House Shoe has been pulling the strings of Detroit’s Hip Hop Scene in the background as something like the link between D12 and J Dilla, and he can look back on an eventful career. 20 years he’s been working as a DJ and producer. That in mind, it seems almost impossible that it took him until 2012 to release his debut album. This might have to do with his numerous and worldwide DJ-gigs as a representative of Motor City or with his family-induced move to the new diplomatic headquarters of Los Angeles. However, »Let It Go« is the long awaited LP by House Shoe, and it was definitely worth waiting. During a good hour, House Shoe delivers a deeply interwoven, harmonious ode to Detroit School’s classical sound aesthetics. He works with the well-known formula of heavy drums, crunchy snares and souly samples. He’s less adventurous in style than J Dilla, but more straight and less erratic than Black Milk, just to make the compulsory 313-references. Bound together by the harmonious motif of the In- and Outro, the album is an expedition through the cosmos called Detroit. Mainly the countless skits and interludes testify to a lot of love for detail, and it takes a few rounds of listening until the true magnificence of the little masterpiece is completely revealed. A nice surprise it is, and it will surely still be well ahead by the end of the year.
Let It Go
