Gospel, hip-hop, ambient, electronic, and jazz are just a few of the many frequencies that can be found in Black music. The three projects below, all of which are current and relevant in their respective fields, are masterful depictions of how wide and deep Black music resonates, and not just in the month of February. Make time for them.
J.ROCC, BEATITUDES (STONES THROW RECORDS)
Ras G’s The Gospel of The God Spell from 2016, a chopping and flipping of scripture songs with divine hip-hop precision that he put together on the spur of the moment, literally blew my wig back.
According to the late, great producer’s Bandcamp release notes: “I always make quick freestyle beats at work. I work at a ‘Wrecka Stow,’ so I’m constantly surrounded by records. After my Bluntch breaks. I’d come in and play a few quick joints on my SpaceProgram 303. And I just ran through the gospel section that round, and I had The Gospel Of The GodSpell in two weeks.”
Amen, Ras G. Amen.
J.Rocc, a sublime producer, performer, and well-known DJ, sent a passionate message to his hometown of Los Angeles last year with A Wonderful Letter, which received the well-deserved record of the year nods for its ability to move through styles, genres, moods, trends, and cultures in a linear sense. Dude is royalty. Period.
I’ve said it before and gonna repeat it right here. The man also known as Jason Jackson has been making foundational cultural music in Southern California since the Lakers played at The Forum.
In the same gospel-loving vein as Ras G, J Rocc’s Beatitudes, a new beat tape of 10 instrumental hip-hop tracks, is inspired by 20th-century gospel recordings, getting a boost from the lively pulpit’s vast array of voices, choirs, and piano breaks.
The title of the release is a slyly salutatory hat tip to what is widely regarded as The Staples Singers’ greatest album, Be Altitude: Respect Yourself.
According to the liner notes, the Beatitudes cover is a tribute to the work of artist Harvey Scott Williams (1927-1987), who painted hundreds of sleeves for gospel and jazz albums on Savoy Records and its subsidiary labels Gospel, Regent, and Sharp in the 1950s and 1960s.
Rocc’s ability to produce with the mindset of doing more with less, emphasizing that the magic is already in the music—it’s called the spirit, and it’s been around forever—constructs minimalist gold, as demonstrated in “The Best,” where a piano break, a choir, and a beat, pulled and rearranged from this Black classical canon, establish a new sanctified trinity.
Grab this beat tape here.
KELELA, RAVEN (WARP RECORDS)
When an album (no, not a platform playlist) is mentioned to me by close friends and simultaneously garners a lot of attention from writers I admire, it’s always time to look into it because, in general, that’s a rarity.
Kelela, an American R&B artist who grew up singing jazz standards and playing in a punk band, deploys an ambient disposition—long stretches of stillness—on her sophomore album Raven, six years after her debut Take Me Apart, to reinforce how occasional fixedness helps to regain momentum.
Without a doubt, this is a heady, baptismal, and transformative record, drenched in drum and bass rain, shooting down all the left-field electronic pathways, with a fine lacquer of ’90s soul interwoven between the low-end hits and ambient breezeways. Folks are spilling tea through murky waters, as evidenced by Raven‘s cover art.
“Internally, I’ve always wished the world would change around me,” she told Apple music. “I felt during the uprising and the protests of the early 2020s that there’s been an external shift. We all have more permission to say, ‘I don’t like that.'”
Those sentiments are certainly expressed on Raven, but it’s the presentation, the production, and the courage in saying “things are off and I shall deliver it that way” which elevates Raven to another musical tier. Where the spaces give pause for musing.
It’s hitting a personal sweet spot for me in terms of production. A little rRoxymore here, a little Pursuit Grooves there, and a splash of Foxtrott in the middle. “Washed Away,” the grand statement of an opening, moves at its own pace, no drums required, just Kelela’s vocalizations, that energy, this focus on feeling over a linear structure.
An artist finding expression in the midst of dark waters. Purchase here.
THE MAKING OF STRATA RECORDS THE SOUND OF DETROIT REIMAGINED
In one of our first interviews, label owner and renowned music archivist Amir Abdullah told me that the history of a record label is just as crucial as the catalog itself.
Abdullah, AKA DJ Amir, a Black owner of a reissue imprint, came up with the idea for the Strata Records: The Sound Of Detroit Reimagined By Jazzanova project. He founded 180 Proof Records in 2012 to reissue soul, funk, and jazz cuts from the legendary and now-defunct Detroit label.
His commitment to this project was strengthened by presenting this Detroit-based catalog in a modern light so that the next generation could connect. Being able to engage in a two-way conversation about jazz.
Some archivists were already familiar with Amir’s back-catalogue acuity.
“There’s these two really influential DJs that have really inspired my DJ career. They’re from the Boston area. They’re called Amir & Kon, they’re the DJs that your favorite DJs listen to. And they’re always playing really obscure music that’s really under the radar,” musician and bandleader Questlove to the press. “I believe DJ Amir is the one that put me on to this particular piece, which has a good drum break to it. I think it came out in 1977…”
BBE Music and 180 Proof Records have produced a documentary (embedded above) highlighting the process of putting together this feat of a record with German electronic music collective Jazzanova.
It shows how the band reinterprets this music for contemporary sensibilities, while Abdullah explains how the Strata label ran food drives in their community, started the first jazz music program at Oberlin College in Ohio in 1970, and created their own booking and publishing agency in-house. It’s a compelling short film that provides important context focusing on the why and visually demonstrating the how.
Make time for this and purchase the project here.
