RoyKinsey - A Memoir
Written by Chi Chi Thalken on February 20, 2020
RoyKinsey is a Chicago artist who first made a splash in the early 2010s, releasing three albums by 2013. He then took some time off and remained quiet until 2018, when he came back with Blackie: A Story By Roy Kinsey. He now follows that up with his most personal album to date, KINSEY: A Memoir.
While Blackie was somewhat outward focused, looking at the recent history of systemic racism in America, KINSEY: A Memoir is a personal tale, examining Kinsey’s own journey as a queer Black artist growing up in Chicago.
Dillon & Batsauce - Self Medicated
Written by Chi Chi Thalken on February 18, 2020
Atlanta emcee Dillon and Berlin producer Batsauce both have roots that go back to Jacksonville, where they met and first started collaborating in the early 2000s. Two years ago, they teamed up for a full-length album called On The Way. Now they have reunited once again for an EP called Self Medicated.
If On the Way was an album that was outwardly focused, informed by the duo’s worldly travels, Self Medicated is quite the opposite.
Moses Boyd - Dark Matter
Written by Chi Chi Thalken on February 14, 2020
London drummer/producer/composer Moses Boyd has been making a lot of noise in just a few short years. He first started with the groups Binker & Moses and Moses Boyd Exodus, and collaborated with the likes of Nubya Garcia and Terri Walker, just to name a few. It was in 2018, though, when he released his first solo album, Displaced Diaspora, that he really raised the bar by winding his way between jazz, dance, R&B, soul, and hip hop.
Awol One - Tony the Walrus
Written by Chi Chi Thalken on February 14, 2020
Awol One is a legend of the Los Angeles underground, recording for the past two decades as a solo artist, collaborating with people like Factor, and working as part of groups like Shapeshifters. Last year he teamed up with Gel Roc to release an album as The Cloaks, Cloak Encounters of the Third Eye. Now he comes back with a new solo album, Tony the Walrus.
If you’ve been following Awol One’s career over the years, Tony the Walrus will be no surprise to you.
SassyBlack - iBeBae
Written by Chi Chi Thalken on February 14, 2020
Just last September, we got the most ambitious and complete solo album from Seattle artist SassyBlack, Ancient Mahogany Gold. Just when you might start wondering how she might follow up such a project, SassyBlack comes back with a Valentine’s Day EP, iBeBae.
SassyBlack has always made an intimate style of R&B/Hip Hop, one that made use of warm, layered vocals and smooth bass lines. That is to say that it wasn’t much of a stretch for SassyBlack to make an EP devoted to romance.
Lnrd d$try - All City Vol. 1-3
Written by Chi Chi Thalken on February 14, 2020
Lrnd d$troy, fka Leonard Dstroy, is a producer from Kansas City who over the years has worked with everyone from Mac Lethal to Ces Cru to Kutty Slitz. He’s also produced a lot of top notch instrumental music over the years, with his last collection, ADHD Vol. 2 coming out back in 2015. Now he’s come back with a brand new instrumental project, All City Vol. 1-3.
Way back when, before he was Lrnd d$troy, hip hop producer, he was a young graffiti artist in the city.
Json Born - First Lite
Written by Chi Chi Thalken on February 7, 2020
Json Born is an up-and-coming producer from Toronto. He’s released little biographical information about himself other than some influences such as Pete Rock and J Dilla, and there isn’t much music floating out there prior to this album to get a sense of what he’s about, either. Fortunately, though, the good people at URBNET heard him, and liked him enough to put out his debut album, First Lite.
One of the most difficult things to pull off is the instrumental hip hop album.
Joint Beauty - Melty
Written by Chi Chi Thalken on February 7, 2020
Joint Beauty is an up-and-coming producer from Fukuoka, Japan. At just the age of twenty, he’s now joined up with Canadian label URBNET to drop his debut album, Melty.
Joint Beauty might be young, but he has been studying piano for the last ten years, which he combines with a more recent crash course in hip hop production to create this album. On the production side of things, he cites influences such as Dilla, Dibia$e, and Elaquent, and Aru-2.
Prophet - Don't Forget It
Written by Chi Chi Thalken on January 31, 2020
Back in 1984, a Bay Area artist by the name of Prophet released an album called Right on Time. He might have thought so, but while it was funky and soulful, it was also weird enough to go over a lot of peoples’ heads. Next thing you know, decades have passed, and Prophet never followed the album up, leaving it to be an undiscovered classic. That is, until a deejay by the name of Peanut Butter Wolf stumbled across it and started mixing it into his deejay sets.
The Leonard Simpson Duo - LSD
Written by Chi Chi Thalken on January 31, 2020
Back in 2016, Detroit emcee Guilty Simpson went to Auckland on tour. While in the city, a producer named Leonard Charles reached out to him. The two connected immediately and made plans to work together on an EP. Before they knew it, they had gotten into deep and emerged with a full length album. Now the results of their collaboration are finally here with LSD.
When you’ve been making music as long as Guilty Simpson has, sometimes finding someone new to collaborate with can provide your career with a shot in the arm and get those creative juices flowing.