Juno Recommends Hip Hop / R&B: March 2022

Review: Heat Rock Records's ongoing series hits a superb 11th volume with another crucial pair of floor-filling tunes from the worlds of funk, hip & r&b. It is a return to the golden age and flower power ear of hip hop on the opener by Trew. 'Kamaal & The Gang' (take A Break remix) is led by a mystical flute line and back with stylish horns as well as buttery rhymes. The beats cut deep and then on the flip it is Double A who serve up the hard-hitting b-boy breaks and angular rock licks of 'Can You Hear Me Now?' (The Source Is Yours edit).

Review: Two producers "supplying listeners with a steady dose of flips on a regular basis", 20 Dolla Julio & Bombeardo distribute just that at street level, spicing up our 7" crates with four ratchet, crunk instrumental hip hop releases. 'Here We Go' melds overloaded trap with swung "go" samples and distorted edges, while 'Plaid - Champ' gets at organ-twanging swing and alien spaceship zaps, upping the wonk to higher proportions. Closing cuts 'Get The Fork Up' and 'Roc The Place' switch into dancehall and 90s gangsta boom bap. "If everybody's here then do it to it, cos there ain't nothing to it!" correctly goes the vocal sample. Smouldering stuff from the Californian duo.

Review: Not many heads might know of Blackalicious, a young hip-hop squadron that emerged in the mid-to-late 90s, and whose zulu warrior-themed debut album 'Blazing Arrow' earned them much acclaim. Known for their posi vibes, which the band dubbed a 'positive tip', DJ Chief Xcel and rapper Gift Of Gab rarely delved into hip-hop's stereotyped violent lyrics. Now, the LP receives its much due reissue; for those who remember, a lesser-known Gil Scott-Heron collab, 'First In Flight', even appears on the A-side.

Review: Originally released on CD only in 2004, 'The Best Of Brandy' siphons out the chaff to bring you only the noughties singer's very best songs. Now getting a double burgundy LP release, this marks the its first ever availability on vinyl, and of course includes 'I Wanna Be Down' and 'The Boy Is Mine'; two songs that have had their acapella versions sampled relentlessly by contemporary underground producers.

Review: Contemporary hip hop projects don't come much hotter than this one, with features some of the genre's most vital modern talent talents on the legendary First World label. First up we have Manchester outfit Children of Zeus paired with Black Milk for 'Won't End Well,' a gloriously sweet cut with hard-hitting bars, deep beats and soul to spare. The one and only beat maker extraordinaire Tall Black Guy then joins forces with Allysha Joy for 'Sip Of You.' It has swirling and spaces out synths, gentle beat lurches and angelic neo-soul vocals up top. Perfection.

Review: Packed Rich is on fire, this time joining forces with IROCC for PACCED ROCK. Blast these loud and move yo ass!

Review: Wiki is Patrick Morales, who came up as one third of NYC hip-hop crew Ratking before dropping the solo mixtape Lil' Me and his debut album No Mountains In Manhattan on XL in 2017. Now he's back with his third album Half God, and he's going deep on the experience of growing up in New York and how it's shaped him as a person. His relentless flow of poetic lyricism is delivered in stark terms, backed up by Navy Blue's production throughout. Shy of typical beats and breaks, this is a more musical, flowing kind of rap which hits with nostalgia and sentimentality to match the hard-bitten street-level perspective Wiki invites us into.

Review: Californian rapper-producer Mr. Green tops up his 'Ultimate Supreme Ninja Champion' series this week, with 'Supreme Ninja Training Montage' being the latest in this relentless hip-hop EP slew that loosely bases itself on bootlegged 80s ninja movies. The lead single, featuring the late rapper DMX, gets a whopping 3 different versions, while the equivalent of a small album follows. 'Illegal Laser Gun Dealer', 'Adorable Baby Dragon' and 'Stolen Tuk Tuk' effortlessly capture Green's keen sense oforf neofuturist hodgepodge, as crackly library samples, emotive wonk-bap progressions and far-Eastern movements abound.