Reviewed by Steve Best

Ski-T-Zo is better known as Cedric Kithima and this strange but wonderful album has been produced to benefit a UK-based medical relief agency called Merlin, raising funds in particular for work in 22 year old Kithima's native Democratic Republic of Congo, which as we all know from those harrowing TV reports has been torn apart by civil war, and where access to health care is all but non-existent. Now you might think that a rap album makes for a strange fund raiser, but wait til you hear this. Ski-T-Zo is clearly influenced by the kinds of world issues - and the causes thereof - that motivate this release, and a powerful statement it is too, dealing as it does with issues facing the whole world, not just Congo. Just check out the strange but brilliant "See Me In You", which is chillingly other-worldly, and "It's All Clear" and you'll see what I mean about a sound that is totally unique. Of the 10 cuts, five are classed as bonus tracks (eh?) and include a very different version of Bob Dylan's "Blowing In The Wind", which is the only song here I really can't get behind. If you're up for some African hip-hop this is for you.

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