L THE HEAD TOUCHA レコード& CD

Review: Last year Chopped Herring Records offered up a fine album of vintage demos from Massachusetts MC La Da Head Toucha, a rapper who never quite hit the heights commercially many expected he would. That was not for the want of trying though, and his double A-side 1997 debut remains a much-loved underground hip-hop classic. Here it gets the reissue treatment, appearing on seven-inch for the very first time. A-side "Too Complex" is superb, with La Da Head Toucha delivering Q-Tip style flows over a sparkling, golden-era beat that makes great use of Don Blackman samples. Flipside "It's Your Life" is a deeper affair built around a slightly stripped-back beat which is nevertheless a bona-fide head-nodder.