If I lied and claimed that this is an artifact excavated from a dusty crate sealed since 1994, you would not know the difference. Really. Since I’m reasonably honest, the truth is that the 45 was released this year on French-imprint Favorite Recordings. The Funk League are flaneurs too, content to carouse amidst the booming systems and burnt grass of scarcely remembered Brooklyn block parties. To its credit, hip-hop has largely been a progressively-minded art form. But just as groups like The Fresh & Only’s and The Mantles channel the Nuggets compilation and 60s psych with deceptive sophistication, “Through Good and Bad” tastefully recreates from 90s NYC boom-bap. Not by whining about some imagined utopian past, but by bring back Walkman boom-bap drums, gorgeous jazz horns, and Large Pro to kick a relateable tale of relationship woe and reconciliation. Listen to it with your ears.
Download:
MP3: The Funk League ft. Large Professor-“Through Good and Bad (45 Remix)”
