Emapea is a Polish producer who has been releasing music since the mid-2010s. He had a breakthrough stateside when he teamed up with Los Angeles emcee Kid Abstrakt to release the album Jazzy Vibes in 2020. Since then, he’s had some great solo releases, including Bees, Trees, and Flowers. Just this past November, he dropped another album, Still Got It, on Hip Dozer. Now he’s back once again, this time with a full-length album called Beat Catz Jazz.

Sometimes you don’t need to overthink things. This is an album called Beat Catz Jazz, and it is full of great boom bap hip hop instrumentals crafted by flipping some dusty jazz samples. It’s a time honored technique in hip hop for a reason, and when it’s done well, it’s one of the best vibes in all of popular music. The good news here is that Emapea is a really talented producer, especially when working in this vein, and he delivers some really great beats on this album. Using vintage samplers such as Akai s950 and s3000XL, you really get that throwback feel to the beats, and Emapea is really putting in the work to find some interesting samples and flipping them in creative ways to keep the music varied, funky, and fun to listen to. He’s also putting the work to make sure the tracks are nuanced and he develops them in such a way that you’re taken on a nice journey with each song. It’s not just a beat tape where he establishes a groove and then just stays there, these are fully formed songs with memorable melodies and beats that will keep your head bobbing.

Beat Catz Jazz isn’t doing anything new, but it’s doing it very well. Certain styles persist because people like them and boom bap built from jazz samples is certainly one that has lived on because of this. Emapea is delivering an album in that style that is accessible, well-made, and just a lot of fun to listen to.