L'Orange & Jeremiah Jae

• The Night Took Us in Like Family [Mello Music, 2015] A-

See Also:

• L'Orange
• L'Orange & Kool Keith
• L'Orange & Mr. Lif
• L'Orange & Stik Figa
• merge all

Consumer Guide Reviews:

The Night Took Us in Like Family [Mello Music, 2015]
Reminding us that gangsters are an old story in the entertainment business, impressionistic beatmaster samples multiple subnoir flicks with occasional Bogart for a touch of class. The verbal content is murmured by an L.A.-based Flying Lotus subaltern constantly off kilter and on point: "Kept the spirit like K-Fed/Now I'm aiming with the crossbow off with his head/Running jewels with the Pro-Keds/We wanna run from the man for the street cred." So yes, there's a message, laugh lines too. Homeboy Sandman gets a 16. But the pull is musical, particularly the way L'Orange's rhythms shift texturally as well as temporally--every minute, new effects daub and stipple the groove. Although lighter in tone and bottom, it had me going back to Ghost Dog. Hip-hop soundtracking doesn't get more evocative than that. A-