I might be not qualified to review the debut album by Izzaldin because of absolutely missing what has been happening in hip-hop for the last 30 years. After digging groups like Public Enemy, N.W.A., 3rd Bass, A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep and later Fun-Da-Mental, I lost contact with the genre. High-carat rap moguls took over the scene, which for sure had and has its underground branches. Also musically, and by attitude, everything sounded less attractive than in the late 1980’s. Though recently I got alerted by an exception when Jean-Louis Huhta reworked “WAP” by Cardi B. and Megan Thee Stallion.
With such a personal note I introduce “Futura In Retrograde” by the US-French artist Izzaldin Khalil AlGhani. As a young man, he graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Arts in hip-hop, a degree that sounds pretty rare. The US-French artist’s great album contains the charm of a black planet for the next generation.
Dropping rhymes with attitude over beats and scratches, Izzaldin follows both the classic hip-hop patterns and 21th century vibes. My favourites are “8 Bit Love” and “Love In French (Clouds And Stars)”. In both tracks, Vanessa Vuckov aka Evaanz emerges as a revelation because her R&B-style refrains.