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Found this CD reissue the other day at a local music store and dropped it into the system to check it out over the loudspeakers. While it was totally badass, I quickly felt like I got caught listening to Richard Pryor in church as Kain was dropping F-Bombs all over the place. Heads definitely turned.

One of the rawest, hardest-hitting albums of soul poetry of the 70s! Kain -- aka Gylan Kain -- was a member of the original Last Poets, a group who emerged in New York during the late 60s, but were eclipsed by the second (more famous) ensemble sharing the name who recorded for Douglas Records. Kain's anger and passion is incredible -- far stronger than anything you'd hear on any of the better-known Last Poets records of the early 70s -- and this solo record is completely over the top, both politically and performance-wise. The record has a hard hard hard sound -- with over-the-top spoken bits that almost make the other Last Poets seem like they're kind of mellow. Cuts include "Silly Shit", "Harlem Preacher", "I Ain't Black", and "Constipated Monkey". Juggy Murray produced -- and the album's a wild wild trip! - Dusty Groove

Gylan has the kind of natural flow that most MCs would kill for. Silky smooth delivery over a smoky hashish fog from the red-lit underground speakeasy. Recently, Kain has been performing with Electric Barbarian. At a recent show he "came out into the audience and recited in the face of an audience member who was moved to get up and leave, but not before Kain followed the poor man up the aisle. "Kicking Mickey Mouse in his house". Left End of the Dial has more to say.

This man makes the Last Poets he left behind sound like schoolboys trying to sound pissed off. Kain would make Gil Scott-Heron run away for fear of being exposed as the effete he became before he turned into an out-and-out drug addict. There aren't any other records like this; this is the sound of the apocalypse...

Kain - Harlem Preacher