When you read an album title like Let’s Blaze, you can’t help but expect the worse – hackneyed rap music about drugs, sex, and money. So I was relieved to find that Toronto-born KO bypasses all that mainstream garbage. The urban artist harnesses an eclectic style (both in his vocals and music) and gets deep and personal about his past and lifestyle.

KO has no qualms about revealing his struggles with past addictions (which reduced him to living on the street for a time in his late teens). The first and eighth tracks, sound bytes of a voicemail message from a worker at a rehabilitation facility KO attended, give listeners a glimpse into what things were like for this young artist and set the tone for the rest of the album.

With a heavy emphasis on lyrics, many of the tracks take on a slow solemn tempo. KO’s views on drug use, life’s hardships, and death are genuine and candid. The mix of rap, soul, and folk make this album a unique representation of the urban music scene, which appropriately incorporates a diversity of styles. KO’s voice is mature and crisp – his words are sung with emotion and precision.

“The Ballad of Jimmy Roscoe” demonstrates KO’s ability to be a riveting storyteller while “Drunk” and “Represent” let us know that KO still enjoys a good time. After all, he’s a young man – you can’t expect everything he sings about to be forlorn and this album does, in many ways, celebrate his new life on the up-and-up.

Track Listing:

1. Rehab Intro
2. Mountains
3. Miss U
4. Drunk
5. Capable
6. Radio
7. Bourbon (Crack Song)
8. Rehab Interlude
9. Let’s Blaze
10. This Life (Punches)
11. Kurt Kobain
12. Goodman
13. Ballad of Jimmy Roscoe
14. Represent