Refresher Course: Denizen Kane

Though he’s a founding member of the influential spoken-word collective “I Was Born With Two Tongues,” Dennis Kim is perhaps best known as one third of the legendary Chicago underground hip hop group Typical Cats. With a raspy voice, melodic delivery, poet’s eye for detail and battle-rapper’s swagger, Kim—as Denizen Kane’has also released two excellent solo albums: Tree City Legends volumes 1 and 2. His third solo disc, Brother Min’s Journey to the West, just dropped on Galapagos4, and it’s probably his most complete project yet.

While he may not get the blog-love or indie-rap nerd hype associated with a lot of other emcees these days, Denizen Kane has forged a strong career for himself on the strength of his unique delivery, creative lyricism and understanding that “hot beats and hot bars” shouldn’t be the end goal for hip hop acts—it should be the basic foundation off of which you can go into new and different places. The new album, while not without a few weaker tracks, is still a stunningly original, compelling piece of work.

It may not, however, be the best place to start. Before you dive into the ambitious Brother Min’s Journey to the West, check out a few choice tracks from Denizen Kane’s career so far:

Thin Red Line (From Typical Cats’ self-titled album, 2001): Though he’s since relocated to the Bay, Denizen crafts a beautiful Chicago scene here, a love-note to the city—and the radio station—that first put him on. He writes like a spoken-word poet, but doesn’t rap like one (which is a good thing); detailed, witty, heartfelt: this is classic Chicago hip hop.

Early Burn (from Tree City Legends Vol. 1, 2002): A great mission statement-type song, “Early Burn” introduces a lot of the themes and motifs that pop up in Denizen’s work: respect for the ancestors, the power of words and more. Plus, it’s just a banger—yeah, a jazzy banger (if such a thing can exist), but a banger nonetheless—head-nodding beat, killer hook and smooth-as-butter verses.

Lost Found Nation (from Tree City Legends Vol. 1, 2002): Some pure hip hop heads might be turned off by this acoustic guitar-driven venture into folk territory, but it’s such a genuine, well-written song (and Denizen can actually sing), that is succeeds. It threatens to become overly messy in the middle, but then that hook comes back in (“I don’t want to fight in an American war/Tell me what we need to fight another war for”) and the effect is devastating. Denizen always writes great hooks, one of his biggest strengths. Here’s an a capella version.

Easy Cause It Is (From Typical Cats’ Civil Service, 2004): While Denizen’s verse might not make you hit the rewind button, especially sandwiched between monster shit-talking sessions from Qwel and Quazaar, it acts as the perfect palette-cleanser, a smooth, melodic counterpoint to the staccato flows of his Typical Cats crewmates. This is a great example of how Denizen Kane is more concerned with making engaging music than just writing hot 16s, a lesson a lot of emcees could learn.

Junie’s Song (from Tree City Legends Vol. 2, 2005): All three of Denizen Kane’s solo albums feature a setting/character/motif called “Tree City,” an amalgam of Chicago, Oakland, New York and a few places that defy geographical categorization—the “City within the City, the remnant of decimated tribes, the last survivors, carrying imaginary homelands in their heads.” Tree City is never as ominous or omnipresent as it is on this track, though, a chilling back-street narrative that drips with dread and a world-weary sadness.

Holdin’ Up the Wall (from Brother Min’s Journey to the West, 2009): One thing that’s stayed consistent from Denizen’s early Typical Cats days to his new album is the production. Though different beat-makers have contributed to all of these projects, the music is always jazzy and never overbearing; more “nod your head” and less “break your f*&%ing neck.” Mister Rey produced the entire new album, including this gem. Here’s the video.

New Year’s Day (Brother Min’s Journey to the West, 2009): This is probably my favorite track off the new album. A meditation on oppression, struggle and authority (particularly the police), the song is as propulsive and intense as anything Denizen Kane has done. The final refrain, “There is no lonelier place to play than a train platform on a New Yea’s Day,” is one of the most haunting musical moments of the year, especially when heard in the context of the rest of the album.

For more information on Denizen Kane, check out the Galapagos4 website or his MySpace page.