Juno Recommends Hip Hop / R&B: October 2022

Review: Snips is a relative newcomer to the production game, but that hasn't stopped them from envisioning and thus realizing some of the best re-imaginings of hip-hop classics out there. Taking classic songs from lesser known rap artists like Da Bush Babees, Souls Of Mischief - but also drawing on legends like Queen Latifah - this short EP is a fiery slew of jazzy, cloud-hop bootlegs. The thug life clearly did choose Snips.

Review: It's been 17 years since Danger Mouse's last hip-hop album - the epic collaboration with the late great MF Doom. For the first time since 2005, we have a new one, Cheat Codes, to get stuck into following collabs with Daniele Lupi and Karen O and some production work with Gnarls Barkley and Gorillaz. It is a triumph, too, with tough beats uplifting while the rapper lays down endless bars that are free for choruses. It is a mix of the new school and the old school that is utterly, typically, intoxicating.

Review: Omar S sets his considerable dancefloor skills to something a little different on a new 7" featuring the vocal talents of TroiAlexis. A young talented Detroit female songwriter who was discovered by Omar S at the Conant Gardens Party Store when she sung acapella to him at a Hi Tech party, TroiAlexis lends an air of soulful class to Omar's trademark electro-slanted electronics on both sides of this single. There's a stripped down - and we mean stripped right down - bass heavy R&B mix on the A-side, while the flip has a sturdier house mix that still gives her voice room to soar.

Review: Two remix-mashups come courtesy of Hoffstein under the pseudonym 'Westside Doom', dedicating some well-known MF Doom acapellas to some new instrumentals. The producer behind these cuts is Eets, who lends murderous, xylophonic moods to Doom's '2 Stings', while an even slower instrumental, full of lolling strings and warring ambience underpinning Westside Gunn's alto raps.

Review: A shining light of Florida's contemporary RnB and rap scene, Denzel Curry has left a strong impression in the past few years with albums and mixtapes which shift through styles while holding true to the tradition of Southern hip-hop. Melt My Eyez See Your Future is billed as Curry's most introspective and personal album to date, and that sentiment comes through as clear as day on lead single 'Melt Session #1' backed up by Robert Glasper. Other guest spots come from Buzzy Lee, Saul Williams, Bridget Perez, T-Pain, slowthai and more besides, all feeding into a fresh end result which comes on like an instant classic fronted by a dexterous, confessional voice. For the collectors out there, don't sleep on this damn fine limited edition burgundy vinyl issue.

Review: Here's an intriguing remix choice by Pepe Bradock, Coda Deep and Ame: 'Big Booty Express' channels hot-footed twerkage into scratchy yet weighty house beats, over the course of four exclusive mixes on 12". The original beat, which also appears here, was a solid and rather crude piece of space-age lo-fi, filled with Dilla-ey noise wreckage. It was the only Dilla beat to ever come about as a tribute to Detroit techno. And for that, the three remixes lend completely new ideas to the original, tooting and farting into a nice n' raw ether.

Review: A unique smashing of worlds between funk and hip-hop, this fantastic, vibrant, red-and-black splatter 7" brings together a host of collaborating greats, all of whom have contributed in major ways to both sounds over the years. With Dan Ubick on guitar (Breakestra, Big Daddy Kane), Julius Augustus on bass (The Sandollars), Dan Hastie on organ (Orgone, Alicia Keys), Steve McCormick on dobro and Professor Shorthair on the cuts and edits - and mastered by Dave Cooley (J Dilla, Madlib) - this is a mournful yet masterful example of live-recorded battle breaks.

Review: The early works of Declaime and Madlib continue to be honoured with the 'In The Beginning' series, which now sees its second instalment. The rapper and producer are a deft and wieldy collaborative pair, and are known to have formed a pair-bonded voice for the city of Oxnard, California to thrive proudly. The tracks collated here were previously lost, and made between 1993 and '96.

Review: In a break from their usual program, Circoloco look to Chicago and the rising star that is NEZ. Previously spotted last year on Three Six Zero alongside Felix Da Housecat, now NEZ throws down three varied cuts that show he's one to keep tabs on. First up comes 'You Wanna?', a pumped up peak time house cut with our man upfront inciting the dancefloor to come alive. 'Let's Get It' drops down into trap mode with Schoolboy Q jumping on the mic, and then the B side turns the heat up with the mighty Moodymann and Gangsta Boo chipping in to create a party monster in 'Freaks'. Skip this one at your peril.

