88-Keys: The Death of Adam

There has been a fair share of sexually explicit movies recently. Granted, there are some great ones where sex serves a purpose of lust and addiction, like in Closer, or even to symbolize adultery, like in Unfaithful. Then there are films that just abuse it to get across some nudity; movies like 40 days & 40 nights or Sexdrive use sex to sell movie. Before I turn this into a movie review, the new 88-Keys album, The Death of Adam, works like a concept derived from a Hollywood script and it works well. As opposed to being as serious as Unfaithful or as silly and stupid as Sexdrive, Death… ends up working like a well crafted romantic dramedy similar to that of 40 Year Old Virgin or Knocked Up. Even though he has produced classics like “Thieves in the Night” and “Love”, 88 enlisted the help of a close friend, Kanye West (ever heard of him?). Kanye executive produced the album and his influence shows on the very soulful LP that has plenty of healthy erections and explosions all over it; both lyrically and musically.

88-Keys evidently puts out something he has put plenty of work and effort into. Possessing a palpable blend of will.i.am and Kanye in his production, 88-Keys delivers great production on “Nice Guys Finish Last,” “Stay Up (Viagra),” and “M.I.L.F”. His ear for the piano is a really rare one that indulges the listener in the instruments combinations and impact on the track, especially on “Close Call” where the piano loop is addictive.

Lyrically there isn’t much to expect from the album. It is essentially all about sex in a very comedic sense regardless of the tragic story of the sex-crazed Adam. Phonte and Redman provide back to back laughs on “Close Call” and “The Burning Bush” respectively. 88 picks up the microphone a few times to no avail on tracks like “Stay Up,” “Handcuff ‘Em,” and “Morning Wood.” As you can tell, the titles don’t leave much to the imagination and neither do the lyrics of 88’s rhymes, but the production alone could tell the story.

There are a few tracks that are ‘out there’ musically and completely distant themselves from the tone and flow of the album. “The Friend Zone” is a completely different and unusual change of pace from the tracks that precede and follow it. Although the album is fairly short, it is a tad boring. The good thing is that the first time through it, it is one hell of a fun and entertaining experience. There simply isn’t much replay value beyond a few tracks and once the story is known and the reason of Adam’s ‘death’ is announced, the excitement and curiousity of the albums concept is gone. Hey, that’s the risk you run with a concept album.

The laughs throughout this album will always be there. Phonte’s reaction to ‘the patch’ is really funny and Reggie’s burning problem is another humorous revelation. 88 is a very talented producer and he is dangerous when given 88 keys to work with. His sampling of Sly Stone on “M.I.L.F” or Paul McCartney on the Kid Cudi feature, “Ho’ is Short for Honey” show his potential to continue growing into a super-producer. Death is a creative and valiant effort put in by 88-Keys; hopefully he doesn’t give into temptation and join his friend Kanye on the vocoder circuit.

Overall score: 71/100

Standout Tracks:

“Nice Guys Finish Last”

“Close Call”

“The Burning Bush”

“MILF”

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