Words By Jimmy Valentime

Keith Murray…Real Name No Gimmicks…

Simply put, Enigma is one of my favorite albums of all time. Mainly because, the album is verbally complex but still entertaining and enjoyable. Keith Murray shows a large amount of humor and aggression mixed in with an amazing grasp of the English language, and has applied it to great effect on this album. For people too young to remember the era, Keith Murray raps like if Young Buck smoked the entire encyclopedia. I compare them because both have a love for “The Ganja” and for physically fighting with their rivals.

Keith appealed to me as a teenager because he was able to do verbal gymnastics, yet did not sound soft or weak. As much as people talk about music and lyrics, rap is 75% delivery. Keith has always had that in spades. He had an aggressive sound which made you pay attention even on R&B and club songs.

Enigma has the rawness of a basement demo, it’s all dope rhymes and phat beats (Minus the one songs about Touring “World Be Free” and Dead family “To My Mans”). The verbal complexity helps to act as a contrast to the simplicity in the song structure.

When you pick up a cd like this, besides rewinding you back to where you were in you’re own life, it makes you think of all the news and events going on in the world at the time. The punch lines about the Oklahoma city bombing, O.J Simpson, and Jackie Chan, will make you feel like watching an episode of “I love the 90′s.”

One of the best things about the 90′s is that Jive records actually allowed artists to be themselves. Jive released albums like Midnight Marauders and Ridin’ Dirty which appeared to be true visions of the artist’s creativity. It never sounds like somebody was twisting their arm in an attempt to make them more commercial.

The sole single and video I ever saw for this album was “The Rhyme” . A song about loving the act of rapping and battling. Something that been lost in the whole “styling on you” era we live in now.

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Bonus Beats

“Who Shot Ya” was originally an interlude for Mary J.Blige’s My Life with both Biggie and Keith Murray.

Keith Murray @ Myspace

Stray Shots

Common-Cool_Common_Collected-2007

Good Charlotte – Good Morning Revival

RJD2-Things_Go_Better_Instrumentals

Dangermouse And Jemini-Ghetto Pop Life

Jimmy Cliff The_Harder_They_Come

Jimmy_Cliff – I Am The Living

Bob Marley-Live at The Deeside Leisure Centre 1980

Bob Marley and Peter Tosh-Live 4.10.1975

DAngelo-Live At The North Sea Festival

DJ Quik-Greatest Hits Live At The House Of Blues (2006)

Little Brother and Foreign Exchange-Live in the Netherlands (Mixtape 2006)

Marvin Gaye-Live at the London Palladium

Notorious BIG-Live In London (Unedited)

Stray Shots