Juno Recommends Hip Hop / R&B: July 2023

Review: Teaming up to deliver another scorching release on Wack records, Smoove and DJP take it back to the 80s, paying tribute to the iconic magazine, Hip Hop Connection - the longest running monthly periodical devoted entirely to hip hop culture and described by rapper Chuck D as "the best magazine in the world". The fitting late 80s artwork is perfectly tied to the tracks inside the sleeve. On the A-side, Smoove makes use of original multitracks from US r&b anthems for 'I Like It', featuring a legendary Brand Nubian rapper. On the flipside, DJP brings us his bright, groove-rich take on 'Vapors' - complete with a rock-solid beat and plenty of enticing piano hooks. These are two tracks you certainly won't want missing from your collection.

Review: Boom Bap Classics are back with more of that golden age boom bap and hip-hop heat from the 90s. These are dug out from the vaults and have never been on 45 rpm together and come in mad limited quantities. Zhigge's 'Rakin' In The Dough' kicks off on the a-side with low slung beats and super cool bass noodles. It's a tune that oozes aloofness with the slick bars musing on making money. On the flip is 'Toss It Up', a more b-boy-ready breaks sound with pinging guitar riffs and dusty drum funk powering it along.

Review: 2021's Sometimes I Might Be Introvert catapulted British rapper Little Simz into the big leagues. It's not an understatement to say that Simz became the artist to watch out of nowhere, instantly becoming a fan and critic favourite, crashing into the top 5 of the albums charts, collecting Mercury Music Prize, Mobo, Ivor Novello and Brit Award wins. NO THANK YOU is yet another delicious left-field turn for 29-year-old Simbiatu Ajikawo, sleek, succinct and utterly propulsive, it's Simz' defiantly punk rock, two-fingered salute to conformity and fame, and all the expectations and restrictions that come with it. Recorded with her regular collaborator Inflo, this is Simz at her most free, daring and spontaneous - a notion that should leave fans lightheaded with joy.

Review: The 45 King was given unprecedented access to the rescued master tapes in the archives of the recently relaunched Westbound Records label in order to create the beats for this bumper album. The music of Junie Morrison and Ohio Players features heavily of course as The King pays tribute to the original iconic breakbeats that helped make him such a don in the hip-hop world. This box has seven singles in all, with 13 of these new tunes all appearing across seven differently coloured slices of wax.

Review: American singer and songwriter Janelle Monae has been invigorating the world of hip-hop and r&b for well over a decade now with a series of well-received and still oft-referenced albums. The Age of Pleasure is her fourth and has been a long time coming for fans. The eight-time GRAMMY Award nominee has an inimitable style and visionary sound that often comes steeped in important social commentary. Monae herself is unwavering in her activism for social justice and the LGBTQIA+ community and this album shows she's just as fiery in the studio across two sides of wax that feature guests like Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, CKay, Sister Nancy and even the one and only Grace Jones.

Review: American singer and songwriter Janelle Monae dropped her second album The Electric Lady back in 2013 and it was a fine follow-up to the critically acclaimed debut she broke through with in 2010. Critics again fawned over its songwriting and progressive soul style with influences of hip-hop, gospel, jazz, rock, pop and reggae. Dystopic cyborg concepts again defined the album with genre experience and plainspoken words exploring plenty of personal and emotional territory with guest appearances from high-profile names such as Miguel, Erykah Badu, Solange and Prince.

Review: Harkening back to some of the best and earliest hip-hop to grace the earth, 'Ced Gee and Kool Keith' from a reunited Ultramagnetic MCs is a paramount example of the rap game's early ideal of gregariousness and ostentation. A throwback to when it was baggy tracksuits and giant clocks; these two primordial rappers work through new funk samples, car bonnet-bumping thumps and dizzying lyricism on an EP that errs more on the playful side than the 'gangsta'.

Review: Underground hip-hop legend MF Doom passed away in 2020, leaving behind an undeniable legacy as the once-bearer of hip-hop's most-legit shadow crown. He wasn't the the king of anything by popular vote, but he certainly was sovereign over a rare kind of flow quality, especially adored by food lovers. Still few knew of Doom's King Geedorah alias, which served as one of his earliest monikers while part of the underground crew Monsta Island Czars. Geedorah's inspirations from old comic books and giant monster / slasher movies first cropped up on Take Me To Your Leader, a tone which would be set for years to come in later Doom material. The instrumentals are just as jaggedy and experimental, and form the perfect basis for the Ninja Tune reissue we have before us now.

