WILLIE ISZ, ‘GEORGIVANIA’ – LEX RECORDS

Willie Isz consists of the talented producer/vocalist Jneiro Jarel (aka Dr. Who Dat of the group Shape of Broad Minds) and rapper Khujo, a seminal figure within Southern rap, a Dungeon Family affiliate and one quarter of Goodie Mob.

The central concept for the album is an imaginary 51st US state named Georgiavania, based, one would assume, in the south. A warped home from home for Khujo and Jarel where the core values of hip-hop are celebrated albeit in unusual style; sample free, live instrumentation throughout, including a boisterous fiddle in “The Grussle” and dreamy Andre 3000-style harmonies in “I Didn’t Mean To”, which come courtesy of TV On The Radio front man Tudne Adebimpe.

Some critics have passed Jarel’s sonic experimentations off as yet another Madlib acolyte, and on initial listen to ‘Georgvania’ I may have been inclined to agree, but scratch the surface and after further listens you will find a tremendous amount of depth, energy and enjoyment to be gained from listening to ‘Georgivania’.

Following on from last years Mercury nominated Neon Neon album (who feature in the current issue of Bonafide), the recent DOOM release and now Willie Isz, Lex appear to be doing their best to re-invent the wheel (or hip-hop in this case). And their progressive pursuits must be saluted.

David Kane