Juno Recommends Hip Hop / R&B: Best of 2023

Review: Chief among the multiple formats of De La Soul's debut album is this 2xLP edition - especially as the original one album pressing was famed as being one of the least DJ-friendly long players in existence. Often regarded as the inception of late 80s/early 90s 'alternative rap', the trio incited said era thanks to their declaration of the 'D.A.I.S.Y. Age' (da inner sound, y'all), consciously choosing a flowery, positive hip-hop sound, accessible to everyone. Trugoy, Maseo and Posdunos offer distinct personalities across the project, suggesting alternative ways in which to stay true to one's roots while keeping on the right path.

Review: Ff45 (Friday's Funky 45) welcome Canada's finest Jim Sharp back to the fore with two 7"-ready sure-shots, of the remix/reinterpretation/covers variety. On the A, we hear a flip of J-Lo's pop classic 'Get Right' but reconstructed to dazzling effect, with every part rerecorded impeccably and placed into a fresh breaks-funk context. The B, meanwhile, reinterprets the Armand Van Helden/Common hip-disco-house classic, 'Full Moon'.

Review: Teaming up to deliver another scorching release on Wack records, Smoove and DJP take it back to the 80s, paying tribute to the iconic magazine, Hip Hop Connection - the longest running monthly periodical devoted entirely to hip hop culture and described by rapper Chuck D as "the best magazine in the world". The fitting late 80s artwork is perfectly tied to the tracks inside the sleeve. On the A-side, Smoove makes use of original multitracks from US r&b anthems for 'I Like It', featuring a legendary Brand Nubian rapper. On the flipside, DJP brings us his bright, groove-rich take on 'Vapors' - complete with a rock-solid beat and plenty of enticing piano hooks. These are two tracks you certainly won't want missing from your collection.

Review: Frank Ocean's 'Pink + White' was produced by Pharrell Williams and features some uncredited backing vocals from Beyonce. The track details Ocean's memories of his youth and a time when someone close to him died - someone who had taught him lessons that stayed with him - and so naturally the theme of mortality features a lot. The title comes from the sky he saw while driving with this old friend and it's a gorgeously deep and sultry piece of r&b that comes backed with 'Nights' on this limited edition 7".

Review: American neo-soul pin-up D'Angelo has released a couple of the smoothest records of the last 30 years. He even made a welcome comeback in the mid 2010s and added some more magic to his cannon. Here Kero Uno remixes a couple of his tunes and ups their funky quotient to make them more suitable to dancefloors. First, he flips 'Spanish Joint' into a key-laced and funky workout with low-slung, hip-swinging grooves sure to seduce next to the zippy synth leads. On the flip is his hot take on 'Feel Like Makin' Love', another bona-fide gem full of heart and soul.

Review: Smoove's Wack Records is back with another sure shot 7" of boom bap hip-hop goodness, as the seasoned producer serves up a killer flip of Craig Mack's classic 'Flavour In Your Ear'. There's some serious weight to this version - a real neck-snapper with some big band sass thrown in for good measure. On the B-side, Frezidante steps up with a bold re-imagining of Eric B & Rakim's 'Technique', working some 70s soul tones into the mix to provide you with another party-starting anthem, no questions asked.

Review: De La Soul is never far away from the conversation about great music but as of late, they have been back in the headlines more than ever as their music finally got added to digital streaming sites. Buhloone Mindstate is a lesser-known but just as good album as the most famous Three Feet High and Rising and was a critical success at the time. The lead single has samples of Michael Jackson's 'I Can't Help It' and Smokey Robinson's 'Quiet Storm', there is a collab with Biz Markie on 'Stone Age' and MC Shortie No Mas appears on many tracks including the particularly standout 'In The Woods'.

Review: Whenever you next need to select your dancefloor arsenal look no future than this first volume of battle weapons from the French label of the same name. It's a super tidy 7" with two very different sounds on each side. The first is Mr Doris & D-funk's 'New York Kiss' which is a low slung hip hop joint with East Coast bars and psyched-out guitars. The flip is a mix of two classics to give rise to a new funk sound that is brilliantly irresistible with a killer Clash bassline.

Review: Cinematic soul maestro El Michels Affair unleashes his latest collaboration with Roots co-founder and lyricist Black Thought, bowling full speed ahead into the next phase of his career. Glorious Game is an album-length ode to "the game", an ephemeral concept loosely denoting the group practice of ladder-climbing in hip-hop; the divine hustle; life itself. Through bright soul-tinged electronic beats, instrumental contributions from session artists, and introspective lyrics, the pair once more prove themselves able to convey a complex sonic world.

