My inbox is rammed full of the same old stuff – excellent material, the majority of which I sadly don’t get round to posting. But you can imagine the type of tunes I’m flooded with: fizzing distortion, buzzy electro-tech, tonnes of wonky fidget, synthy disco, a handful of dancefloor-orientated dubstep and lots and lots of booming bass. When it comes to hip-hop styled tunes, I tend to receive alot of bmore, remixed hip-hop, mashups and lots jump-up-and-down crunky material. But never straight-up hip-hop.
So when this sunny slice of old school hip-hop landed in my inbox many months ago, it was a breath of fresh air: hip-hop, no, really good hip-hop. Clearly influenced by the relaxed and soulful style of the likes of A Tribe Called Quest and The Roots, Boston’s Black Element dropped his ace album two months ago, boasting both lively bounce and lyrical prowess. Like The Cool Kids, he refuses to fall to hip-hop cliches, and rather than rapping about guns and bling, elects to eloquently divulge real and personal problems. It’s All Relative is a blog exclusive and a highlight of the colourful, sprightly album ‘A Major Minority’. A whistling, uplifting tune pipes along to scratched-up backing, vintage percussion and some delicious rapping. Superb hip-hop:
Black Element – It’s All Relative (Family First) [pelski highly recommends]
