In 1996, with the weird sounds and the futuristic raps of Dr. Octagon, Kool Keith had clearly heralded the forthcoming indie rap wave. The veteran rapper wouldn't comply with this movement's next phase, though. He would never try to get respectable, or become a conscious rapper. The ex Ultramagnetic MC, on the contrary, would dedicate his next album to the most politically incorrect of all rap themes, the only one worth talking about: sex, sex, and sex again.
Funky Ass Records :: 1997 :: buy this record
This topic had previously been explored by our outer-space gynecologist. But there, with Sex Style, it was the one and only subject matter. The album's author even branded a new genre, pornocore, to categorize his record. Half a pimp, half a sexual pervert, Kool Keith was straight to the point, and he pushed as far as possible the limits of dirty rap. With his lyrical ease, he mentioned all possible sexual practices and deviances. According to him, nothing was more boring than regular girls; therefore, using his natural skill for metaphors and similes, he spoke about pornstars, masturbations, blowjobs, anal sex, and urolagnia.
The rapper, however, had another obsession to share with us on Sex Style: his scorn for wack MCs, especially those from his home city, New York, whom he accused of stealing his style ("Plastic World"). Those guys, he had just escaped to settle in California, were also depicted on a pornographic mode. They were all considered as gays, in a pure homophobic mode ("Keep It Real ... Represent"); or even as transsexuals. "Keep it real… represent what? My nut", Kool Keith declaimed about his peers. And also, so that his contempt was even clearer to all, he pretended several times he would delightedly urine on them.
Even when Kool Keith decided to talk about something else, sex was never too far away on Sex Style. And so that the record was even more monolithic, the music – apart from 3 tracks from T.R. Love, of the Ultramagnetic MCs - was produced by one man only: Kutmasta Kurt. Oh, sure, this beatmaker was not as bold as Dan the Automator. Contrary to Dr. Octagon, this record was only made of simple loops, and the usual boom bap formula. This was good, however, and solid. It fit well the depraved delirium of the MC. It was perfectly designed for the original weirdo of rap music, his visionary guy, the man who, much before anyone had heard about Odd Future & co, had reconciled the scandalous and the bizarre. I named the great, and eternally cool, Keith Thornton.