There’s almost too much record here to talk about.  Too much record to fit tidily into one genre – it’s a heady blend of rock and hip-hop, with notes of soul and a refreshing pop finish.  But it’s absolutely a record: at 13 solid tracks (plus a remix), it feels longer than most albums, and more richly textured.  And it’s all great: Kokayi’s sound is classic and earnest, and his voice is distinctive.  If there’s anything to complain about in the record, it’s that it aims for (and hits) so much that it defies easy description.

A Washington, DC native, Kokayi pulls off a mean rap about Interstate 95 (“Ninety 5″), which anyone who’s driven the East Coast of US can appreciate.  In fact, he gets away with a lot of what might be gimmicks if they didn’t work so well, like stitching the lyrics to the nonetheless convincing and pounding “RoxTar” out of other bands’ names, or making an auto racing metaphor for the act of physical love last four and half minutes in “Drive” (ASE certification was never so erotic).  But he also goes some dark places with equal success: “Wynter of my Discontent” and “Autumn Places” bracket an introspective and melodic core to the record.  Kokayi is as much wordsmith as tunesmith, and when he raps, the occasional moments of brash bravado are all the more credible for his peculiar – dare I say nerdy? – idiosyncrasies: “you all foosball/ I’m all rugby/ you’re a sweater/ I’m-a let her be my Snuggie.” (“Shpring (What You Want)”)

The title, Robots and Dinosaurs, refers to a sort of running conversation Kokayi is having with himself over the course of the album, one given occasional voice in the interstitial clips of a child ruminating on both robots and dinosaurs (but one I confess I still haven’t puzzled out completely).  Each seems to stand for a one-dimensional aspect of artistry, either side of the narrow and unique path Kokayi has set himself to walk.  He walks it well.  If he’s afraid of being either, he’s got nothing to fear; and if he wants to be both, he already is.

MP3: Kokayi, “RoxTar”