Marcel P. Black is an emcee from Baton Rouge who has been releasing music for the last fifteen years. In that time, he’s worked with everyone form Skyzoo to D. Horton to Substantial to Mega Ran, just to name a few. Four years ago, he teamed up with Nashville producer M Slago to make an EP called 4Tha CLTR. Now they’ve reunited for a second round, Moor CLTR EP.

The idea behind 4Tha CLTR was to make some music that was specifically about hip hop culture, something to create conversation within this particular niche. Now that it’s time for round two, you can expect more of the same, and I mean that in the best way possible. M Slago has a unique chemistry with Marcel P Black, where the beats still hit hard and sound very Southern, but they find that sweet spot in between trap and boom bap. It’s very soulful and humid, which in turn gets Black sounding extra passionate and urgent as he addresses his concerns about the state of hip hop culture and celebrates other aspects. It’s a beautiful project where at one moment he can chide rappers for performing over vocal tracks, but then turn around and create a discussion about how he sees himself in lineage with KRS-ONE, using hip hop to entertain and educate the people. We also get a few guest spots, which include 1st Verse, Truth Universal and Wordsworth. They all take the assignment to heart and deliver some great verses that help take the whole project up a notch.

Moor CLTR is about two hip hop veterans with great working chemistry just checking in with each other and making some music that addresses the thing that they both love – hip hop itself. It’s not rocket science, but when it’s done this well and with this much skill and passion, you just care that the music both bumps and gives you a lot of food for thought.