At the heels of the news that the Castro family will cease to run Cuba in couple of years, Man Bites Dog’s newest member, Curly Castro, dropped a gem of an album. And in pure Socialist fashion, citizens can download the record for free. Without further Verbally Spacing, hit this link and head to the DJ Booth to put it in your MP 2+1 players.
FIDEL is lined with production and features from some of my current favorites. Blueprint produces the first track which is an in-your-face and abrupt introduction to who Curly Castro is. Fellow Phildelphian Has-Lo has production credits and is on the mic on a few songs, same for Zilla Rocca. Rocca is featured on my favorite track of the whole album, and not because of its title, “Fenster & McManus,” a crazy track produced by Small Professor. Take a listen if you’re still on the fence:
Makes me want to watch Usual Suspects right-the-fuck-now.
There is also some shades of PremRock’s Mark’s Wild Years in “Colored Water Fountain” as Has-Lo produced a track with what I think are some Tom Waits’ vocals in it. I could be wrong, because my knowledge of Waits stems from Jim Jarmusch and Mark DuBuque. FIDEL has everything I look for in an album. It’s my first taste of Curly Castro yet it seems like I’ve been listening to him for years. And to be quite honest, I don’t see why you haven’t downloaded it yet.
“What about it, Pretzel Man, What’s your story?”
“His name’s Verbal. Verbal Kint.”
“Verbal?”
“..Yeah.”
“…’Roger’ really. People say I talk too much.”
“Yeah, I was just gonna to tell you to shut up.”
Filed under: Album Talk/Review, For All The Broke Willies, Hip-Hop, Music Tagged: | Brooklyn, Curly Castro, DJ Booth, Fidel, Man Bites Dog, Philadelphia
Please shut up, Roger Spacey.