There are musicians who use the hype created by their fellow colleagues to make money and sell their own stuff. But the best those people can do is produce something that is usually not even close to the original. And although you could think Ras G is just taking advantage of the FlyLo-mania, the Rastafari from LA is actually doing the exact opposite. On his new LP Down 2 Earth Gregory Shorter Jr. proves once again that there is no one in modern day hip hop producing who sounds like him. This guy puts everything he can find into his messy, dodgy instrumentals: reggae, dub, soul, funk, free jazz and electronic influences – all bedded on dusty basslines and chopped vocal-samples. And apart from the colorful soundscape Ras still manages to make the 21 versatile tracks sound like one big thing where everything belongs together. The man who calls his progressive music ghetto sci-fi creates a consistent and flowing music stream where the headnod-garanty is included. The Brotha From Anotha Planet reaches earth but brings his sound from space with him. D2E is futuristic Instrumental Hip Hop that might be similar to the music Brainfeeder pal Flying Lotus is doing but it is still unique. Ras does not even need to be mentioned in the same breath with anyone else.
Down 2 Earth
