Juno Recommends Hip Hop / R&B June 2020

Review: Fresh from the release of his tribute to hip-hop culture's dancefloor roots, the essential "Disco Rap" single, DJ Moar returns to familiar territory with a guest-packed album of boom-bap beats, blink-and-you-miss-them skits, and deliciously deep rap songs. Moar's backing tracks ripple with warm and woozy instrumental flourishes and jazzy samples, while the accompanying raps, from MCs including Napoleon Da Legend, Dirt Platoon, Sadat X and LS Brigandes, are on-point and entertaining. Such is the all-round quality, in fact, that it sounds like a long-lost set from hip-hop's golden age.

Review: Terrel Wallace AKA Tall Black Guy's previous release was a delicious deep house rework of a classic Chaka Khan cut. Here he returns to his hip-hop roots with a track dedicated to the memory of legendary Swedish beat-maker DJ Devastate. In its original form, "We Rollin' For You" is a sparkling chunk of rolling, loose-limbed instrumental hip-hop rich in crunchy, off-kilter MPC drums, stirring stream samples, and brilliantly chopped and re-arranged heavenly vocals. On the flip you'll find a more experimental, sharply edited "remix medley" - in effect a series of short takes with barely time to breathe in between, which together form a coherent suite - from Max I Million and Ion Zaar.

Review: When rapper and multi-instrumentalist Mac Miller died of an accidental overdose in 2018, he left behind an unfinished two-part album project: "Swimming" (released last year) and "Circles", which has now landed on wax after getting a digital release earlier in 2020. It's a musically diverse and mostly introspective affair, with Miller shuffling between styles wearily and switching roles (singer-songwriter, rapper, multi-instrumentalist, beat-maker) seemingly at will. While such role hopping could have resulted in a sonic mess, the set sounds surprisingly coherent, not least because the thread running through it all is Miller's painful soul searching and well documented mental health issues. As a posthumous full stop to a life ended all too soon, "Circles" certainly hits home hard.

Review: Fresh from the release of his tribute to hip-hop culture's dancefloor roots, the essential "Disco Rap" single, DJ Moar returns to familiar territory with a guest-packed album of boom-bap beats, blink-and-you-miss-them skits, and deliciously deep rap songs. Moar's backing tracks ripple with warm and woozy instrumental flourishes and jazzy samples, while the accompanying raps, from MCs including Napoelon Da Legend, Dirt Platoon, Sadat X and LS Brigandes, are on-point and entertaining. Such is the all-round quality, in fact, that it sounds like a long-lost set from hip-hop's golden age.

Review: Since first slipped out as an ultra-limited cassette back in 2015, demand has been high for wider reissue of beat-maker Mndsgn and mic man The Koreatown Oddity's first collaboration as Vivians. Listening to this much-needed vinyl edition, it's easy to see why. With a string of guest MCs and producers lending a hand, the mix-tape style affair delivers a contemporary take on the classic West Coast rap sound, where synth-heavy 80s funk jams are looped and cut up more than jazz records or James Brown breaks. It's not quite G-funk, but there are enough nods towards it to suggest that it was in the two Los Angeles' artists thoughts when they created the album. Either way, it's a gem of an album.

Review: First featured on Nas' peerless 1994 album "Illmatic" - a classic that really should be in your collection - "The World Is Yours" is a classic Pete Rock production that has never appeared on a seven-inch single before. Mr Bongo has decided to set the record straight, pairing the album version, which includes some of Nas' most potent lyrics, delivered in fine style as you'd expect, with an instrumental take that showcases Pete Rock's brilliant beat and tight, on-point scratches. It's a deliciously baggy beat all told, with sampled pianos and subtle jazz lifts combining cannily to create a suitably laidback, golden-era groove.

Review: Regular Juno customers will no doubt have noticed the recent spate of Smif-N-Wessun reissues from Wreck Records. This is the fourth "45" pressing in an ongoing series that also includes similarly must-have golden-era hip-hop gems as "Bucktown" and "Sound Bwoy Bureill". "Wontime" was first released in 1995 and sees the NYC duo spit typical thoughtful, on-point rhymes over a beat crafted from little more than the James Brown "Funky President" drum break, some deep and drowsy chords and occasional snatches of Spoonie G's early hip-hop classic "Spoonie Rap". That deep, head-nodding beat can be heard in full on the accompanying flipside instrumental mix.

Review: Rawkus Records regular R.A The Rugged Man has received plenty of plaudits for his recent album "All My Heroes Are Dead", which marked his return to the full-length format after a gap of seven years. Here he delivers a limited-edition "45" featuring one of the album's most potent cuts, Slug and Eamon hook-up "Golden Oldies". Featuring a blend of crunchy beats, sweet '70s soul samples, loved-up chorus vocals and some tight, on-point raps from the man himself, the track lives up to the nostalgic promise of its title. Over on the flip there's a first vinyl airing for the previously cassette-only 2013 cut "It's Gone", a stuttering slab of 21st century boom-bap produced by former DMC World Champ DJ Noize.

Review: Ivan Ave's new album - his first for three years - has all the makings of an essential summer classic. Hazy, humid, languid and quietly colourful, it offers a soulful, sun-soaked fusion of modern soul, yacht rock, jazz-funk, drowsy electrofunk and hip-hop that sounds superb blasting out of speakers on a sweltering summer's day. It's immaculately played and produced too, with the Norwegian's own sung and rapped vocals being complemented by the voices and musical skills of a fine cast list of guest artists. Impressively, this cast-list includes Silentjay, Byron The Aquarius, Kiefer, multi-instrumentalist Sasac, Hiatus Kaiyote's Clever Austin and chanteuse Sarah Naero.

Review: Earlier this year, Brooklyn rapper Fred The Godson (real name Frederick Thomas), became one of the first underground hip-hop artists to lose his battle with COVID-19. Like all deaths from the virus, his passing was a tragedy, particularly since he looked like he was on the verge of a major musical breakthrough. "God Level", his first album for Air Vinyl, will therefore remain his most memorable musical moment: a contemporary take on the "gangsta" style notable not just for the quality of his lyrics and delivery, but also the quality of the warm, rich, inventive and self-produced beats that sit beneath.