disc Black on Blonde, this busy collection is really just more free. "Steel Sharpens Steel" travels off into the compressed punk land of Death Grips for a less caustic version of rap-rock, while the boomy beats of Timbaland's "Indian Flute" are borrowed for the short stab called "Rap Zealot." "Get Up" comes off like Q-Tip, a gospel choir, and a marching band with k-os as their conductor, and if an album ever slinked into a room, it's this one, since the opening "Snapback" is driven by jazz vamping at its coolest. "K-os, the fourth Fugee" he rightfully claims on the opener, and while he could have gone with "a more connectable Kardinal Offishall," the Wyclef-ian Can't Fly Without Gravity suggests he's k-os, the rich and rewarding artist, even when on "vacation." ~ David Jeffries