Review: ‘Psalms’ By, CK Noir

Posted on October 30, 2017 by sparxteam in CK Noir, Editor Chief's Reviews, Home, J. Johnson's Reviews, Music, Sparx Music // 0 Comments

Credit: CK Noir; Edited & Designed by, The SPARX Team

Psalms 4:5 “Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the Lord”.

For this young artist, his righteous nature of struggle and hardship didn’t allow him to stray far from what the Lord had in mind. This isn’t a religious piece of any sort but what this album contains is something we’ve haven’t seen in CK Noir. Another piece of himself through his upbringing and how he saw what the Lord had in store for his past, present, and future.

Written by,
J. Johnson
@sparxmediaz

The anticipation is finally over as CK Noir has officially come out heavy with some new music in an album format. The word of a new album/mixtape was mentioned a month after the release of ‘Henny & Sprite Vol. 3‘ which debuted during the summer of 2016. It would seem that CK didn’t want to pursue the project anymore after he would take a hiatus and release a few tracks here and there but on January 31st, we saw a newly released MV titled ‘Can’t Go Back‘, this was the first sign of any news about “Psalms“. Throughout mid-2017, CK Noir came back with a new direction and reinvigorated motivation to release, “Psalms” with the release of a new MV “Pray” that give you glimpse of what the album will be about. After the release, no other details were revealed other than the hope of the album coming out soon. Now the album has been released and here’s my take on it;

CK Noir latest album entitled, “Psalms” is a piece of music that not only has the modern-day Hip-Hop style but a flavor for all those who worship the nuisance of old school rap and the lavishly detailed lifestyle painted with it in today’s rap culture. “Psalms” is a collective album that has 16 tracks broken into a two pseudo-acts. Act I is titled, Heaven and Act II, Hell. The album also features a small group of artists and producers that helped CK Noir make it possible, Rich Jit, Young Trigguh, Jay Million, Tito Suave, Noxx Cartier, Big Ree, Sohji, DrumDummie, PDub, ClickKlack, PittThaKidd, DJ Swift, RNE LM Beats, Josh Petruccio, and KissiO.

CK Noir takes these aspects of rap and Hip-Hop and projects them into his life. You have to guess that CK mapped the layout of this album in a way that speaks about the personal demons he fought in his life and the good he sees in life, as well as the influence music has on him. It’s like a personal invitation into his life and we hear every last detail through the subtle quips and poetry. The track “Prophecy (Interlude), speaks about a young CK Noir going to church with his mother and learning something along the way. He’s being told by a pastor that God has a bright future that awaits him and he will be able to display that future in a very unique way. However, there are some parts of the album that losses you a bit, not many people will be able to the overall message if they haven’t listened to CK since the beginning, so you lose any potential new fan right there but on the plus side most listeners only tune in for secular audiences like to hear the melody, tempo, lyrics, or the bass. Another quirk about this album is the lyrical consistency that drops at times. It’s a minor issue ~~(for me)~~ but will have a potential to throw the song off entirely and could only lead others to skip ahead.

The album is good there’s the balance of new age and old school rap and hip-hop. CK Noir’s time to make this album has paid off as it’s one of better ones for the balance, execution, and the plot behind each song. We get to see a more spiritual side but with a hip-hop flavor and personally, it’s good to see a subtle and reserved version of CK Noir.

Rating: