by Chris Polley (@qhrizpolley)
“I've been waiting to take a deep dive into the abyss / But I missed my chance to advance,” K-the-I??? (née Kiki Ceac) snarls at the top of “Spellcasted Television,” one of the standout tracks on his long-awaited fifth LP Genuine Dexterity. With hip hop super producer Kenny Segal providing the beats, not to mention features from current scene stars Armand Hammer, Open Mike Eagle, and Fatboi Sharif, perhaps the antithetical bar from the song preceding this one (opener “Ionosphere”) is more fitting: “I bet I can touch the sky so easily / Even if you don’t believe in me.” Ceac had largely been MIA since 2017’s hazy collection Euthanasia…Removed from Self, but when he snuck in at the tail end of 2024 with Segal (at the top of his own game no less) in tow, he came in soaring—not into an abyss but straight up into the stratosphere.
This levitation effect transmits to listeners no stronger than in the record’s penultimate track “Tentative Surfacing” which, as its title suggests, continues the ‘returning’ motif while also centering both a smooth, memorable guest appearance by Freestyle Fellowship legend Self Jupiter and a blistering K-the-I??? hook rivaling even the most iconic Blackalicious tongue-twisters from the good ol’ days. One of the most admirable aspects of what Segal and Ceac are doing on this collaborative effort is bridging the genre’s past to its present while also suggesting a very promising future. Whether it’s the unquantized loops, the elasticity of the song structure, or the downright playfulness of the wordplay, the blend here is a healthy heft of humble homage, a supple serving of sardonic and searing silliness, and a daring dash of deft and depth.
Okay, so that backdoor alliterative audition for a guest spot on the mic was foolish, but this is the kind of linguistic and one-and-three euphoria Backwoodz Studioz has rightfully become known for as of late. The Brooklyn-based label founded by billy woods (a.k.a. one-half of the aforementioned Armand Hammer) has quickly garnered itself an impressive stable of emcees and beatmakers of varied backgrounds and generations who all share a similar taste for advancing the underground rap game in the same way beloved boutiques like anticon. and Stones Throw have in decades past. The Backwoodz sound is neither ruthlessly dark (though it can get there, as “Season of the Sickness” does on Dexterity) nor smokily enigmatic (despite the tendencies of the crackling piano riffs and billowing buzz on Segal and K-the-I???’s “A Little Bit”), but it effortlessly threads the needle throughout both of these worlds and more in a manner that recalls how dearly departed weirdos like Eyedea or MF Doom reached unfathomable levels of fandom moments before they left this mortal coil.
Genuine Dexterity is a release that, in a less linearly-focused world, might have lit the scene on fire and cemented itself as a collaboration arguably more important and revelatory than the others which raised Segal’s profile in years prior. Every song has an earnestly elliptical understanding of hip hop as a sonic and social force in a way few artists in the genre do today. The twisted brass blasts of “Warhammer” and the ragged bass fret runs of “Crushed Heavenly” show Segal at his most dialed-in while Ceac going full elder-statesman-mode on “Immediate Imminent Immunity” about everything from political tyranny to introspective self-betterment proves he remains a master of the craft on multiple levels.
December release date notwithstanding, Dexterity is the kind of under-the-radar collection of boom bap barn burners that is destined to play the long game, so if it misses any proper attention now, it’s all good. Ceac’s rapid-fire, reigning-king rhymes and Segal’s intricate-yet-seamless pastiche production take countless listens to break apart and truly appreciate anyway, so it’s likely best to let this kind of genius simmer a bit. K-the-I??? and Kenny Segal are chilling on clouds along with the rest of the Backwoodz gang, and they’re nice enough to send down these gems adorned with little parachutes meticulously designed to reach us right when we need them most.