[Local]
Makell Bird
How to Walk on Water
**
Never quite congealing into a cohesive piece, this CD is sort of the musical version of a run-on sentence: You end up getting lost in the verbosity. At 25 tracks long, it’s a lengthy listen, although not an altogether unfulfilling one. Once you get past the disjointed sequencing of the tracks, the various odes to the Bay Area and Atlanta and the too-long interludes about hassling cops, you find that Bird—who calls himself the Mixtape King of Las Vegas—is a capable storyteller, if not a compelling one. As out of place as it seems, track No. 20, featuring a fiery speech about the foibles of the American empire, is a welcome surprise.
[Local]
Son of Sid
The Kingpin Compilation
*** 1/2
Solid production and above-par lyrics delivered in East Coast-meets-West Coast patois elevate the first offering from Son of Sid, an East Coast transplant who’s been in Vegas for many years building a career as a producer. The beats are reflective of Sid’s turntablist days—nary a weak one abounds, and all collude to enhance Sid’s voice. But for a handful of momentum-halting, female-focused songs toward the end, The Kingpin Compilation might be the crowning achievement of major-label-ready local hip-hop so far this year.
[Local]
Y.A. The Poet
Automatic
***
Street poetry is Y.A.’s claim to local fame, but his real calling card is signifying for Vegas. No matter the beat—East Coast, crunk, Cali gangsta or what I call V-funk, a Vegas-ized version of the slow, synthesized-based melodies popularized by Dr. Dre—he’s Vegas through and through. So much so that his undying pride in his hometown and neighborhood (West Las Vegas) creates sort of a caged-bird effect: He misses an opportunity to chronicle the ills that plague his stomping grounds. More than the title track, “Automatic” is a bump-it-out-loud-in-your-car anthem that flips the chorus several ways.