Review: On her second album, Sudan Archives is bringing it all back home. As a reflection on LA and Cincinnati, where she was raised, Natural Brown Prom Queen sees the Stones Throw icon pushing her craft and charisma further into the stratosphere. This time around she's let other people in on the production process, teaming up with MonoNeon, Simon on the Moon, Hi-Tek and Nosaj Thing, and also invited her family in on vocal duties. The sound is as versatile as her vocal style, and it's undoubtedly already a shoe-in for those coveted album of the year lists which start to loom on the horizon around this time of year. This is essential stuff, make no mistake.

Review: Originally released in 2010, this album from Madlib's Medicine Show series saw him delving deep into the pocket of mother Africa for his source material, coming up with new slants on his unmistakable grooves. The samples centred around African records from the early 70s, from Afrobeat to funk, psych rock to soul, from all over the continent. Of course, Madlib is one of those artists whose signature is so strong, it all ends up sounding like him, but these high-life guitar licks and dusty drum beatdowns add an extra layer of vibe to one of the illest producers to ever do it. 37 beats taking you deep into the continent where it all began.

Review: Pete Rock is widely hailed as one of the most important producers in hip-hop history, and with good reason. From his early groundbreaking work with CL Smooth onwards, he's brought a heavy sound steeped in the East Coast style, but with a sharp approach to production which makes his beats land crisper than most. His Petestrumentals series reaches back to 2001, when BBE deemed it necessary to shine a light on his next-level tracks. This fourth volume takes you back in on the expert touch of a grandmaster, with a clutch of productions so vibrant you never even imagine an MC riding on top.

Review: Few labels exist simply to 'preserve' classic hip-hop more than they focus on re-editing or throwing new light on songs. But Funky Dividends are different; they eschew all ego in their efforts to freeze music in time, and nothing more. This thoughtful vinyl reissue of The East Flatbush Project's cold and sinister 1996 classic 'Tried By 12' features the original song in all its shivery glory, not to mention the rare instrumental version on the B-side. Its main motif will be etched into the brains of hip-hop heads for years to come.

Review: Chief stoners and innovative hip hop heads Cypress Hill remain a much-loved act with a distinctive sound of their own that leans on their unique flows, groundbreaking beats and weed-laced rhymes. One of the band's biggest early tunes was this one, 'Hand on the Pump'. Lyrically it muses on the dangerous mix of rap life and thug life in LA at the time they wrote it and of that time they have said before "It wasn't uncommon for us to go party out with like fifteen cars and everybody has got weapons in the cars." Either way, it remains a classic joint today with the bonus tune 'Hole In The Head' on the flip.

Review: House of Pain's debut album House of Pain (Fine Malt Lyrics) is 30 years old in 2022. To mark the anniversary, the Tommy Boy Records label has served up this remastered, limited-edition release on heavyweight wax with orange and white wax in a plush embossed sleeve. It is the full treatment for a classic album from this rabble-rousing Irish-American crew. They were a big breath of fresh air when they arrived, hitting the local rap and alt music scene in their own inimitable and unapologetic fashion. 'Jump Around' is of course the most iconic hit and it saw global chart success but the whole album is just as fun.

Review: Some 30 years after it was recorded, Das EFX's acclaimed (and long out-of-print) second album, Straight Up Sewaside, finally returns to vinyl. This is undoubtedly a good thing, because many rap connoisseurs consider it to be influential duo's most impressive full-length. It's certainly an early '90s East Coast classic; a "golden-era" gem which saw the pair slow down their previously high-octane, stream of consciousness rap style and strut their stuff over brilliant beats that bear all the hallmarks of executive producer PMD (he of the Hit Squad and EPMD fame). For those of a certain age, it's a highly evocative album, while younger hip-hop heads will marvel at the quality of the brilliant blend of boom-bap, hardcore hip-hop and sample-heavy New York brilliance.

Review: This stone-cold killer classic is now 25 years old. A full quarter of a century. To mark the anniversary it gets a special new reissue on vinyl and CD. It was about as epic as debut albums get when first dropped by the American hip hop group on September 23, 1997. It has production by Hi-Tek and guest appearances on the mic by Talib Kweli as well as the Wu-Tang-affiliated group Sunz of Man, so all those artists bring their own rich influences to the melting pot of beats. All these years later it remains a cult classic.