Review: Edits master DJ Bacon is back once again, this time for two clever mashups of the work of Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon. 'Raekwondering Lost Part 1' and 'Raekwondering Lost Part 2' splice together vocals from the rap titan's key track 'Criminology' with a deluge of obscurer hip-hop, funk and jazz samples. Both are nothing less than fiery, bouncy, amplitudinal moods for smoove-grooved rooms.

Review: Madlib's back catalogue is one of the most revered in hip-hop and it would be quite interesting to hear a load of jazz cats rework it in their own style. But this essential album from Blue Note is sort of the opposite - the legendary US producer gets access to the vast Blue Note vaults and from that culls his own library and sound and samples and cooks up fresh takes on plenty of classics. As such you will recognise his beats under melodies from the likes of Donald Byrd and Bobbi Humphrey, Ronnie Foster and Bobby Hutcherson. The whole thing has been remastered as part of the Classic Vinyl Edition series so has never sounded better.

Review: Breakbeat Paradise indeed! British breakbeat producer Paul Sitter might as well stand in for Saint Peter at this rate, as we'll happily ascend to the place after death. This new LP, we imagine, is what plays in the background, as we float on upwards: with collaborations with some of the dopest MCs on the planet, such as Craig G, Andy Cooper, Birdapres, Chrome and Dr Syntax, the album is a celebration of the tidal forces of old skool hip-hop and breaks that later fed into one of the best dance genres to grace our ears over the last 40 years. Packed with exclusive vocal cut-ups, mix-disturbing scratches, and mega-raw b-breaks constructions, Hip-Hop Delivery is an incredible tribute to the era.

Review: Boston beatsmith Esoteric has plenty of mileage from his work in Czarface and alongside 7L, but it's been fair stretch since we last had a beat tape from him. That all changes with Burrito Beats Vol. 1, a classic blast of cut n' paste antics slapping down neck-snapping grooves and a tapestry of samples across the full spectrum of our attention-deficit, media-addled reality. Mixing serious chops with a sharp sense of humour, this is a celebration of the hip-hop mixtape in all its glory, showing a producer cutting loose and stirring together whatever sonic ingredients take his fancy.

Review: The vinyl version of Freddie Gibbs' latest LP Soul Sold Separately has finally dropped, doing ultimate justice to one of the rapper's few concept albums. Explaining the toxic relationship between the omnipresence of free drugs in the hip-hop scene and the exchanging of favours that may or may not artistically compromise on the work of the music-maker, Gibbs uses a smart meta-narrative to hammer home the fact that the process of selling one's soul for success in the biz doesn't happen with a single instantaneous flick of the pen, but a slow boiling of the pot - in which it is often impossible to know when the door is closed behind you. Our rabbit protagonist traverses dramatic and confident worlds of hellfire across 20 gut-punching trap cuts, with gloomy highlights including 'Zipper Bagz' and 'Gold Rings'.

Review: If you need a fix of hard knocking West Coast gear from one of the realest to ever do it, look no further than Ice Cube's third album The Predator. Originally released in 1992, it's a potent statement on the powder keg of racial tension in LA and America as a whole, which had blown up mere months after the infamous Los Angeles riots following the brutal beating of Rodney King. From his days in NWA, Cube provided an urgent window into the reality for Black America and it maintains on this classic, backed up by beats from DJ Pooh, Sir Jinx, Torcha Chamba and DJ Muggs. Just stick on 'It Was A Good Day' and take yourself back to hip-hop's golden era.

Review: The Lost Tapes arrived in 2002 and is a compilation album by the legendary American rapper Nas. It came a year after the game-changing wordsmiths come back so was an attempt by his label to cash in. The tracklist includes several tracks that were unreleased at the time having been culled from recording sessions done during Nas's previous studio albums I Am... in 1999 and Stillmatic in 2001. Spsrse, lo-fi beats are detailed with observational lyrics about urban life and as they are nostalgic and quite personal they rather depart from his style on previous records.