Joseph's Fall Picks 2024

Beats and/or rhymes

Dear Listeners, Joseph here.

This week got a little away from me, but I’ve got a few extras cooking up, including a short essay on noise and gentrification in Montreal, spurred by the announcement that the venue La Tulipe may be closing due to court ruling in favour of a real estate developer.

I’ve also got the next installment of Out of the Box, featuring Knxwledge’s Gladwemet 7” (2018).

But first, I’ve got two installments of my own Fall Picks, featuring records not included on Rich’s already insanely extensive Fall Previews. Look for part two tomorrow.

Let’s get into it with a bunch of hip-hop records I’ve collected under the heading:

Beats and/or rhymes

we don’t cover vocal music at ACL, but i’ve been seriously thinking about starting a hip hop column. i haven’t had time for that yet but i’ve been making up for it with my substack mini-reviews. so here’s a baker’s dozen of recent and upcoming hip-hop records for your fall listening pleasure (alphabetical)

Blackchai x August Fanon ~ OTHERWISE A BLUR
You may recognize August Fanon from his beat placements on classic records by Armand Hammer and Mach-Hommy, or his sole-produced albums for Vic Spencer and Sleep Sinatra, but NY rapper blackchai is likely a new name to most. (You can read more about his pen in this interview with our friend Joseph at Caltrops.) The prolific producer linked up with the young MC after relocating to New York from Texas a couple years back, and the from the sounds of it OTHERWISE A BLUR is just the first of many projects in the works. With additional features from 98PREEM, Noah, Yonnas & S!lence, the words and sounds here are deeply aligned with the radical liberatory politics of the black radical tradition. Hear more about their collab on the most recent episode of the Next Movement pod.
(Released 6 September 2024)

Blockhead ~ Mortality Is Lit!
I’ve previously mentioned Block’s excellent guest-rapper filled The Aux (2023) and Luminous Rubble (2024), which found the veteran producer working with London-based label Def Pressé’s KPM Crate Diggers series, flipping nothing but samples from the KPM Library. This year also saw a 20th anniversary re-press of Music By Cavelight, his landmark debut for Ninja Tune. But he’s back with an instrumental album full of the deep-dive eclectic samples, pretty melodies, and shifting moods and tempos we’ve come to expect from the veteran producer.
(Releases 22 November 2024)

Brian Ennals and Infinity Knives ~ A City Drowned in God’s Black Tears
Infinity Knives announced this forthcoming EP on Instagram, and though I’ve not yet heard any samples or even a hint of a release date, that’s enough info for me to include it in this list. A City Drowned in God’s Black Tears is an EP of outtakes and extras that couldn’t fit on Brian Ennals and Infinity Knives’ 2022 LP King Cobra. That record was among my favorite surprises of 2022, and their earlier collab Rhino XXL is also worth your time. So cop this once it drops to help fund the proper follow-up to King Cobra. The EP title seems to come from the lyrics of the song “Heron Blue” by Sun Kil Moon aka Mark Kozelek, infamous terrible person, but without even flipping anything the line takes on a much greater potency.
(Releases ???)

Cavalier & Quelle Chris ~ Death Tape 2 | We Gon' Need Each Other
Cav appeared on 10 or the 13 tracks on Quelle’s 2013 debut N****s Is Men, a sign of both Quelle’s humility and on the deep rapport between the two rappers. We Gon' Need Each Other is the follow up to Quelle Chris & Cavalier’s Death Tape 1: Black Cottonwood, hinting that the Death Tape is gonna keep going for a while. The first volume was originally vinyl only before being given wider release the following year, so perhaps Death Tape 2 will follow suit. But if you don’t want to wait, this is a chance for real fans to support these artists so they can work in a slightly freer mode than on their own albums.
(Released 28 August 2024)

E L U C I D ~ REVELATOR
If you’ve been following me for a while you know how much I love Armand Hammer, the duo of billy woods and ELUCID. And while woods’ solo work gets plenty of attention, it seems too many of ya’ll have been sleeping on ELUCID. His solo LPS Shit Don’t Rhyme No More, Save Yourself, and I Told Bessie are all unique masterpieces, while a pile of EPs has been testament to how far ELUCID is willing to push his music beyond the confines of hip-hop. ELUCID refuses to “hoe [himself] to make a song sell,” to paraphrase a line from Armand Hammer’s collab with the Alchemist, and with REVELATOR he pushes those sonics even further away from commercial expectations. On “Old Magic” from Bessie he raps “Where I'm is and where I'm at never been the same places/ This side of the ancients, the revelator armed and dangerous.” It’s ELUCID’s time now.

Fat Tony & Fatboi Sharif & steel tipped dove ~ Brain Candy
Sharif and Dove last teamed up for Decay, Sharif’s debut LP with Backwoodz in summer 2023, but the Jersey rapper has released a steady stream of records since with the promise of ever more coming. While Decay was strictly a solo affair, with not so much as a single guest feature, hear the MC and producer are joined by Fat Tony, a Nigerian-American rapper who I recall for his features with the likes of Das Racist, Cakes da Killa, and Black Midi. Both MCs have worked with Dove before, and though they have wildly contrasting styles they make for perfect foils for each other. Some of the best Dove beats I’ve heard in a while as well! Released as a limited edition 12”, with all 9 tracks on the a-side and instrumentals on the b-side.
(Released 26 September 2024)

J.U.S / Squadda B ~ 3rd Shift
Bruiser Brigade engineer and producer J.U.S. returned to rapping relatively recently, but has been prolific since the creative floodgates burst with 2021’s God Goku Jay-Z. For 3rd Shift, he’s joined forces with Bay Area producer Squadda B for the perfect meeting ground between the sounds of Detroit and Oakland. This one goes hard. Features from fellow Bruisers Quentin Ahmad DaGod, Zelooperz, and Fat Ray, plus a rare instance of Squadda B getting on the mic.