Review: FF45 welcomes Smoove back for his third edits release, and this one surely won't disappoint: The Pharcyde reign over a beefed-up JB break - what's not to like? - while an instrumental and some bonus bits for DJs abound on the flip, making for a more measured listen in contrast to the more vocally immediate, on-the-beat A.

Review: The debut album from De La Soul (Trugoy, Maseo and Posdunos) gets another reissue here, pretty much ensuring this longstanding Long Island hip-hop trio never stay out of the limelight. Renowned for its uniquely positive spin on hip-hop amid a harsher world of dark, hardball gangster rap, classics such as 'Me, Myself And I' are known the world over, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a soul who doesn't have so much as an inkling as to how it sounds. While they were labelled as 'hippies' at the time, they've since gone on to influence many hip-hop artists internationally.

Review: East Coast hip-hop group Brand Nubian has a sound that is industrial and heavy on the low-end boom. They have just dropped a 30th-anniversary edition of their seminal In God We Trust album and now the members Grand Puba, Sadat X, and Lord Jamar are back with another 7". First up is 'To The Right' from 1990 and then comes 'Slow Down' from the same year and album, One For All. Both are fine examples of the rap sounds of the era and have very much stood the test of time. Well worth having.

Review: Quickly becoming one of the most revered, game-changing groups in hip-hop, De La Soul's penchant for jazz-infused productions and a playful approach to lyricism granted them an instant place amongst the hip-hop greats. Their classic 1991 album, originally released on Tommy Boy, marked a much-awaited return on UK label Chrysalis. Deftly weaving together spoken-word storytelling, witty skits, and innovative sampling, there's a reason why this album is lauded as a keyplayer in the evolution of jazz rap and alternative hip hop genres. Featuring certified classics from the celebrated De La Soul catalogue such as 'A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays,' 'Ring, Ring, Ring (Ha Ha Hey)' and 'Keepin' the Faith', this is a must have for any fans of the 90s East Coast scene.

Review: De LA Soul's debut album gets a reissue in multiple formats this year. Among them, the most likely curiosity is this limited edition magenta LP, celebrating the trio's colourful aesthetic - a courageous move to take back in the 1990s, in a surrounding world of hip-hop darkness. Featuring such hits as 'Me, Myself and I', 'The Magic Number' and 'Eye Know', these are playful songs from hip-hop's veritable straight-and-narrow trifecta.

Review: Martin Reeves aka Krafty Kuts was a key player in the breakbeat explosion at the turn of the millennium. Like many of his peers in the scene, he was of course also a deep digging DJ with an extensive knowledge of breaks and funk and it is that which he twisted into his own contemporary style. Now he returns to those roots somewhat for a seance time on his FF45 label with a pair of hard and hella funky hitting beats. The first is 'Street Hop which is a raw, Nas-style hip-hop joint with tough bars and beats. 'You Got It' then takes the energy levels down a touch for a deeper vibe with bars that remind more of Biggy.

Review: Kiss Klassics have been producing some high-quality promo double singles for a while now, this double headliner of Nelly and Fat Joe being the eighth instalment in their archival series. Side A was the runaway standout from New York rap legend Fat Joe's 2001 titanic-sized album 'Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.)', 'Whats Luv' with the one and only Ashanti. This marked Ashanti's debut year as an artist, the Tina Turner sample hook becoming the soundtrack of the block party and becoming one of the biggest songs of 2002. Side B needs no introduction. "It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes". No matter what you think of Nelly, 'Hot in Herre' continues to have the world in a chokehold over 20 years later.

Review: We now know that Daman Albarn's face-less and animated Gorillaz project was way ahead of its time. The tunes still stand up, too, with early hit 'Clint Eastwood' one of the best they did. It gets pressed dup here to this cheeky and limited 7", its low slung and downbeat groove topped with dub harmonicas and the drawling vocals of Albarn. On the flip is the more sunny, big beat offering of '19-2000' (Soulchild remix) which is lit up with naggy vocal hooks and singalong verses that are ripe for cheery party sessions in the great outdoors.

Review: Boom Bap Classics are back with more of that golden age boom bap and hip-hop heat from the 90s. These are dug out from the vaults and have never been on 45 rpm together and come in mad limited quantities. Zhigge's 'Rakin' In The Dough' kicks off on the a-side with low slung beats and super cool bass noodles. It's a tune that oozes aloofness with the slick bars musing on making money. On the flip is 'Toss It Up', a more b-boy-ready breaks sound with pinging guitar riffs and dusty drum funk powering it along.

