After nearly a year, Amerigo Gazaway is back with one hell of a project. The masterful producer behind last year's Fela Soul, which married the afrobeat genius of Fela Kuti with the pioneering raps of De La Soul, conjures another musical match made in heaven: Yasiin Bey and Marvin Gaye or Yasiin Gaye. Sounds so sweet, it even has a ring to it.
As his label states:
Gazaway’s new *Soul Mates* series continues the theme of his previous work in creating collaborations that never were. On the series’ first installment, the producer unites Brooklyn rapper Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) and soul legend Marvin Gaye for a dream collaboration aptly titled “Yasiin Gaye”. Building the album’s foundation from deconstructed samples of Gaye’s Motown classics, Gazaway re-orchestrates the instrumentation into new productions within a similar framework. Carefully weaving Bey’s dense raps and Gaye’s soulful vocals over his new arrangements, the producer delivers a quality far closer to Gaye’s famous duets than that of a “mashup” album.
If you're the type of hip hop head who's been sticking to old school favorites, it's almost as though this was made with you in mind. Gazaway perfectly infuses Gaye's most iconic instrumentals with the unmistakable Brooklyn swagger of the mighty Mos. The result is pretty staggering. Yasiin Gaye was available on Bandcamp before being taken down by the RIAA but it's still available on Soundcloud. Get your paws on it while you can.
UPDATE: Yasiin Gaye is currently unavailable due to a takedown notice from the Recording Industry Association of America. We WILL be releasing "Yasiin Gaye: The Return (Side Two)". Please follow us on Facebook/Twitter to find out when
