Fluxblog
March 24th, 2023 12:10am

You Stay On My Mind


B. Cool-Aid featuring Liv.e, Jimetta Rose, and V.C.R. “Soundgood”

Dan Charnas’ book Dilla Time was a revelation to me in the sense that it made me realize there was a musical thread connecting so much of the R&B and rap I like, and it was J Dilla’s odd approach to time. I recommend reading the book and listening to my What Was Neo-Soul? playlist to understand what I mean, but it basically comes down to Dilla meticulously editing beats so the groove was tight but some beats would be just off time enough for a pleasant, loose swing. This has been emulated in sampling and by live drummers, at this point it’s such a part of popular music that it’s easy to just take it as a given and not question it, as I most definitely did before reading Charnas’ book.

B. Cool-Aid, a duo consisting of producer Awhlee and rapper Pink Siifu, definitely fit into this tradition. Awhlee’s track for “Soundgood” is laid back and centered around an organ part and thick bassline that projects a nostalgic warmth that sometimes feels a little too hot, like sitting a little too close to a radiator at full blast. The off-kilter aspects of the track make it all seem a little hallucinogenic and dreamy, and Pink Siifu’s largely rasped and muttered verses only exacerbate that effect. The thing that really puts this over is the way the additional backing vocals seem to float around in the background, always trailing him on the beat. It fills out the atmosphere nicely, like the vocal equivalent of a smoke machine on stage.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

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