AJ Suede is an artist from Seattle who has been active since the mid-2010s. He has really come into his own and ramped up his production in recent years, now culminating in his busiest year yet in 2022. We already saw his debut on Fake Four, when he released Metatron’s Cube with Televangel. Then he came right back with Hundred Year Darkness, collaborating with Small Professor. Now he’s back with his third album of the year, this time a self-produced project called Oil on Canvas.

AJ Suede is such a dynamic emcee and he’s worked with such talented producers as collaborators, it can be easy to overlook the fact that AJ Suede is also a talented producer. However, when you get a project like Oil on Canvas, it’s hard to ignore the fact that he’s also cooking up some really interested beats as well. Everything on the album is deliberately paced, delivering some great grimy midtempo underground hip hop that puts everything right in front of you and demands that you pay attention, both to the production and the lyricism. Suede isn’t doing anything too unusual or unexpected with the album, but he is pushing everything in a direction that is slightly darker, weirder, and just a little off-kilter. He’s doing so in such a way that you never go into autopilot as a listener, because you never know what new element might be introduced, or when Suede might switch up the beat completely and take you in a new direction. Complementing all of this is Suede’s clear and direct delivery on the mic, where his mix of abstract poetry, shit talk, and personal confession blend together perfectly with the production and again keeps you engaged as he moves from clever wordplay to keen social observations that can just cut through the noise. He also brings in an interesting mix of guests, with Blass 89, Eldon Somers, Pink Navel, Zilla Rocca, Astral Trap, Rich Jones, and Bloodmoney Perez all join in the fun. Each artist gets a chance to shine, and all of the different voices and deliveries provide a nice contrast to Suede’s approach on the mic and help give the album a nice balance.

AJ Suede is having a really nice 2022, and Oil on Canvas completes a nice hat trick for the Seattle artist. This time around he gets to showcase his production skills, which – no surprise – are just as good as his skills on the mic. It’s a well rounded album that will please fans of that grimy underground hip hop sound.