Beats No More 2

iTunes Review

A longstanding producer from New York, 88-Keys has been making beats since the late ‘80s, and had his moniker bestowed on him by legendary Large Professor. He got his start engineering and interning at The Music Palace studio, and has since provided tracks for a wide assortment of hip-hop luminaries, including NYC icons like De La Soul, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli, as well as Southern pioneer Scarface and Cali acts like Pharcyde and Yukmouth from the Luniz. In 2008, he showcased his mic skills on The Death of Adam, a star-studded concept album featuring Kanye and Kid Cudi, and Adam's Case Files mixtape, but it’s on the beats where he truly shines. For Beats No More 2, he hits us off with 27 instrumental tracks overflowing with chunky kicks, deep bass bumps, nicely chopped samples, and well-placed vocal snippets. Most of the joints here are short and sweet, touching on a wide variety of styles, and never getting boring. The bossa-nova inspired "Fresh Cut Grass," stuttery "Incepticons," and snap-infused "Quarter Water" are especially funky.