TekForce is an artist from Dallas who has been releasing music for a few years now, most notably dropping his albums Tek Support and Server Crash Pt. 1 back in 2015 and 2016, respectively. For his career, he’s mostly been known as an emcee, but with his latest project, Teknikally Beat Stage 1, he switches things up and drops an instrumental album, showcasing his abilities as a producer.

This is somewhat new territory for TekForce, so it seems appropriate to grade this project on a curve. The good news, though, is that it doesn’t need that much of a curve, because it’s clear that TekForce has been doing his homework. Each individual beat is solid, and he does a great job of showcasing a few different styles and influences, while still managing to sequence it all in a way that makes the album flow and shows how everything is connected. The album opens with “Robo in tha Flesh,” which brings in an intense symphonic score and sets an intense tone from the outset. From there, we get some old school ‘80s beats that will get people breaking on the floor, we get some 8-bit production that hints at the nerdcore side of TekForce, and we get some gorgeous downtempo. There is some anime-sampling that also leans towards the nerdcore side of things, but even if you don’t recognize the sample, you can still just enjoy the good boom bap that TekForce is translating the samples into. My personal favorite was surprising to me, both because I didn’t expect to hear it, and I certainly didn’t expect it to work as well as it does is “Family Rise.” On the track, TekForce samples “Without Us,” the theme song from Family Ties, and he turns it into a beat that absolutely slaps. I never thought I’d be typing those words, but here we are.

TekForce is a talented artist, and as he shows us on Teknikally Beats Stage 1, his production skills are catching up with his ability on the mic. I can’t wait to see where he goes in the next stages.