Bronx producer Spanish Ran has been carving out a lane of his own in the wave of New York revivalism, here we’ll recap his year.
Al-Doe – Repent (Album – The People in Hell Are Jealous)
Spanish Ran started the year on fire with a drop on the first of January. While only a four song EP, it has some of his most interesting production to date. One song is Repent, which takes a sample of a Staind song and makes it into something of a religious experience.
Bloo – Minkus (Album – Nowhere Bloo)
Bloo is one of Spanish Ran’s partners in crime. With the release of their 5th collaborative project, one of the most notable tracks is Minkus. The DOOM influence is incredibly apparent, and feels like a genuine homage to legend that had just recently passed away at the time.
Bloo – Somewhere Quiet (Album – The Bloo Dahlia)
Just before the release of Nowhere Bloo, a 3 song EP was released. Bloo treats the sample as a question he tries to answer throughout the looping sample. It loops in a hypnotic way until it ultimately breaks between verses.
Tree Mason – Graveyard Shift (Album – No Breaks for the W3ary)
Another big collaborator is Tree Mason. Rapping over a dense layered instrumental, Mason details his various hustles to just make it by.
You can find the rest of this 2021 playlist at YouTube here.