McKinley Dixon: Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? review – literary, urgent rap | Rap
Richmond, Virginia rapper McKinley Dixon broke out in 2021 with For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her, a lush collection of expansive jazz-rap tracks that made great use of his elastic flow. From bar to bar, he could shift gears from laconic and unbothered to tense and tetchy; the album’s improvisation-heavy production let Dixon stretch out and play, ducking and weaving through wandering upright bass and noodling horns.Dixon’s fourth album tightens its lens: skipping by in 30 minutes, its songs possess a renewed…