I've Seen Rivers

I just wanted to do a quick post about an indie hip-hop duo I've been listening to a lot of this year. Nicolay & Kay are a rapper from Houston (Kay) and a producer from the Netherlands (Nicolay) who put out a concept album this year called Time:Line, which over the course of 13 songs loosely follows a character from his birth, to coming of age, to being killed by gunfire, to hanging out in the afterlife. Kay has great song ideas and knows how to tell a good story (which make up for him not necessarily being the most versatile MC in the world), and is very well supported by Nicolay's beats, which owe something to hip hop producers like J Dilla, but also have the echoes of Boards of Canada style electronic music around the fringes. I'm surprised by how little attention this album has gotten, I think it's a really beautiful collection of songs. Below is one of my favorites: