10 New York Hip Hop Albums, Mixtapes, EPs Worth Hearing [June 2011]

Soul Khan - Acknowledgement - EPSoul Khan
Acknowledgement [EP]

Soul Khan, the veteran battle rapper and titanic-voiced member of the aforementioned Brown Bag AllStars, recently released Acknowledgment, a 6-track solo EP that quicky demolishes the often-surmised concept that battle rappers have difficulty making worthwhile songs. Possessing one of the more distinctive voices in the genre, Soul Khan enunciates in a tightly coiled cadence, seeming to verbally ricochet off of every drum sound like a game of sonic pinball, hitting every micro-interval with quantized precision. A tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, emphatic delivery and obvious love for the art of rap makes it easy to acknowledge Soul Khan’s EP as a must-listen. Standouts include “Speeding Bullets,” “Alec Baldwin,” and “Soul Like Khan,” but the whole EP is a no-track-skipping affair.