Review: Surely most of us had a period in our lives - probably during our teens, when we discovered smoking weed at a time when all new musical world are opting up to us - that we fell for the silly charms of noxious hip-hop stoners Cypress Hill? Well 30 odd years ago their debut album make a real mark on the musical landscape and some of the joints from it still bang to day, stoned or not. Here come a bunch of them on this today 7" 45 rpm. 'Break It Up,' 'Real Estate' and 'Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk' all feature and will have you reliving the good old days in no time.

Review: Cappadonna and Stu Bangas come together for a new album on the latter's Brutal Music that is potent both lyrically and rhythmically. Both artists have dropped plenty of heat in the last year or so and now they get tight and cohesive on the emcee's first full-length collaboration with a single producer. It comes nine years after they first worked together on a tune and shows how far they have come with timeless bars and dope beats. Stu has said the album is "a life goal of mine that I have checked off, while Donna added Stu's catalog may be as great, if not greater, than any producer I can name." Wise words.

Review: Santigold's first album in six years comes at a prescient time, having been allowed ample moment to gestate following significant developments in Western race relations (BLM, George Floyd, et al.). The new LP 'Spirituals' is named after the African-American folk tradition of the same name, by which enslaved individuals would sing songs of bondage and entrapment ('spirituals') as a means to transcend their plight. Santigold, now in the 'queen phase' of her career, subverts this trope, deploying pop sensibilities with otherworldly vocal processing to convey the her own modern anguish.

Review: Get On Down are a trusted destination for classics cut to 7" - the kind of weapons it's always handy to have in quick and easy reach when you're ready to set the party alight. On this occasion, we're tracking back to Cypress Hill's 1991 debut, which, let's face it, is loaded with heat from start to finish. Skipping past some of the more obvious picks, we kick off with the P-funk sampling freakery of 'Psycobetabuckdown', which has more than enough juicy hooks to get everyone wiggling. Likewise, DJ Muggs was keeping the pressure up with the sweet licks that power 'Something For The Blunted', albeit a short interlude before we get into the eternal 'Latin Lingo' on the flip. For life long Cypress heads and good time hip-hop DJs of all stripes, this is an essential nugget of funk.

Review: As the lynchpin of The Beat Junkies and a staple part of the Stones Throw legacy, J.Rocc has been diligently digging since his youth in the early 80s. While his long and winding career has taken in ample mixtapes, production stints, breaks collections and more besides, he hasn't released so many of his own standalone beats. That makes A Wonderful Letter a cause for celebration, as Rocc pens a love letter to Los Angeles through a tapestry of tracks which show off his skills as a studio wizard as well as a deck technician. Just listen to lead single 'L.A. Anthem' featuring LMNO and Key Kool and you'll understand all you need to about the angle Rocc is working on this, his second full-length album.

Review: Cypress Hill, got' er 'ultraviolet' on their euphemistic debut single, in which lyricist Larry Muggerud aka. DJ Muggs delved into his own dark and depraved dream with his anger-filled micro-track 'Ultraviolet Dreams'. This new reissue of the Hill's first and most well-known singles also includes 'Light Another' and 'The Phuncky Feel One', and comes to a limited retro-styled 7" record.

Review: Flying High is the debut album from LMD (aka California rap heavyweights LMNO, MED, Declaime). They all join forces for plenty of hard bars and spirited tales that showcase all their lyrical gifts. On top of their mic skills, they also manage to enlist none other than superstar hip-hop producer Madlib. His signature sounds are all over this with mind-bending instruments making for an album of organic and expertly crafted hip-hop tunes. The vibe is classic era boom bop with clouds of weed smoke and spiritual ambiance. It is a truly timeless work.

Review: Sudan Archives is a cutting-edge violinist, singer, songwriter and producer who has quickly become one of the most innovative new artists in electronic music. Her second album Natural Brown Prom Queen again shows off her unique talent. She says that the record is about "discovering your worth, and manifesting a life around that understanding." It is a record about making progress and artistically it sure does that with tunes that pair meticulous production with powerful messages. Both lyrics and vocals are tight, making this a potent listen.