Pitchfork

Colin Munroe would like you to know he took piano lessons. But only because someone made him. And he quit as soon as he could. Which makes him sort of an underdog. Which makes me wish someone had made me take more logic classes (which I could then quit). Munroe, a well-connected Toronto singer/songwriter last seen turning Kanye West's "Flashing Lights" instrumental into so-so r&b, gets rapidly paced hot-for-piano-teacher rhymes from Joell Ortiz and smooth production from Black Milk-- yes, including piano-- on the aptly named "Piano Lessons".

Auto-Tune slides distinctively on each line, starting out at a higher pitch that suggests Munroe's youth at the time of his short-lived piano training. The video alternates between kids playing piano and Munroe singing or reading children's books. "They said, 'Son, you fail at life if you quit piano lessons," Munroe emotes. "I said, 'So be it,' and walked out the door." And now he's all growns up.

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[from the Colin Munroe is the Unsung Hero mixtape; out now on Marked/Rowdy]