Hi, everyone. Roughthony Stufftano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new McKinley Dixon album, Magic, Alive!

Rapper, songwriter, McKinley Dixon, back with his fifth full-length album, the follow-up to 2023's Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?, a record that was praised for its jazzy instrumentation, poeticism, as well as literary references. And Magic, Alive! here continues to see Dixon at an artistic peak, incorporating even more jazz and live instrumentation, as well as narrative into his very hooky, energetic, lyrical brand of hip hop.

And as to be expected, this record is a concept album, one where three friends seemingly try to bring a fourth friend of theirs back who was seemingly killed. As a result of that, a lot of this album's content is devoted to just trying to grasp the gravity of death. I suppose in a way, you could see it as almost being seen through child's eyes because it's being dealt with in a way, where it's seen as maybe something that could be solved through imaginary or otherworldly means. You could also say there's this profound loss of innocence going on as well as a result of that in a lot of the lyrics in this record, too.

Also, once again, like with his previous recent projects, McKinley Dixon manages to fit all of this in a pretty compact project. We just have 11 tracks and 35 minutes of run time on this thing, and yet it is such a dense and layered record that seems to communicate so much in a fraction of the run time that some artists typically use. And I think a lot of that can be attributed to how Dixon structures his ideas on this album, or rather how he doesn't.

I mean, there's undeniably a focus to the major themes on this record, that is for sure. And the ending feels almost like a cliffhanger, no pun intended, given that the chorus makes allusions to jumping off a roof. I digress, though. Once you get a sense of what this album is about, what the point of inspiration is, you can put together the puzzle pieces pretty quickly in terms of all of the references to death and resurrection, eternal life, prayer, light, death, magic, concrete, the sun. It is a little scattershot, because all of these references aren't always aligning consistently or in the most obvious of ways. Also, the perspective Dixon or any given guest is rapping from isn't always clear off the bat, too.

But again, for sure, the consistency is there because even among the features on this record, be it Blu or Pink Siifu or Ghais Guevara or Ice Cold Bishop – all these guys apparently got the memo as they also themselves feed into the major themes on this record, whether it's all the bars about fighting and protecting yourself and this mother-son connection on the track "All the Loved Ones", or again, friends who have been lost on one of the opening tracks to the record "Sugar Water", where Quelle Chris raps about keeping alive those who have passed that you love by celebrating them and talking about them.

So, yeah, this is a concept that provides a lot of layers on this record, and I still feel like I'm unpacking the philosophy of the album, too. But the real magic of this project truly comes through via Dixon's rapping as well as the stellar production on this thing. Many of the instrumentals provide these live, jazzy funk blends with big horn sections, sometimes some great gospel influence, too. And not only is the production on this thing just a refreshing change of pace from many of the just very regimened pop and rap beats that you'll find out there today, but it's also Dixon doubling down on the instrumental palettes of his last album and doing it in a way that is just better, because the beats, the performances, if you will, are much more detailed this time around. There's more improvisation, more variety, more versatility. It sounds as lively as some of the classic, say, Tribe Called Quest, or even the Roots have dropped back in the day in terms of just that organic synergy between a rapper and what sounds like, much of the time, a live band.

And as a result of that, some of the best musical highlights I've heard all year have turned up on this album, whether you're talking about the horn lines and choral vocals on "Sugar Water", the menacing sax harmonies and jazz guitar transitions on the track "Crooked Stick", or the epic cinematic jazz sound palettes on the sequel to the track "Run, Run, Run". And on the song "Listen Gentle", the arrangements almost take a bit of an orchestral and classical tones, surprisingly, especially with this just absolutely breathtaking ascent in the second half.

And then there's the title track, which is handily one of the most fiery numbers on the entire album between the slick flute runs, hype chants, sinister bass lines, and very punchy boom bap grooves.

Instrumentally speaking, this record is just all killer, no filler. The one moment I was less than enamored with, which I mean, stood out because, again, we're not talking about a record here that's super long. It's a pretty trim project. But there is the final movement of "FFOL", where the drum improvs and the guitar improvs, as well as these autotuned rapped lines, come together in a way that's so chaotic and messy that it's incoherent.

But with that being said, the rapping for the most part on this record is excellent. Truly, Dixon at his best, whether he's painting pictures of death and summer days and generational pain with the opening words of the record, or on "Sugar Water", where his delivery is just locked in and passionate as he is laying out the major themes of the album.

On the opening verse of "Crooked Stick", he switches up his delivery and flows pretty significantly in such a way to where it feels like he's borrowing from greats such as Del the funky Homosapien. And he even manages to play into the record's major themes as he brags on lines like, "My skin can make the living dead or the dead come alive / Might put an OG on this beat, watch his career get revived."

On the sequel to "Run, Run, Run", we see Dixon exploring these ideas of living forever through success and legacy. He also brings up the idea of people turning to religion for the wrong reasons, maybe in times of pain or shock or horror. The classic jazz rap flows that Dixon dives into on the track "We're Outside" are excellent, too. I love the way he can instantly switch over into writing that is much more contemplative as well as confessional on "All the Loved Ones", as many of the memories he brings on that track being raised by his mother are pretty moving and profound. To boot, this track also has one of the most haunting and hilarious choruses on the entire LP: "My mama said she might whip your ass!"

The closing track is one of many interesting switches in perspective on the album, as there's a moment in the track where Dixon is essentially looking for answers to all of these crazy existential feelings and questions. He's looking to this poster in his room, and the poster responds to him in verse with Blu rapping as the poster, which communicates back to him to seek the answers that he needs in himself, in his music, and so on and so forth, which is a pretty interesting culmination point for the album, for sure.

But yeah, just like, what a great, powerful, emotional rollercoaster ride of an experience that is, again, very impressively packed into such a tight and direct space. I guess there are parts of me that wish for the themes of this record and its major narrative narrative points to have maybe played out in a way that was maybe more, I guess, linear and spelled out, and had maybe more of a traditional story arc of sorts. But I still feel like in at least an abstract fashion, the message of this record certainly comes across. Dixon's words still add up in a way to where they're greater than the sum of their parts, and their somewhat scattershot presentation does really allow for the instrumentation and the songwriting and his flows and delivery to really steal the show.

But yeah, highly impressed with this record, and Dixon has definitely done it again. I mean, I would say actually outdid himself, which is why I'm feeling a strong eight to a light 9 on this album.

Anthony Fantano, McKinley Dixon, Forever.