This is definitely a vibe I feel everyone should be on. I’ll explain more in the review, but sometimes it takes an artist or a duo to push the narrative of what’s normal or what something ‘should be’ and creates something that is definitely left field in the best way possible. So with that in mind, let’s talk about it!
This is the brand-new album by MC JFliz & Producer DJ Lump, and together they drop a solid 12 tracks with mastering byHilltop Productions and Tali Rodriguez. As I can’t lie, this album is exactly what I needed to be released in today’s time! Let me explain.
If we start with the production, and as it states on the Bandcamp description, it’s a hazy hip-hop record built for late nights, open windows, and letting the moment breathe. Honestly, that’s the best explanation I could ask for because this is exactly what this is!
The instrumentals that this album brings to life are some of the most smooth and beautiful representations of hip hop I’ve heard all year. This is sonic therapy that’s wrapped up as a rap album. Each song compliments the one that came before and offers in the definition of ‘fluent’.
Another aspect of the production is the cuts and scratches! It gives an old-school homage vibe to the project. I also have to point out that the intro track, comparing rap lyrics to diary entries and saying ‘would you care if people didn’t rock with your diary entries?’ And I absolutely love that! It’s a perspective I’ve never heard before, but it definitely fits!
Let’s talk about a few of my favourite tracks starting with -Right Now. If you’ve been following me you know I’m a sucker for that ambiance/lo fi/Soul style fusions and this one hits all the marks! From those Jazz style drum beats, this gorgeous glistening keys that sound angelic as hell and this prominent sync chords that loop the whole track together. I still remember I was eating sour cream and onion pringles listening to this like ‘damn, this is smooth as hell’
In fact we can discuss the track -Played Me (which is the follow up from the interlude above it) but this one is equally as mellow but in a more transparent aspect. This has a more subtle and minimal vibe to it that I fell In love with. This track has some long and elegant chord progressions that are slow and in depth! More rhythmic drums that have a bit more of a lively essence to it like a ‘free form’ aspect to it. Not to mention the chorus notion vocal harmonies blended in with those cuts! That last 30 seconds reminds me of something MF Doom would do to fade one of his tracks out!
We also have the track -Rhythm Of Your Heart which honestly is probably the most straightforward Hip Hop part of this album. This makes me feel like the early 2000’s underground era. You’ve got those drowned/deep echoing chords, infectious guitar strings and a more stripped back drum usage that has a hypnotic effort to it. Considering the themes about family and the somber tone this skeletal movement of sounds makes comes sense!
There are many talking snippets scattered throughout the songs, but that intro one made the most impact to me because it kicks off the theme of the record in the biggest way possible!
To compliment that gorgeous production, we have JFliz, a man I have a varied history with over the years and a man who has shown his appreciation for the art and his persistence when it comes to quality, and his run only strengthens with this one because this might be the strongest lyrically I’ve heard him, period!
On this one, he sounds properly confident and in his element. Using the production as the ultimate pedestal to increase the value and weight of his penmanship and wordplay, which in turn builds his charisma and ability to spit the dopest bars!
On this album, we hear a man who soaks his experience and conviction into each and every bar he spits. The kind of verses you can feel in your body and feel like a bar of gold with each word pronounced. He’s using his inner thoughts, his honest look at life in the current landscape, and what he’s gone through in the past to create the most compelling mini stories and poetry entrances that literally feel like his own batch of ‘diary notes’.
His bars feel like an extension of all various voice snippets across the album. You hear the interesting notions and thoughts given by the multiple speakers, and then you add that on to the start of the bars by J? And you’re left with an atmospherically spoken record that makes you think and leaves you wondering about life itself.
Another thing impressive is that this album is featureless (aside from the one in -Alias on the lead single Get By) So to me that’s always a clear sign that a man is confident and comfortable with his own skills and knows he has what it takes to make a whole record worth listening to from front to back, and so that’s an extra shoutout to the man for this!
If you haven’t heard this one yet, then you are seriously missing out! It’s one of the smoothest efforts you’ll hear all year! Go link it up now!
https://jfliz.bandcamp.com/album/sploofs-nag-champa
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