Hip Hop / R&B Recommendations Best Of 2012

Review: Dillatroit is the eagerly awaited 12 track vinyl only release of unreleased Dilla material - arriving courtesy of Moodymann's Mahogani label and Dilla's family foundations some six years after the legendary producer's premature demise at the age of 32. Anyone reading this should be fully aware of Dilla's legacy on hiphop and beyond so there's no need to set the scene with any biographical background. Dillatroit features rappers, DJs, singers and musicians from the Motor City (Andres is rumoured to be involved somewhere) across the 12 hip hop orientated tracks. It runs the gamut of the Dilla style palette, with dusty head nodders (''Birthright'' and ''Ride With It'') next to sweetly soulful jams '('Let's Pray Together'' & ''Detroit Madness'') and jazzier instro cuts like "Mind Yo Business" propped up against rowdy posse cuts such as "Say My Name. " A worthy posthumous addition to the Dilla canon!

Review: Black Radio is a future landmark album that boldly stakes out new musical territory and transcends any notion of genre, drawing from jazz, hip-hop, R&B and rock, but refusing to be pinned down by any one tag. Black Radio also features many of Glasper''s famous friends from the spectrum of urban music, seamlessly incorporating appearances from a jaw-dropping roll call of special guests including Erykah Badu, Bilal, Lupe Fiasco, Lalah Hathaway, Shafi q Husayn (Sa-Ra), KING, Ledisi, Chrisette Michele, Musiq Soulchild, Meshell Ndegeocello, Stokley Williams (Mint Condition), and yasiin bey (Mos Def).

Review: Having launched the GAMM initiative way back in 2003 with the era defining "Follow Me", Red Astaire makes a long overdue return to the Swedish imprint with this four tracker filled to the brim with freshness! "The Russian" demonstrates all Red's cut n paste prowess, expertly aligning a million Russian samples in an orderly fashion over a bumping B-Boy funk beat. Alongside a well chosen vocal sample that lends itself to the title "Make it Sexy Baby" is notable for sounding like it needs some WD40, with rusty ass brass samples looped over a tough hollowed out raw drum break. Flipside and Red Astaire drops his own Golden Era take on Black Moon's "How Many MCs" and finishes with an extra lazy skankout of Mr Marley.