Review: If De la Soul is one of the greatest hip-hop bands in the world and 'Me Myself & I' one of their greatest singles, then that makes this 7" a pretty essential one. It is an indie exclusive via Chrysalis and comes as much of the American pioneers back catalogue has been made available for the first time digitally and via several vinyl reissues. It is one of the daisy age power group's most feel good, happy and poppy singles with plenty of samples, not least of Funkadelic's 'Knee Deep.' All these years later it is still an injection of good times direct into the veins.

Review: 'Raven' is the name of the largest species of crow in the corvid family of birds. It's also the name of the second upcoming studio album by Kelela, which comes a whopping six years after her debut Take Me Apart - making this a hotly-awaited LP to say the least. Describing the album as an expression of loneliness as a black femme working in the dance music industry, she's made sure to bring along plenty of company, making this a largely collaborative affair. You've got Kaytranada, LSDXOXO, AceMo and Fauzia on there, all working in ultra-glossy, emotive future takes on dancehall, breakbeat and ballad.

Review: Cinematic soul legend El Michels Affair has written a superb album Glorious Game which is due for release later in spring. Before that full-length with Roots co-founder and lyricist Black Thought - which is a meditation on the state of the hip-hop scene in the early 2020s - we get this taster single from it. 'Glorious Game' as you would expect as all the lush instrumentation and dark soul sounds you'd expect from this artist by now with the added extra of some superbly thought-provoking mic work. 'Grateful' is another heart-wrenching and alluring sound that more than gets us excited for the full length.

Review: Home Hitters deliver another back-to-back reissue 7", this time pitting together two classic but under-sung essentials from hip-hop's Official Canon (TM). On the A, we hear Puff Daddy and the Family's 'Bad Boy For Life', a crunchy, stark, minimal throwback to the rapper and businessman's comeup era. Then comes the tastefully-chosen 'Tipsy' by J-Kwon, a classic just as replete with handclaps and stomps, in authentic drunken crunk fashion.

Review: Never Enough is a much anticipated and long-awaited third album from Daniel Caeser and it comes as a follow-up to Case Study 01. The acclaimed Freudian is in fine form right now having picked up a 2023 Juno Award nomination for Best Traditional R&B/Soul Recording for 'Please Do Not Lean' which featured BADBADNOTGOOD. He also headlined the 2022 Coachella Festival and hit the Billboard Top 20 with his last EP. He reaches new heights here with his thought-provoking lyrics, catchy bars and sensuous r&b stylings.

Review: DJ ADs joins the FF45 roster with two banging remixes of Souls of Mischief & 50 Cent classics respectively. On the A, we hear a version of the former's ''93 Till Infinity', except for a deeper, fuller boom-bap instrumental that revels in its central bass riff and electric-piano staccatos. 50 Cent's remix is the highlight of the B-side, with 'Hate It Or Love It' lent a victorious, brass-laden memory-lane-trippin' beat, more than fit for a king, "rap's MVP".

Review: Canadian-born, London-based DJ Jim Sharp strikes gold again, a mid-tempo jazz hip-hop 7" featuring the flow of Marlon Craft, crisp bars and a silky smooth tone that doesn't skip a beat. Big horns, scratching and boom-bap drums punctuate Craft's message in such an effortless way it leaves you wanting more (Don't pretend you wouldn't want an album with these two laying down the law). The flipped remix is really the star of the show, it would be more shocking if it weren't there frankly. Sharp does what he does best, chopping up and scratching like the best of them whilst a xylophone beat overlays the blown-up strings. It's that perfect blend of jazz, late 90s bling-era hip-hop and "conscious rap" (whatever you want to call it - it'll always be "abstract" to a Tribe fan). The perfect skating anthem.

Review: Norfolk breaks master Chrome has been at it since the 80s, but this is a marker of authenticity that almost goes without saying, not least since his latest 7" 'Don't Stop Get It' needs rather little context to back it up. When your A-side is this bouncy, punchy and deft, most cut-up heads will deem it an insta-cop. That being said, while these sample-heavy originals prioritize maximum bass and treble at all turns, they also flaunt a taste for the weird; the B's 'Funky Atmosphere' is funky indeed, coming thick and fast with its cuckoo-clock-like samples and strange plinky-plonky stutters.

Review: Nothing is off limits for The Altered Tapes crew who are known for cutting, splicing and cross-pollinating anything they can gets their hands on from the worlds of hip-hop and beyond. Every time they drop a new 7" it sells out in quick time, such is the impact of the blistering beast they design. This new one is another potent weapon in the form of a rework of Snap's classic. 'Let The Power Flow' (Horny remix) is driven by dusty breaks and florid trumpet leads, plenty of mean bars and slick funk lines. On the flip is an instrumental that's just as compelling.