Cunninlynguists Will Rap For Food Black Vinyl Edition

Coalmine Reissues in partnership with Stunning English are pleased to announce this special edition vinyl reissue of CunninLynguists’ celebrated debut LP, Will Rap for Food, marking the first time the album will be available on wax since 2005. Consisting of founding members Deacon the Villain and Kno, the duo would make a name for themselves for their East Coast-influenced boom bap with a southern charm, abound with battleready braggadocio and side-splitting humor. Right from the intro, the pair get down to business, delivering a balanced combination of both lighthearted subjects and weighty material, produced largely by Kno, whose skillfully crafted soundscapes would catapult him into the upper echelon of beat makers with his style of ’90s New York loop-digging and chipmunk soul. On the lyrical tip, Deacon and Kno manage to incorporate punchline rhymes, introspective musings, and your more standard rap boasts without ever sounding forced. Deacon is especially adept at the wordplay, where heopens up the album with the line, “The music makes me high even though I stay away from cannabis like Wyclef.” In addition to their quick witted bars, the duo also chart out more emotional terrain, with Deacon’s confessional account of finding himself through hip-hop on “Mic Like A Memory” and Kno’s painful story of abandonment by his mother on “Family Ties.” With the album title and scattered skits of two panhandling emcees, the CunninLynguists playfully appeal to both the mainstream and underground dichotomy, without dwelling on the distinction.