Tag: jordan rakei

Day 55: Ottolenghi by Loyle Carner ft. Jordan Rakei

There is a trend amongst rappers nowadays to namecheck basketball players in their bars. Recently, on his feature on 21 Savage’s a lot, J Cole mentioned New York Knicks and Orlando Magic point guards Denis Smith Jr.and Markelle Fultz respectively. 2009’s star-studded Forever was done in honour of Lebron James, and at the start of this blog, we featured Sheck Wes’ breakout hit, Mo Bamba (another Orlando star, this time a centre).

Loyle Carner opted for a different approach. Following his critically acclaimed debut album Yesterday’s Gone in 2017, Ottolenghi is named after Israeli-British chef, Yotam Ottolenghi. A bit different to a sports star! This was Carner’s first release since his album, and the honouring of the chef is fitting, considering the charity work he does. He runs cooking schools, primarily for children and teenagers with ADHD, to help them to cook and cope with their disability. It’s an issue close to his heart, having grown up with the condition also, and his school is brilliantly named Chilli Con Carner.

It’s based off an experience Loyle Carner had on a train, where he was reading the chef’s cookbook, Jerusalem, and was asked by a fellow passenger about his “Bible book”. He cites it in the song, singing “they ask about the bible I was reading/Told them that the title was misleading labelled it Jerusalem but/really it’s for cooking Middle Eastern” and he has employed New Zealander Jordan Rakei to supplement his gritty, hip-hop-washed singing voice.

The gentle combination of piano and synths becomes slightly more energetic with an assortment of drums, but the pairs delicate voices combine beautifully to create a frollicking track that breezes through a lazy summer evening. Loyle Carner’s intelligent lyricism and eloquent rapping are becoming notorious within the British hip-hop scene; a thriving community outside of the now global grime scene. Rakei is cut from the same cloth as Carner, producing effortlessly chilled out, hip-hop inspired music. The combination is as expected; a cleverly produced, mellow song that was well worth the 18-month wait Loyle Carner fans had before he released new solo music.

 

Spotify Playlist Link: https://spoti.fi/2CKuVex

Day 22: Midnight Mischief by Jordan Rakei (Tom Misch Remix)

What a combination I have for you today. New Zealand-born, Australian-raised, Jordan Rakei is the source artist with the lead single from his debut album, Cloak. The up and coming instrumentalist Tom Misch has worked with Jordan Rakei several times, but this brings out the best in both artists. The song retains the tone and vocal beauty that Rakei brings, whilst embedding lo-fi, hip-hop beats into the structure of the track to create a truly cohesive collaboration between both artists.

Both artists are part of a pioneering genre, arguably led by Loyle Carner. The fusion of hip-hop, soul and disco sounds is their bread and butter. They then strip it back and produce mellow hit after mellow hit, none of which I imagine are any stranger to a 5am DMC over a joint.

It’s such an evocative remix, and creates a scene of an early morning city, quiet and peaceful, with a sole character a few floors above, contemplating life. This record, whilst some may see it as easily forgettable and a means to an end, is an entire story. The beat takes you to another world; it takes me away from a sofa in Redditch and builds a life around me. As you can probably tell, I really like this song and music should make you feel things, even if you can’t properly convey what that is. Listen to the song with your eyes closed and forget about whatever it is that is stressing you. And just experience it.

 

Spotify Playlist Link: https://spoti.fi/2CKuVex