What we have here is a gloriously brash split between two international hip-hop talents. The slippery and contorted grime of Japan's Catarrh Nisin and the steely dancehall smash of Uganda's Swordman Kitala. Both sound dangerous cutthroat and resolute in their own firm but graceful way on blue forty-four. Catarrh, with the help of producer 6v9id, sounds like he's training for an MMA match in a rainstorm- striking trashcans, utility poles, wood panels, and whatever else is handy as he splashes around in the dirty water, bruising his knuckles and hardening his resolve- one lightening fast jab after another. By the time the rapid fire of his flow and the grit and grimace of his beats has faded into memory, you are left with the solid impression that this is not a dude you want to mess with. On Swordman Kitala's side, his elastic and taunting flow weaves around in tight dangling lines like the strings of a giant spiderweb dripping with slime- hanging around you ominously and leading you to wonder if you've stumbled into the domain of a mischievous deity with an insatiable appetite. At least that's how the first track of his side, "Your Ma Babe," feels. The following track, "We De Gail a Mad Over" has a slight reggaeton bend to its breezy dancehall clatter, and the last track, "Jangle Fever," is a contender for a worldwide, block party banger, with cool Caribbean rhythms and an infectiously repeatable chorus that demands to be shouted back at the sound system that it's bumping out of. Whatever your expectations are headed into blue forty-four, you should prepare for them to be obliterated.
