Ron Rico - Extra-Terrestrial Instrumentals Vol. 1 (Music In Me Productions)

Ron Rico is a producer that I interviewed last year for my City Paper article about local producers who make both hip hop and Baltimore club tracks, and also featured in my series of Gov't Names posts on the same topic. He produced the bulk of a rapper named Mike Malachi's material, some nice soul beat type shit, but on this project he sent me a while back, he really gets his J Dilla on with a straight up instrumental album, full of real low-key, abstract, spacey type beats. I dunno if he intends these tracks as just instrumentals or if they're some leftover beats that he hasn't found anyone to rhyme over yet. I'd like to hear some more out there MCs rhyme over some of these tracks, though, Labtekwon or some of the more creative dudes in the whole Elements Party scene could do their thing with them. But anyway it's a pretty cool little 30-minute CD, good to hear him really expand his range and do something even further removed from the whole club music thing. I just heard from Ron this week that he's got another instrumentals CD he's mailing to me, and I think there's a new Mike Malachi project on the way soon.

Ron Rico - "Si-Fi" (mp3)
I like this, one of the weirder more chilled out beats on here but it almost sounds like it could still be a club track if he just turned up the tempo and upped the energy a little.

Labels: mixtape/album review, mp3