Back in stock: Hip Hop/R&B

Review: After his amazing performance on the mainstage at the Super Bowl, this 7" comes out exactly at the right time. Usher showed why he was one of the strongest male performers in pop music with his review of some of his biggest hits in his 25+ year career. A clear highlight was his top ten hit 'Yeah', featured here on 7" featuring Lil John, who also puts in an appearance on the B-side with another club destroyer in 'Get Low'. Not many other tracks represent the 2000s dance club much better than these do.

Review: Dan The Automator and Nathaniel Merriweather came together to magic and epic effect back in 2001 on this superbly named album, Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By. It is a cult classic and much sought-after record that gets reissued here on turquoise vinyl and still sounds as fiercely original now as it did back then. The Lovage supergroup also features Mike Patton, Jennifer Charles and Kid Koala while guest contributors include an equally hefty mix of names such as Damon Albarn, Africa Bambaata and Maseo. Musically this is a seductive mix of hip hop and soul from across the ages, all with a seductive overtone.

Review: With a superhero like Spiderman being recognised the world over by those who've legitimately never even held a comic book, it makes sense that any film adaption should rely on the current sounds of the modern era to deliver an entertaining and reliably engaging soundtrack. Where 2002's game-changing Sam Raimi adaptation boasted a retrospectively cheesy bevvy of nu-metal adjacent radio rock with the film's lead single even being penned by Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger, the music selection on this latest experimental animated series of films; Across The Spider Verse, turns to the current realms of radio dominating pop-rap. Overseen by acclaimed trap producer Metro Boomin and enlisting a who's who of modern artists such as Don Toliver, Lil Uzi Vert, Future, Nas and A$AP Rocky to name just a small handful, the collection serves equally as an of the time and on the pulse soundtrack, but also as a banging collaborative compilation of some of the best hip-hop acts in the scene today.

Review: There are not many songs in the history of hip-hop that are more important than 'Hip-Hop Hooray'. The track single handedly helped catapult underground rap sounds into mainstream success. The song was a massive hit moving into the top ten on the Billboard and #1 on the hip-hop chart and with a memorable video directed by Spike Lee, it was in heavy rotation on every music and video platform. Naughty By Nature became household names and the single went on to sell platinum status. You could not escape this anthem of the streets. Now, the groundbreaking song is reissued on 7" for the first time in over 30 years.

Review: Listen up and pay attention all serious soul heads - Cleo Sol is back with an album which confirms her position at the forefront of UK soul. Sol has a career which reaches back to the late 00s guesting for the likes of Tinie Tempah, but it's within the wider Sault orbit she's forged a renewed presence in recent years. Locked into a productive run of albums which kicked off with Rose In The Dark back in 2020, her latest long player might just be her best as she gracefully glides from piano ballads to pastoral funk, low-slung neo soul bump and beyond. Everything is bound together by her flawless voice and a persistently warm, mellow production, making this sound like a future classic in waiting.

Review: More explosive rap classics get pressed up to handy and battle-ready 7" here courtesy of the TNT label. This seventh volume in their on going series of old school dynamite joints kicks off with a banger from Blu Cantrell. 'Breathe' (feat Sean Paul) has the reggae man dropping his trademark bars in stylised vocal form with Cantrell''s own delivery offering a clean, icy counterpoint over nice low end bump and Cali-style synth lines. Paul again features on the flip, this time adding his words to Beyonce's huge pop hit 'Baby Boy'.

Review: Cleo Sol has emerged on Forever Living Originals alongside the avant-gospel sensation of Sault, and in an understated way she's quickly positioned herself as one of the most compelling, original voices in UK soul. Hot on the heels of Heaven comes her third LP Gold, and it's another masterclass in low-key but wholly intentional production framing some of the most arresting singing and songwriting you're likely to hear all the way through 2024. On Gold especially there's a tendency towards a cosy, in-the-room sound from the live kit and warm keys to the subtle undercurrent of soundsystem mixing attitude, and it makes for an album you'll want to live in for days on end.