Though we might have slept on Buffalo rapper Chae Hawk's impressive, highly cinematic debut album, it may be good time for buffaBLOG to second what Artvoice has already recognized: Chamus Felton Hawk is the real deal. Dance Party for the Heavy Hearted, a fully developed, impeccably produced exploration into Buffalo's darker alleyways is full of irony and contradiction, poetic complications set to some very club-friendly grooves.
Chae Hawk has emerged fully realized, offering sophisticated production values that rival the best of what Top 40 radio transmits. Fortunately, Hawk is deeper and grimmer than most pop artists, unafraid of perverse, dangerous, and terrifying territory. On his violent, apocalyptic, drug-fueled music video for "Remember This Night," Hawk literally sets the city ablaze, exploding familiar Buffalo sights.
Effortlessly incorporating fellow locals Grabbitz, Mikealis, Keith Buckley, and Jayce Levi, Dance Party for the Heavy Hearted is a rich, demented album high on narcotic drive. Whether documenting "Creeper Weed" paranoia or pleas for salvation from the abyss on "Heartlock," Hawk masters hip-hop as an art form, presenting material as skillfully crafted as anything in the industry today. For every moment that the record rides the Skrillex wave a bit too hard, Hawk brings two or three innovations that leave the listener dizzy with exhilaration.
Dance Party for the Heavy Hearted is the sound of the 21st century crackling through oblivion with electric life, the desperation of the Queen City's streets seething onto tape. We may have missed its release a few months back, but its suggestion of Hawk's future as a performer cannot be ignored for long. Chae Hawk is a serious talent ready to deliver Buffalo's story to the rest of the world.
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