Tag: DJ Manipulator and Louie Gonz This Sound feat. Blu

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Last year, I wrote quite a bit about the Massachusetts-based hip-hop duo DJ Manipulator and Louie Gonz — and as you may recall, the duo has frequently collaborated with each other throughout the years; however, 2014’s Private Stock was the duo’s first as a cohesive unit. Their 2017 sophomore effort The Loops was released as a bold reintroduction to the act, whose sound draws from golden era hip-hop — with sincerity and soulfulness.

Earlier this year, DJ Manipulator released The Synth Tape, an album that featured tweeter and woofer rocking instrumentals and beats, including “ARP,” a track centered around a minimalist production featuring shimmering and fluttering synths, thumping beats. Now, you might remember that DJ Manipulator, Louie Gonz and Los Angeles-based emcee Blu teamed up on the soulful and gritty street banger “This Sound” off Louie Gonz’s and Manipulator’s sophomore effort — and “ARP Revisited,” a reworking of the original track on The Synth Tape finds the trio teaming up again to similar, attention-grabbing effect. In fact, the track finds Blu and Louie Gonz effortlessly trading gritty, street shit verses and bars over a murky and menacing production featuring brief flashes of sunny synths.

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: DJ Manipulator, Louie Gonz, and Mr. Pacheco Team Up on a Jazzy and Soulful Bit of Real Hip-Hop

Now late last month, I wrote about the Massachusetts-based hip-hop duo DJ Manipulator and Louie Gonz and “This Sound,” the silky smooth, looped jazz flute and xylophone-based first collaboration with renowned Los Angeles-based emcee Blu off the duo’s recently released sophomore effort together, The Loops. And with their sophomore effort the duo intends it to be a bold re-introduction to hip-hop heads everywhere while further cementing their reputation for a sound that warmly draws from golden era hip-hop while not resorting to mimicry. The Loops’ latest single, “Who Want It,” is a collaboration with frequent collaborator and friend Mr. Pacheco, and much like the single’s predecessor, the latest track continues in the same vein — no frills, no bullshit hip-hop in which two emcees trade ridiculous and fiery bars over a soulful production consisting of looped, stuttering and twinkling xylophones and warm, jazzy guitar chords. 

The recently released video was shot on grainy and warped VHS tape, further emphasizing the stuttering sample.