Dan Love has returned from the land of the chief rocka to reminisce on one of the most unsung.
With the recent resurrection of Curtis and Otis by Messrs. West and Carter, I felt compelled to contact my daddy and remind him that things move in cycles. He managed to miss the Q-Tip reference – years of adolescent rap championing clearly fell on disinterested ears – but that didn’t diminish this aging boom bap fanatic’s hope that perhaps the aesthetic that so many of us grew up on and miss isn’t dead to commercial rap after all.
Whilst we wait for that rather sweeping speculation to be proven or crushed, those of us with an inclination towards jazzy loops and ear shattering snares are left trawling through the archives of a period in rap history long past and a recent compilation care of Redefinition Records and under-acknowledged beatmaker K-Def serves as a great way to get yourself back into a 90’s state of mind.
Featuring a diverse range from the producer’s catalogue, Most Underrated offers something for both the initiated and the green from the undeniable classic ‘Chief Rocka,’ through collaborations with hip hop stalwarts such as ODB, Ghostface, Tragedy Khadafi, and UGK. There’s also some new material here to lap up including ‘Time’s Change’ which has recently been released as a special edition 7” and little known rarities such as the undeniably awesome scratch-driven instrumental groove of ‘Rather Uneke’.
The sooner ‘boomshakalaka’ re-enters the public lexicon, the better. Dusty samples and hard drums ain’t the only thing the 90’s had going for them.
Download:
ZIP: K-Def-Most Underrated
