Cadence Weapon – Afterparty Babies

Cadence Weapon is what hip-hop is about for me, party jams full of fun and dancy beats and great wordplay. The flow is impeccable to say the least. I have been kind of neglecting hip-hop recently because not much of it has grabbed me since MF Doom. Cadence Weapon is a joy to listen to and the range of influence on Afterparty Babies is so diverse and well executed. It’s full of old school sounding electro party beats and hip-house tunes. Hip-house has been neglected for a long time and been cast off as some kind of joke but here it is done so well. Often in hip-hop the influences are to backward looking and retro, on Afterparty Babies Cadence Weapon makes the old sounds come alive with a modern shine. This could fit well into Warp records IDM style hip-hop section with Flying Lotus and Prefuse 73 quite easily. Cadence Weapon is only twenty-one and an ace young talent. This record is one of the best this year easily and it may even pip Why? And their ace album Alopecia just because Cadence Weapons flow is far better and less nasal and annoying. They are two very different artist though so not really much need to compare them. Maybe Wiley will do something with his record out this year but I’m not sure he will match Cadence Weapon’s effort. For a start cadence Weapons beats and flow is already more fun and original than Wiley’s smash hit euro disco anthem Wearing My Rolex. Curtain tunes remind me of Daft Punk gone hip-hop, which is something I would like to hear.

The stand out tracks for me are: the opener Do I Miss My friends? Which has a humming almost house aping tune, like a hip-hop version of Steve ‘Silk’ Hurly or other old school house legends. The theme to this album is of being an accident of some loving hence the title afterparty babies this is so beautifully honest and executed with such humour. I love that he dedicates it to all of the accidents out there and tells you to keep making mistakes.

In Search Of The Youth Crew is a banger of a tune a proper high-energy party time hip-house number. The baseline reminds me of Homework era Daft Punk tunes like Revolution 909. Like a summary house anthem rooted firmly in the hip-hop. Kool Keith has done similar before and I love his stuff too. The hook The Youth Crews Back is well catchy.

True Story has the phatest base kick that blows cold air at you through the speakers. It has a Baltimore beat style to it with the slow kick and skiting snares.

Limited Edition OJ Slammer is an intense bleepy number with the achingly cool 8-bit style synths that seem to be all over the place right now. Some supream scratching is on this one by DJ Weez-L. This tune is great.

Juliann Wilding gives a shout out to tech-house which I like lots. The hook as always is catchy and makes you want to dance. The tunes and lyrics really follow through the concept of the album right down to the finest detail. You feel like you are at a house party.

Real Estate is a anthem, sorry I mean ANTHEM! Live this tune kills. I made a deal today we selling real estate…

Message Matter is another banger with good scratching and flow. For some reason it reminds me of Wooha by Busta Rhymes even though it isn’t very alike at all, maybe it’s the string loop that does it.

Your Hair’s Not Clothes! Makes me laugh especially the title. It is a booty base number. I love his sense of humour and the way he puts things down its so honest and dead pan its so refreshing in hip-hop when someone isn’t so cocky it hurts.

Tattoos (and what they really feel like) is also a great laugh about how tattoos are like to get, its like a conversation over the subject in a rap form. I really like the bit about drawing the outline. This track makes me smile and reminds me of talking to mates about why they got tattoos and why. Cadence Weapon is very much like a friend chatting to you at a house party.

The New Face Of Fashion is a bit of a deconstruction of hipsters and how they try to hard. Its great fun and the beats are aggressive and fun all at once in that loopy disco house style.

Getting Dumb is the tune I was thinking of when I said Cadence Weapon is better the Wiley as this tune is a party banger with a big synth baseline in an electro style. The hook is brilliant again, which is followed by some scratching and ace drum machine work with some fat tom tom sounds like I have heard on electro tunes. It’s the most aggressive tune too.

House Music is maybe the best track on Afterparty Babies its certainly one of my favourites. Live it kills completely and you loose your self in the party spirit. The drums are so phat and jacking. This is also a pretty aggressive number but also a massive joy that would rock a lot of floors. This is the Hip-House anthem of the year so far by a long way.

Unsuccessful Club Nights has some ace scratching and a great house style loop that brings this track alive. Its about rocking a party even if know one is there. Warning if Cadence Weapon is on the decks he might start off with some Sesame Street, just to let you know.

The last track We Move Away was so good live when I saw them recently. It’s about moving away from where you live and the chorus is irresistible. The four four kick and 808 hand claps are so good too. The line I wonder why we move away has such a dynamic energy with the backing track its just perfect.

This whole album is going to get some serious repeats. I was only going to write about some of the tracks but it turns out there isn’t a bad one at all in Afterparty Babies. Hip-hop album of the year so far and I don’t see it getting budged any time soon. It’s also one of the albums of the year regardless of genre full stop.

I’ll house you, I’ll house you, I’ll house you, your in my hut now! I’ll house you, I’ll house you, I’ll house you, your in my hut now! I’ll house you, I’ll house you, I’ll house you, your in my hut now! I’ll house you, I’ll house you, I’ll house you, your in my hut now! I’ll house you, I’ll house you, I’ll house you, your in my hut now! I’ll house you, I’ll house you, I’ll house you, your in my hut now!