In a Hip-Hop scene seemingly dominated by bass-heavy productions riddled with simplistic melodies, Statik Selektah’s Extended Play is a breath of fresh air. Coming back with his signature boom-bap style with scratching and catchy hooks, his choice of samples brings us back to a more soulful time in Hip-Hop, some songs even having a bit of a jazz or funk influence. This makes it feel heavier with emotion, which seems more important than an 808 kick and a simple, catchy melody in these productions.

Extended Play also features an array of lyricists, including Mac Miller, Talib Kweli, Termanology, and Slaine. However, big names like this don’t necessarily mean the best quality. Most of the lyricists bring too strong of a “battle rap” feel to the songs (with a few exceptions). Often times, the tired theme of women, drugs, and money don’t do the production justice. The beats seem so soulful, yet many of the lyrics lack imagination or originality, or even feeling. Many of the lyrics just don’t come up to par with the mood of the production, especially evident in the track “Love & War,” which features Ea$y Money & Freeway

Overall, Extended Play is amazing as a production piece, bringing back something many Hip-Hop fans were longing for. Soulful samples mixed with the old-school boom-bap style many of us were once accustomed to brought back some feeling to a scene that would seem somewhat devoid of that. However, many of the lyrics took away from the feeling, mixing the old with the new. Despite this, there are some well-arranged songs, such as “Home,” which features Talib Kweli.

Statik Selektah manages to bring some feeling and soul back to Hip-Hop, proving once again that music can still have raw feeling behind it.

Extended Play a PAR

Rating:
P…Horrible
PA…Tolerable
PAR…Good
PARL…Kinda Great
PARLÉ… Classic

Written by Nick Crowley

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