The Optical Files #40: KRS-One - Kristyles/The Kristyle (2003)

This album exists in 2 versions: the retail one, Kristyles (which I bought on release day, shout out to the long-dead record store in the Gum Springs shopping center on Rte. 1 in Mount Vernon VA) & the self-released street version, The Kristyle, which I bought from KRS at a show. Apparently Kris had a problem with the people at Koch proceeding with the tracklist & album artwork before he signed off on it .(He didn't like how tough he looked in the cover photo.) The Kristyle has a different track order, some of the songs have different titles, & there are a few songs on each version that don't appear on the other one. I'll elaborate on those differences below, but whichever version you listen to, this is probably the pinnacle of 2000s-era KRS-One.

Kris always excelled at concepts. Very seldom do you feel like he's just rapping to rap. Every song has a point, & that gives his albums purpose & personality. Here we have tracks like "Underground," where Kris explains what the title word means to him over hard kicks & spacious ride cymbals; "How Bad Do You Want It" featuring Pito, where a grandiose beat with orchestra & choir accompanies Kris as he discusses how people keep asking him to "put them on" without being willing to make the necessary sacrifices; & "9 Elements," which doesn't appear on the street CD. That's a pity for 2 reasons: (1) I really like the flutes, & (2) "9 Elements" is the most cogent, concise explanation Kris has ever given of the connection between study of the elements & the ultimate goal of victory over the streets. Other songs missing on The Kristyle are "All a Struggle," which rides a nice '70s-flavored blaxploitation soundtrack-esque beat; "Things Will Change," & "The Movement," which frankly I can do without--both beat & lyrical sentiments sound a little too familiar without much to set either apart. 

The beats are handled by a variety of producers: KRS's tour DJ Tine E Tim, his brother Kenny Parker, Ghetto Pros, & a few others. The production heroes are Da Beatminerz, who give us the eponymous intro on the self-published version as well as "Underground," plus the best song on either album, "Somebody." Over an epic orchestral beat with heavy timpani, Kris uses a triplet flow to accent the kick drum triplets as he raps about how everybody has a part to play in the beautiful chaos of life. This song was, & is, meaningful to me because I've always suffered from low self-esteem & envy, & I compare myself to people doing what I perceive to be better than me. In those moments, this song is a balm, reminding me that we are all where we are supposed to be at any given moment, maintaining the balance of the universe. "Somebody gotta be up, somebody gotta be down/ somebody gotta be the teacher, somebody gotta be the clown/somebody gotta be lost, somebody gotta be found/somebody gotta be in the economy making the money go round [...] somebody gotta be somebody, for somebody else to be somebody."

Two other highlights are both beats produced by KRS himself: "Survivin'" & "Gunnin' Em Down." The former sits atop a funky drum loop while Kris & Priest rap about what it takes to stay alive, both physically & spiritually, augmented by a heart monitor beep added to the percussion. Kris laces "Gunnin' Em Down," the purest boom-bap song on the album, with a dusty chopped jazz bassline while he talks greasy to his haters & doubters. Even in a pure ego trip song like this one, Kris always has some gems of wisdom, like this observation about the street life's sell-by date: "If you're over 25 & you never got live when it was time ride, you ain't got no heart/but if you're over 26 & you're still in the mix & your life you ain't fixed, you ain't doing your part."

Aside from being Kris's preferred version, I think The Kristyle (self-released) is a better album on the whole. The sequencing is smoother (I like getting both "Somebody" & "Gunnin' Em Down" earlier in the album, the intro is better (on the aforementioned Beatminerz beat full of funky organ stabs) & it includes 2 songs featuring the always-entertaining Mad Lion: "That's It," produced by Lion himself, & "Stop It," produced by the duo. KRS albums are always better when they have a little dancehall flavor. Another nice touch: on The Kristyle version of "How Bad Do You Want It," instead of spitting his last verse, KRS leaves space at the end of the beat for the listener. "How bad do you want it? Do you know what this mean?/You listening to this CD, drop your own 16." Every time I hear the song, I have to kick a 16 out of respect. It's a cool move, inviting participation & also reminding us that hiphop is a show & prove culture.

(There's also another track on The Kristyle that doesn't appear on the tracklist, perhaps called "True Story," narrative movie-score-bap with a Preemo-esque scratched vocal chorus.)

Both versions of the album end with "The Only One," a beautiful, simple love song about Kris's wife, G. Simone. The gentle piano & background vocals highlight KRS's mundane details about married life, rather than the flashy materialism a lot of hiphop love songs tend to fall into: "We be hanging out late night at Dennys/having conversations about every & any." Just another way the Blastmaster does it a little bit different from everybody else, & why he has such a devoted fanbase.

Pound for pound, I'm not certain this album is necessarily better than The Sneak Attack, Keep Right, or anything that came after in the 2000s. I do think there's an extra level of artistry to the beats here that isn't found on those albums (which sometimes fall into the early 2000s trap of cheap MIDI in lieu of sample chops). Everything on The Kristyle is a little bit punchier. But the objective differences are slight. The real boost that sets this one apart is the time in my life when it came around. I had just graduated high school, & I rode around with this CD all summer. It was the perfect combination of time, place & purpose. KRS has a whole rack of near-perfect CDs, but this is the one I might choose for that desert island.