DJ Scratch – “The Pivot” review

DJ Scratch is a 58 year old producer & DJ from Brooklyn, New York City who most remember for being the former DJ of both EPMD & Flipmode Squad. He also filled in for Ali Shaheed Muhammad when A Tribe Called Quest was working on their final album We got it from Here…Thank You 4 Your service a decade ago, coming off producing Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater & King’s Dominion for RZA & Planet Asia respectively to make a bold pivot for the Albany Park Records founder’s full-length solo debut.

“The Interview” opens up with this 4 & a half minute spoken word intro accompanied by a funky instrumental whereas “Electric Stew (We Can Get Down)” flips “Mystic Brew” by Ronnie Foster for a respectable house track. “Go” continues from there sampling “Inside My Love” by Minnie Riperton with some 4-on-the-floor kicks layered with claps or snares on beats 2 & 4 but after “What We Do is House” shows more love towards the titular EDM subgenre, “Baby Powder on the Floor” ends the 1st half on some electro house vibes.

As for “Wall to Wall”, we have Scratch kicking off the 2nd leg with a more soulful spin to the house sound while “Dance with Me” by Bobby Brown & Ramona Keller puts a bigger emphasis on what we was trying to do with the previous cut. “I Like More House” by Grand Puba & Jane Dough finds the pair linking up to talk about wanting to love each other more but after “The House is Yours” samples “I Love Music” by Ahmad Jamal for the longest composition here, “Gimme Some More House” ends with a house remix of the opening theme to the Alfred Hitchcock horror film Psycho.

Being a fan of house music since its early days, DJ Scratch began conceiving The Pivot when he noticed other DJs were playing their own records when performing at electronic dance music festivals & respect what he was trying to do here although it feels equally average as Daft Punk’s 3rd album Human After All except a huge difference being that Scratch puts more of a house spin on the samples that’re ingrained in classic hip hop singles than the previously mentioned LP’s predominant electroclash/post-industrial style.

Score: 3/5

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Planet Asia – “King’s Dominion” review

Celebrating the birthday of Fresno, California veteran Planet Asia with either his 27th full-length studio LP. Emerging as 1/2 of the duo Cali Agents, he would also go on to have a very successful solo career & has made a lengthy yet consistent discography for himself. This includes The Grand Opening, The Medicine, the DJ Muggs-produced Pain Language, Abrasions, the Apollo Brown-produced Anchovies & Sardines backed by Mello Music Group, the 38 Spesh-produced Trust the Chain & it’s sequel, the Evidence-produced Rule of 3rds and the Snowgoons-produced U.Z.I. (Universal Zeitgeist Intelligence). It’s already been 14 months since Trust the Chain II & my anticipation for King’s Dominion increased once it was announced DJ Scratch was fully producing the whole thing.

“Not Allowed” aggressively opens by talking about sucka shit not being permitted around his premises while the title track works in some strings to compare his rhymes to words sent from an angel. “Big Guns” talks about sending his shooter at anyone who speaks badly on his name & after the spoken word “Knowledge is Power” interlude, he doesn’t waste a split second “Coming for the Title” with his authenticity.

Starting the 2nd half, “You All Know” soulfully talks about possibly charging for reflections leading into “Produce a Seed Through You” chops up more soul samples & discussing wanting to knock up a Hispanic woman. “St. John’s Park” brings some rap rock undertones to the table murdering mics while Rigz & Rome Streetz appear for the closer dropping off some “Ghetto Gospel”.

Reminding the world of what a hip hop project’s supposed to sound like, Planet Asia teams up with the former disc jokey of EPMD & the Flipmode Squad for an album coinciding with celebrating the west coast lyricist turning 49 that rivals Trust the Chain II last summer. DJ Scratch’s production exemplifies why he’s considered amongst the most underappreciated beatsmith within the culture today & lyrically, the Fresno penman makes another example of his own getting sharper with time.

Score: 4.5/5

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RZA – “Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater” review

RZA is a 52 year old MC, producer, actor & filmmaker from New York City who’s widely recognized as being the de facto leader the almighty Wu-Tang Clan. But he was the 2nd & last person of the group following GZA to come out with a solo effort before their full-length debut Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers, dropping his debut EP Ooh I Love You Rakeem under Tommy Boy Records just 5 months after The Genius put out his full-length debut Words from the Genius under Cold Chillin’ Records. It wasn’t until late ‘98 though where RZA put out his own debut album Bobby Digital in Stereo, which I think gets criminally overlooked because people were expecting The Cure. He then followed it up with a worthy sequel Digital Bullet, but I can’t say the same for Birth of a Prince or the conclusion to the Bobby Digital trilogy Digi Snax. But after teasing it during Method Man & Redman’s 4/20 Verzuz, he’s returning from a 14-year break in the form of his 4th EP produced entirely by DJ Scratch.

After the intro”, the title track kicks it all off on a symphonic note as Bobby Digital makes his glorious return whereas “Pugilism” mixes some keyboards & strings to get in his shit-talking bag except his vocals are mixed WAY better than it was when he originally dropped it on YouTube last spring. “Never Love Again” keeps the orchestra vibes going getting lovey dovey while the song “Fate of the World” dispiritedly vents about the current state of the world. The penultimate track “Fisherman” goes into jazzy territory talking about how “no one knows for whom the bell tolls” & lastly, “Kaiju” ends the EP getting conscious on top of a militant beat.

I really didn’t know what to expect from this EP given how mid Birth of a Prince & Digi Snax were as well as the 14 year time gap, but I can honestly say this is The Abbot’s best solo effort in 2 decades. I love how DJ Scratch’s production is pretty much a love letter to The RZA’s unique sound down to the Kung Fu movie samples as he details the collision between him & his alter-ego.

Score: 4/5