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McKinley Dixon’s 5th Album ”Magic, Alive!” Will Go Down as a Modern Jazz Rap Landmark (Album Review)

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McKinley Dixon is a 29 year old MC & singer from Richmond, Virginia introducing himself in the early mid-2010s off his first couple EPs Nappy Headed & Peter Truman followed by the full-length debut album Who Taught You to Hate Yourself? & The Importance of Self Belief. The spring of 2021 marked his breakthrough in the underground largely due to For My Mama & Anyone Who Look Like Her, which Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? elevated a couple summers later & his 5th LP hopes to tie up some loose ends of it’s predecessors.

“Watch My Hands” was a brief 106 second drumless intro splittin’ through seasons hopin’ all parts eventually collide whereas “Sugar Water”featuring Quelle Chris heads for a jazz rap/neo soul approach instrumentally offering their souls so they can finally have peace. “Crooked Stick” featuring Ghais Guevara takes a bit of a boom bap direction with the beat flexing their legacies are eternal despite the envious wanting to sabotage until the experimental 2-parter “Recitatif” featuring Teller Bank$ dismisses the notion of being civilians.

The sequel to “Run, Run, Run” works in some pianos & live drumming confident he’ll be celebrated when his squad step back on the street & after “We’re Outside, Rejoice!” turns the jazz rap influences back up again hoisting up the child born under the sun advising they hide all cracks in their voice when yellin’ at the sky, “All the Loved Ones (What Would We Do???)” featuring ICECOLDBISHOP & Pink Siifu is this funky, cloudy hybrid talking about their mamas beating each other’s asses if they don’t stop playin’ with ‘em.

“F.F.O.L. (Fist Full of Light)” featuring Teller Bank$ blends these woodwinds & brass usin’ the generational words of their grandfathers just before “Listen Gentle” takes pennies from his thoughts & turns it into $100K. The title track suggests you get in the whip with him because of his plan to make it so his homies stay immortal & “Could’ve Been Different” featuring Blu finishes with them staring out the window, pray their wings can hold their frame.

Magic, Alive! feels the breathtakingly concluding trilogy chapter that For My Mama & Anyone Who Look Like Her began & Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?bridged telling the story of 3 kids who lose their best friend & facing the subsequent turmoil. McKinley & his guests’ consciously abstract performances contemplate what constitutes magic in all forms meshing the sounds of jazz rap, neo-soul, urban contemporary gospel, orchestral music, experimental hip hop, industrial hip hop, hardcore hip hop, rap rock, cool jazz, drumless & cloud rap.

Score: 9/10

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