It is fascinating that after being in and around the Columbus music scene for so long that I have never crossed paths with RJD2. Now, I am much more a listener and advocate then a concert and club person so there is that limitation for sure.
And RJD2’s catalogue is lengthy. Twenty years plus. And I have done a poor job keeping up. For, all I know all of his releases are as good if not better than this one.
Pop Matters has a great interview and history of RJD2’s career here
Similar to how great the recent Blockhead beats album have been, RJD2’s Visions Out Of Limelight shines. There are sample records. There are beats records. Instrumental hip hop. And then there are albums like this. A record of the aforementioned genres, but so much more than that. You can always tell when an artist in this genre is steeped in music history. Hip hop, underground jazz, bebop, etc.
And when that is the case. When the respect of the music it originated from is there, what you get is fluidity. The record flows in such a way that it is not a collection of beats as much as it is an album that only sounds right listened to as a whole.
Alas, my favorite record of 2024.