In a region that privileges distinct and original voices, Keak is something special. The Bay Area emcee has a voice that's somewhere between a whisper and a growl; it's demonic and desperate, yet somehow manages to be rhythmically nimble and exact. Keak grew up in a musical, Southern household (his mother was a DJ, and both parents are from Alabama). After migrating to Oakland, Calif., as a child, he emerged in that city's vibrant independent hip-hop scene. Keak's earliest hip-hop i...  [+]