Hip Hop / R&B Recommendations February 2016

Review: Ras G, or Gregory Shorter Jr as he's known around the Los Angeles county, has been active since the late 2000's, and he's stuck close to both Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder family, and also the Stones Throw-related Leaving label. The latter has put out the majority of his material, and Ras G is back on the imprint with a hot n' heavy new LP in his familiarly odd strand of electronic outsider hip-hop. The album is more bass than beats, with "Disciple09-1" unleashing a swarm of low ends onto an ocean of side-stepping percussion and eerie melodics. The following tracks take on a similar form - one that never steers too closely to any one genre - but Ras G keeps on twisting and turning, morphing his tunes into bonkers and heavily improvised jams. This is probably the sort of tip that Dilla would be on these days, one that's deeply infused with the rough style of house and electronica that swoops us daily. Beautiful and recommended, through and through.