Radio helped Statik Selektah build the relationships that would become his records. In a 2013 interview with NPR’s Microphone Check, he recalled meeting rappers through his Boston broadcasts, then reaching a turning point when Freeway called asking to join his first album. Expensive Taste, released through Mass Appeal, extends that history of bringing MCs into the producer’s orbit. “The Louvre” gathers Westside Gunn, Stove God Cooks, Rome Streetz and Joey Bada$$, while “365” connects Paul Wall with Kai Ca$h and Smoke DZA. Those combinations sit alongside relationships that reach back well before this album. Termanology, Statik’s partner in the duo 1982, appears across Expensive Taste. Their connection began as teenagers at a club in New Hampshire. Speaking to Miami New Times in 2009, Termanology remembered discovering that the DJ was also from Lawrence, Massachusetts, and finding a partner as his Hood Politics mixtape series developed. Their first album as 1982 followed in 2010. Joey Bada$$ represents another sustained working relationship within the album’s larger cast. Back in the NPR conversation, Statik described making music with Joey and Pro Era while touring, with beats being made in one part of the bus and vocals recorded in a bunk. On Expensive Taste, Joey appears on both “Growing Pains” and “The Louvre,” moving between an individual recording and a shared lineup.
Transparency Note: AI tools assisted with research, drafting and language refinement.
No comments:
Post a Comment