LA native Ras G describes his music as “Ghetto Sci-fi”. In a way i wish he didn’t, because then I could credit myself for saying the same thing. Ras hits the nail squarely on the head with this apt description. A great deal of his sound is certainly reminiscent of producers of the past like Lee Perry the way he smashes together traditional dusty sounding instrumentation with futuristic zaps, bleeps and squeals. Perry himself once said he received sounds and dub guidance from outer space, and Ras G certainly seems to be tuned to the same frequency.
“D2E Intro” sets things in motion, complete with dub horns and a vocal sample “oh Ras”, which somehow makes its way into almost every cut on the record. Slowing down for a second on “(((Shrooms)))”, all tablas and tripped out lo-fi, before dusting off a tasty breakbeat and bringing in more classic hip-hop elements on “I Love The 90’s HipHop”. “Crenshaw Bus” gets its LA on, all liquid sounding reverse bass and bass kicks. Ras G’s sci-fi sounding samples which adorn this record are an interesting modern take on electronic production, and i dare say he’d identify more with producers of the past (Perry, Tubby, Sun Ra et. al.) the way he seemingly throws all sorts of bizarre sounds at the wall and somehow makes it all work cohesively. “That’s Fly” gets dirty basses to play with a broken beat, as “Black Dusty Radio” scans the spectrum, sifting through devilish vocals before finding settling into a mellow groove amidst the ever present vocal sample and broken synth sounds. “Peace (Saalaam)” could be a stoned religious ceremony were it not for the rapid finger bassline. “Change” turns out to be perhaps the closest thing to an archetypal hiphop track: it’s steady and tasteful bed is screaming out for an MC. “Crush on an Earthling” sees more of the same, yet is a little more blissful. Lifting the vibe a little on “Fatcat”, Ras turns to his funk records and lets the horns fly. Closing with “Harlem Negus Wild”, it almost feels like the credits are rolling before the track comes to an abrupt halt.
Somehow Ras G has managed to squeeze in 21 tracks in under 33 minutes, making this record seem a hell of alot longer than it actually is. Its apparent lack of discrimination between samples and sounds makes it a reasonably exciting listen. As modern electronic music (from LA anyway) seems to be favouring the wonky beat aesthetic of Flying Lotus et. al., its nice to hear something different and unique. Ghetto Sci-fi indeed.
Nick Giles
