APOLLO BROWN & PLANET ASIA – SARDINES

The names Apollo Brown and Planet Asia evoke a rarefied set of expectations. The raps are as hard as galvanized steel. The syllable placement is meticulous and intricate. The beats bang: simmering in a soulful but warped inferno. They are maestros of raw and unalloyed hip-hop: full of as much grit and craftsmanship as anyone to ever incinerate a microphone or master an MPC. After all, high standards are essential.

The bar was raised long before their first Mello Music Group opus, 2017’s Anchovies. If you are familiar with the last quarter-century of independent hip-hop, you have probably been a fan of the Fresno MC since he showed you the “definition of ill.” As a solo artist and as a member of Cali Agents and Durag Dynasty, he exists as a permanent reminder that West Coast rhymers can bring a caustic hyper-lyrical carnage as ferocious as anyone on the other side of the continent. For the last dozen years, Detroit’s Apollo Brown has been a direct heir to the inheritance of J Dilla and Pete Rock. He has hover-converted the fossil fuel burners of classic boom-bap into something that exists in a proud lineage, but refuses complacency (see also: his slick, candles-lit R&B collaboration with Raheem DeVaughn that singlehandedly increased America’s…  more