When KRS-One refers to himself as the Alan Greenspan of hip-hop on "The Movement" he's really not that far off. Much like Greenspan, he foresees the boom and bust of his own culture and is not afraid to make bold predictions concerning its fate. On Kristyles, rap's moral barometer takes a break from failed gospel-rap experiments and from dissing innocuous emcees like Nelly in order to clean up the rap game. The scathing indictments begin on "Ya Feel Dat", where he chants "Gold, diamonds, platinum I give to my wife / Y'see diamonds are a girl's best friend, not mine". Over rolling bass lines he philosophically slaps materialistic emcees upside their jewellery-plated heads on "Gunnen' Em Down". As is the case with all KRS albums the beats with the most boom-bap are the ones not supplied by him or his crew; DJ Revolution's "Things Will Change" and Da Beatminerz "Underground" stand out. Outside of a few unoriginal forays ("Survivin'" does a disservice to Brand Nubian's "One for All" backing track), Kristyles is enjoyable. Yet it could have been a classic: as with many of the album's immediate predecessors, the near-genius flows and concepts overpower terribly average beats. Even at his worst, KRS-One is light years ahead of the rap pack, but can someone please two-way Pete Rock and DJ Premier for beats? --Dalton Higgins, Amazon.com
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