2001's One/Three was followed in 2002 by Instrmntl, and the two albums established Tadd Mullinix aka Dabrye as a formidable beatsmith. Mullinix's Detroit-filtered hip-hop-meets-electronica style quickly placed him alongside bing names like Prefuse 73, and fellow producers like the late J Dilla would become fans of his work. For Two/Three, Dabrye makes "the statement he'd always intended," and that he does so by enlisting a solid roster of local and national rap talent. Listen to J Dilla, MF Doom, Vast Aire, and Guilty Simpson over some of the most innovative (still true today) soundscapes from a forefather to the looming beat scene. Here's the og Lab review: "Here he comes with his most hip-hop weighted effort yet with a 20-track album consisting of roughly two-thirds emcee tracks. Let's start off with the instrumentals. Beathead fans of previous Dabrye work will be snapping necks to tracks like the Detroit collaborations "Jorgy" featuring Wajeed, the underwater sounding "Bloop," the retarded basslines of "Piano," and Terminator-esque science fiction theme of "Machines Pt.1." As for the vocal tracks, this is some grimy underground shit. If you're not up on your Dabrye 12"s, here's a chance to catch up with two of his finer collaborations: "Air" featuring MF Doom and "Game Over" featuring Jay Dee. Lots of album only nuggets, too, check out "Pressure" featuring Taraach and "Special" featuring Guilty Simpson and Paradime. Additional emcees included: Wildchild, Vast Aire, Kadence, Beans, Invincible, Finale, AG, and others. Pretty impressive."

• 5mm matte laminate jacket w/ silver ink
• design by WK Interact
• download card included
• music label: Ghostly International 2006 / 2018

reviewed by rei kwondo 04/2018