The Taste of Rain... Why Kneel (sometimes stylized as The Taste of Rain...Why Kneel[5]) is the only studio album by Deep Puddle Dynamics, a collaboration between Sole, Doseone, Alias, and Slug. It was released on Anticon in 1999. The title of the album comes from a "western haiku" by Jack Kerouac.[6]
The album received a favorable coverage from URB, Spin, CMJ, and The Wire.[7] It is part of Cokemachineglow's Top 60 Albums of the 2000s, appearing in the "Honorable Mentions" section.[8] Michael Endelman of CMJ New Music Monthly said, "these cerebral MCs turn their emotional hang-ups (dejection, alienation, disaffection, etc.) into their calling card."[2] Dave Segal of The Stranger called it "one of underground hiphop's most understatedly adventurous documents, both sonically and lyrically".[9]
A 2006 review for Sputnikmusic called it "the best hip-hop album of all time, and unfortunately one that will never make it very far out of the underground."[10]