Pius Mayanja, aka Pallaso, has traveled quite a ways in his young life, honing his reggae/Afro-beat/hip-hop stylings all the way from Ugandan slums and landing in a pretty plum Portland music scene to put his big beats to work. His latest, the “Now You Know Mixtape” with Kage, is a clubby indulgence, making up in machismo what it lacks in originality.

The mixtape title track busts out of the box with whirlwind bluster and in a Sposian moment calls Portland, Maine, out as though it were in the 213. That’s fun enough, but what’s more fun is the edgy, crunknasty beat that ensues out of the speakers. A spare piano nods approvingly as these goofy MCs make noise to the ladies. Nevertheless, this track can and will get your hands up in the air, and should be echoing off the Atlantic for many a rum-swizzled night this July.

The mixtape features ample ’90s R&B samples, hooks cruelly dehumanized with Auto-Tune (there has to be a better way!), and some Deltron-style goofrap to fill the verses. It’s not horrible, but it’s not particularly special, either. Then again, it’s not clear if Kage and Pallaso want to create something memorable or just get butts on the dance floor.

Seekers of substance need not apply here, but haters are haters, and Pallaso and Kage seem to be setting it off just right in the particular space they occupy. You just have to put your T-Pain hat on and commit. Jell-O shots, anybody?

Mike Olcott is a freelance writer who lives in Portland and Boston.

 


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