[INFO, TRACK LIST AND PURCHASE LINKS IN DESCRIPTION]
Dr. Yen Lo is a collaborative project between Ka, a New York rapper well-known for his hushed, low-key vocal delivery and his masterful lyrical craftsmanship, and Preservation, a producer Ka has worked with on several other occasions who creates smokey, atmospheric and funky beats with minimalist percussion. Together, this duo has created a very thought-provoking, haunting and uniquely dark record that has an almost free-form feel and is partially inspired by the famous film 'The Manchurian Candidate', from which many of the vocal samples in-between tracks are taken. A spotlighted theme throughout this record is life in the harsh inner-cities, much like Ka's other work, but in keeping with the 'Manchurian Candidate' theme, Ka goes into elaborate detail on how what he and others who grew up in places like where he's from are propelled to do to survive in their harsh conditions are ingrained in them in an almost Pavlovian way; through intense punishment and hardship until the necessary mechanisms are learned and performed. This is not an album to ignore for those who like their Hip Hop mellow, heady and heavily lyrical, as it's overall pacing is slow and methodical.
