Camu Tao “King of Hearts” Review

After 12 years Camu Tao’s memoirs are far from deadbeat; a true visionary that was lost to cancer in 1998, far before his time. The fusion of what may happen if Kanye West and Andre 3000 conceived (God forbid), perfectly describes the inner workings of “The King of hearts.”

Tao proves yet again to be a Jack of all trades, with amazing production values, and up beat jazz-esque hip-hop. Coupled with strong hooks, and an oddly more than modern electronic aspect Tao lives up to underground street cred.

“The Perfect Plan” is an intelligently written and excellently produced plan of attack urging a woman not to “start an argument, we’re already naked.” Furiously catchy and just a song, you can tell Tao had fun with.

A bunch of tracks on the album were a bit passé, or under developed (due to Tao’s untimely passing) and were also a bit lacking in lustre. Having said that, the handful of great songs including “The Perfect Plan”, “Plot a Little” and “Death” far outshine and make up for any water under the bridge tunes. Tao knows how to put a song together, and write tracks that break free from normal subject matter.

“The King of Hearts” is a nice break from some of the mainstream, Top 40 hip-“pop” that’s been making its rounds on the radio waves. Well worth a listen and energetic as they come, Tao presents his last words of wisdom that he makes contagious. Not an instant classic by any means, but a worthy effort of such an underground legend.

R.I.P Camu Tao 1977-2008