Leaving Records and Stones Throw Records teamed up to release the third edition of Ras G’s mixtape series, Raw Fruit on the second annual Cassette Store Day last Saturday. And much like the already-established Record Store Day, it brings business to independent stores and artists, while bringing back the nostalgia for the halcyon days of analog recordings. In fact, I can picture myself at 11 and 12 years old, running to my local Nobody Beats the Wiz to buy tapes – in particular, I can picture myself buying the Judgment Night Soundtrack, Das EFX’s Dead Serious and Public Enemy‘s Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black on cassette tape. 

In any case, let’s talk about the matter at hand … “Walk With Me” featuring Khalil Sadiq is an example of the creativity and wonderful strangeness that’s occurring in contemporary hip-hop. Khalil Rhymes about  psychedelic experiences in a cadence that reminds me quite a bit of Rakim, and he does so over a sparse instrumental track which consists of a fluttering flute, a distorted vocal loop and bass. And I think that because of the instrumental sample’s minimalist feel, it gives the track a spaced out, trance-like feel.