The Lasso x The Go Rounds ~ PETAL STEEL
The Lasso (Andy Catlin) is a producer based in Michigan who has been associated with Mello Music Group for some time, but whose earliest tape under that name was released on Already Dead (a label that has featured ACL favorites including claire rousay, More Eaze, Birds of Passage, Lost Trail, and many more). Still, it was Catlin’s 2021 collab with ELUCID as Small Bills that got me locked in, and I’ve been consistently impressed by his subsequent work with A. Billi Free, Fielded, and Armand Hammer. Here Catlin’s versatile funky production is rounded out with sweet vocals by Graham Parsons of Kalamazoo’s cult psych outfit The Go Rounds. No rhymes here, but otherwise too pop for ACL’s traditional coverage, the beats alone are worth the price of entry but I have a feeling this will appeal to many of our listeners when they’re looking for something a little smoother.

Nappy Nina and Swarvy ~ NOTHING IS MY FAVORITE THING
Just when I was wondering what Naps has been up to since the release of her excellent 2023 LP Mourning Due, she announced this upcoming LP with producer Swarvy (lojii, Quelle Chris, Mach-Hommy, Pink Siifu, Yungmorpheus, Liv.e). The Oakland-born, Brooklyn-based rapper never disappoints whether working with frequent collaborators including Jwords or Nelson Bandela, but I’m looking forward to hearing what an entire LP of Swarvy productions is gonna sound like.
(Releases 23 October 2024)

Phiik and Lungs ~ Carrot Season
The TASE GRIP collective members have established themselves as a duo to watch with their Another Planet series, all of which have been produced by Lung’s LoneSword alter-ego. With Carrot Season, the pair have joined forces with POW Recordings and producer OLASEGUN, calling in a slew of guest MCs including YL, S!lence, AKAI SOLO, Fatboi Sharif, Doof, and many more. But make no mistake, these two can hold their own, trading bars like few others can.

PremRock and Willie Green ~ Through Lines
PremRock has proven himself to be an impressive wordsmith with unmatched breath control, over years of solo work and as half of the duo ShrapKnel. Perhaps even more importantly, Prem has shown himself willing to experiment, easily moving from boom bap to jazz to reinterpretations of Tom Waits songs. Willie Green is the secret sauce that’s helped elevate Backwoodz stable of artists over the 15 years; in-demand for his mixing and mastering skills, but also a top-tier producer. His contributions to billy woods and Moor Mother’s BRASS are some of the best on that excellent record, and he’s got bangers throughout the entire Armand Hammer catalog going right back to the beginning. Prem and Green were working together back then too, as evidenced on 2011’s self-titled LP. Through Lines picks up right where they left off, six tracks of moody meditations on love, loss, and acceptance.
(Released 27 September 2024)

Rich Jones & SINAI. ~ Sour Dub
Rich Jones is one of a small cohort of artists who can pull of rapping, singing, and performing, seamlessly blending and switching between these different modes. With production entirely handled by SINAI. (the producer monicker of rapper Sleep Sinatra), Jones juggles rhymes about smoking weed and grief. Gutpunch lines (“Same spot my neighbors walk their dogs/ is where you took your last breath”) get balanced by soulful vocals and anchored by SINAI'.’s propulsive loops. Features include Cavalier, Defcee, AJ Suede, J.U.S and more (including a verse from Sleep Sinatra of course).
(Released 15 July 2024)

Various Artists ~ No Options: Hip - Hop in Appalachia

I heard about this last pick on the Next Movement podcast, so, shout out to E. and Rob. Check them out.

Following his celebrated appearances at the Paris Olympics, Snoop Dogg talked with People magazine about “His Surprising Journey from Rap Rebel to 'America's Most Lovable Person.'” After last year’s 50th birthday celebrations, hip-hop looks be following the same arc in its middle age. Times change, people mellow, expectations shift, reappraisals are made. Wisdom is gained with age. For every teenage wonder there’s now a generation of older rappers (Roc Marci, Ka, woods, etc) arguably doing the best work of their careers.

This compilation of Appalachian hip-hop thus comes at an interesting time, with many of the contributors reflections on their own mortality intermingled with their personal history with hip-hop (“been in love with hip hop, since I was like 4 or 5/ In 5 more years yeah your boy a be 45/ I swear my lifetime steady passing before my eyes”) Hip-hop is often misunderstood, not unlike the region of Appalachia. Dr. William Turner, an eminent scholar of Black life in the region, and ethnomusicologist Dr. Ted Olson developed their appreciation of hip-hop partly through dialogue with younger generations, including Turner’s son, Jomo “JK” Turner, who executive produced this compilation. Hip-hop probably isn’t the first thing you’d associate with Appalachia, and that’s part of the fun. I hadn’t heard of any of the artists, but came away deeply impressed by Deep Jackson, Sista Zock, Monstalung, Stunna T, and so many others. Hip-hop is alive and vital in Appalachia.
(Released 2 August 2024)