Do you like incredible beats? How about top-notch raps? Grade A DJ cuts? What about breakfast, do you enjoy breakfast? Well if any or all of these things are in your wheelhouse, then you need to grab yourself a copy of First Words’ new record All Day Breakfast.
Produced and presented by legendary Halifax DJ and producer Jorun Bombay, All Day Breakfast continues the long-standing collaboration between Jo and the Fredericton phenomenon First Words (emcees Sean One & Above and DJ STV, with Monark as extended family). And what a fruitful collaboration it is. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Jorun is likely the most knowledgeable producer in Canada when you’re talking about classic NY hip hop and the production methods that were used to create it, so when you pair him with the talented guys in First Words you get some of the purest hip hop you’ll be able to lay your grubby mitts on.
This is, as one of the guys puts it, “vintage” hip hop. The kind that makes you want to shake your butt. Shaking your butt used to be commonplace in hip hop, now? Not so much. Most modern hip hop seems designed to inspire you to take some random pills and make slobbering advances towards wannabe models at some gross party. Yay for that!?!?! I’ll take First Words and their combination of rugged drums, cuts & lyrics for $400 Alex. It’s obvious these guys have been working together for ages, so there’s plenty of chemistry evident when they’re trading lines back & forth around the breakfast table. There’s party jams (Bamtronix (aka “Like Bam”)), braggadocios tracks to put today’s chumps in check (W.T.M., Waitaminnit, Won’t Stop Rockin’), even a classic storytelling rap track (Norma Loves her Bottle of Gin). But each and every song has a heavy neck snap quotient, which is criminally missing in a lot of today’s hip hop.
Of late I’ve seen music like this referred to, in snarky tones, as “boom bap revivalism”. Whatever, you can call it what you want, but if today’s hip hop wasn’t lacking in so many aspects, dudes like me wouldn’t be still seeking out these albums and playing the shit out of them. So forget the stupid names, just get yourself a copy of All Day Breakfast and play it nice and loud.
Hey there! You should read this original post on the hill by going here: Friday Fun:: First Words – All Day Breakfast
