Matisyahu - King Without a Crown (2005)
**1/2 (of four)
It's hard to establish an identity on "Total Request Live" these days, when the only options open are, a) hip-hop thug, b) power-punk boy, c) poppy teen slut, and, d) AOR growl-rock frontman. One way to stand out, I suppose, is to be a Hasidic Jew reggae rapper whose flow is eerily reminiscent of Snow ("a licky boom boom down"). That's Matisyahu, and he's huge right now on the pop and modern rock scene.
Time - and a follow-up single - will tell whether his talent transcends the realm of novelty. So far, it's mainly an issue of mainstream pop never having dealt with anything like this before. And I, for one, think it's refreshing in the most amoral age of popular music to have someone sing a blindly glowing love song straight to the Almighty. The so-called Christian acts (P.O.D., Reliant K, Scott Stapp) can only get vague and "positive" with their religion. But fat-bearded Matisyahu sports an eternal hardon for the wrathful Old Testament God.
"King Without a Crown" is a brown- and green-tinted collection of computer-manipulated clip art, disembodied shots of Matisyahu and his band performing and a smattering of the song's rapid-fire lyrics. Director P.R. Brown also keeps coming back to a street corner, where despondent lost souls trudge off to unknown destinations. What these sad individuals need is a little loving from a divine being who once covered the entire earth with a thousand feet of water because no one would pay attention to him.
It's hard to establish an identity on "Total Request Live" these days, when the only options open are, a) hip-hop thug, b) power-punk boy, c) poppy teen slut, and, d) AOR growl-rock frontman. One way to stand out, I suppose, is to be a Hasidic Jew reggae rapper whose flow is eerily reminiscent of Snow ("a licky boom boom down"). That's Matisyahu, and he's huge right now on the pop and modern rock scene.
Time - and a follow-up single - will tell whether his talent transcends the realm of novelty. So far, it's mainly an issue of mainstream pop never having dealt with anything like this before. And I, for one, think it's refreshing in the most amoral age of popular music to have someone sing a blindly glowing love song straight to the Almighty. The so-called Christian acts (P.O.D., Reliant K, Scott Stapp) can only get vague and "positive" with their religion. But fat-bearded Matisyahu sports an eternal hardon for the wrathful Old Testament God.
"King Without a Crown" is a brown- and green-tinted collection of computer-manipulated clip art, disembodied shots of Matisyahu and his band performing and a smattering of the song's rapid-fire lyrics. Director P.R. Brown also keeps coming back to a street corner, where despondent lost souls trudge off to unknown destinations. What these sad individuals need is a little loving from a divine being who once covered the entire earth with a thousand feet of water because no one would pay attention to him.
posted by daytime at 6:23 PM
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