Gabriel Stevenson, a producer better known by the moniker, Like, and even better recognized for his Grammy-nominated role in West Coast hip-hop and also as part of the collective, Pac Div, is here with a full-length solo project, Gabriel. The project is of the kind and quality that oftentimes relocates artists from that respected though notoriously less posh back-of-house production sphere, into an area populated by artists whose stylistic genius could contain them no longer. The difference is that Like has existed in that limelight propulsion for years, boasting a career list of collaborations including Kendrick Lamar, Anderson .Paak, Joey Badass, Kali Uchis, and the late Mac Miller. 

 

Which is why the project is particularly intriguing. It’s not often that an artist releases a breakout album more than a decade into an illustrious career. But something about Gabriel feels not inventive, but altogether reinventive.

 

A fiercely jazz undertaking, Gabriel’s own insatiable instrumentation is home to a grand total of zero features, granting it in its entirety a semblance of uninterrupted composition where the Los Angeles native is able to craft and create at the hands of only his own nature.

 

In result, the ear tunes into unapologetic blending of contemporary jazz, funk, soul, and R&B production with explosions of modernist trap and classic hip-hop cuts. In finality and in verdict, Gabriel is a necessary and calmingly verdant exhibition, hinting at the idea of an established artist’s ability to remain always growing.