In the first half of the decade, rapper and producer Black Spade repped St. Louis crew Soul Tyde, that city's neo-soul answer to Wu-Tang Clan, maxing out at about 14 highly motivated members. Spade had been compiling solo album material since 1997, and even had a hit of sorts on local radio, "2 Step", but his album was delayed partly because he was boxed in by the group's overzealous leadership. He kept at it, however, and was eventually discovered by Om Records' brass at a Bay Area show he played in 2004.
And now, 11 years after its inception, the 32-year-old MC's debut is finally out, squinting at the sun after having undergone major reconstructive surgery. Gone is its turn-of-the-century Like Water for Chocolate/Black Star vibe in favor of a fairly psychedelic, electronic overhaul that seems to draw as much influence from Radiohead as Common. (There's also reggae, r&b, soul, jazz, and even indie rock in there.) This is certainly for the better; To Serve With Love is that rare future-sounding, cohesive rap album that doesn't really feel like much else out there.
Opener "To Serve With Love (Intro)" is a gleeful, quirky, off-beat, Kurzweil 2000-crafted electronic tune that shows off Spade's ample ability with a synthesizer. Spade produces all the tracks on this CD, sampling Cheech & Chong DVDs, Flora Purim, and even an uncredited song or two spun backward. Many were recorded in the St. Louis basement studios of Kenautis Smith, a mixer/beatmaker/magician who has produced for approximately every good MC in the lower Midwest (he now lives in Chicago), and the CD is brimming with current and former St. Louis underground talent, including Rockwell Knuckles, Wafeek, and three ex-Soul Tyde members: Coultrain, Spade's younger brother Tef Po, and Gotta Be Karim. Spade, who now spends part of his time in L.A. recording and enjoying the sunshine, also pays respect to his Big Muddy affiliation with a bit of Chingy-style slur on "Not for the Bullshit" ("I show you how to do that thurr/ Pay dues but no one currr/ See it's so unfurr.").
The album was named for the 1967 Sidney Poitier movie To Sir, With Love, and in total it's about Spade's loves-- of girls, friends, possessions, and weirdness, even when said love is destructive. But mostly it's about his endearment for music. This is not the most novel concept, and while one never doubts his sincerity the lyrics aren't quite as interesting as the tunes, full of cute but not really memorable turns like, "I want to take from the rich and give to the poor/ So we can buy fly shit at the clothing store." It really doesn't matter too much, though, because this is not a lyricists' album; it's barely even a hip-hop album. "Everything's gonna be all right," he sings on "Good Crazy", "everything's gonna be crazy." Exactly.
