>Leading up to the release yesterday I noticed with the
>singles they were trickling out the beats were missing
>Apollo's typically big, heavy drums. And sure enough, whole
>album is pretty much no snares, no big kicks.
>
>The soul is there, the static, the grime, PA flowin', but the
>whole album to me off first listen was like a giant beat cock
>tease. Each track would start, beautiful soul samples
>cracklin', I'm expecting the drums to drop, then
>nope....almost like rapping over dope Pete Rock interlude
>"treats" for an entire album which I admit I've thought in the
>past would be nice, but over 15 tracks maybe not so much
>haha.

the instrumentals are complete. they're not snippets or half-formed ideas. the loops are created in a way that it's clear where the measure starts and ends. the chops are clean and precise. PA is so in the pocket that his raps serve in an additional capacity as a hi hat or snare roll. very little actual percussion is needed. traditional drums over these instrumentals would detract from subtlety and precision of the chops and raps

i love that there aren't ostentatious drums all over this record. that style is so washed. i have a hard time listening to 90s rap records recently because i've become accustomed to drums getting out of the way of rappers, rather than rappers having to work around overly obvious and obnoxious 90s snares