Little known hip-hop producers have driven the greater sound of the scene since the beginning. Their beat tapes have drawn inspiration from all over the stylistic and epochal map of music, folding into the young genre a boundlessness of sounds. Now more than ever, at a time of genre transcendence, electronic composition, and technological vastness, these producers are able to split their time between classic production and artistic experimentalism of their own. Sans any lyrical features, underground producer Grady – friend and frequent collaborator of Seattle rapper and animator, J’Von – has quietly released one of the most enticing pieces of low-fidelity production in memory. Influenced by jazz and hip-hop of all eras, Motion is myriad in its sound and its technique. Jazzy keys are commonplace, as are a wide range of other instrumental choices, but as a whole, something about it is fervently reminiscent of a time come and gone.

 

Rare are the moments these days where we can immerse ourselves in the kind of clean and inspiring project that ran rampant in the J Dilla beat tape days. But with Motion, that kind of reminiscence is exactly what we have. Any lyricist or vocalist worth their weight in creative gold would make a further masterpiece of what already is one.