In my humble opinion one of the best new(ish) producers working these days is Tsoh Tso, fka Whatever Cecil, the driving force behind Fang Over Fist records and the beatmaker behind An Illustrated Mess. Once again a wonderful Freecember discovery for me, I've grown to truly appreciate the sound he cultivates. Some of his work on albums like Long Distance with Thorts and Does it Matter? by the aforementioned An Illustrated Mess frankly sounds like no one else out there and that's a difficult thing to achieve when the indie world is growing by leaps and bounds every day.
Last week I was made aware of this new one on FOF. Jae Krxnalege is someone who I'd personally never heard of but my respect for the label and desire to support the struggling artist in whatever way I can in these incredibly difficult times drove me to give this a listen and drop a post. It's essentially a beat tape, which is not usually my thing (for some reason I just like vocal hip hop music more, beat tapes tend to feel incomplete to me. This is something I've had endless discussions about but that I really can't explain), but 2022 Tape does feature some rapping on the part of Jae which keeps me focused.
Jae is considered a staple in the Southwestern and Indigenous hip hop communities. He's done producing for a wide variety of indie artists and from the sound of it grinds full time as a rapper. Originally from Shiprock, New Mexico Jae Krxnalege is now working out of Salt Lake City, Utah greatly upping his four corners cred. It does sound like he could use more support and more new ears so before I get started on the review I want to direct everyone to his Spotify and his album. Hopefully at the very least some algorithmic magic can be worked and we can get this dude some attention.
Anyway 2022 Tape does have the feel of a mixtape moreso than an actual album. The BC page does say that it was thrown together off the cuff and that does make itself apparent in some ways. The production could use some vocals and was clearly made for that purpose (cypher with your friends!) as it has a mellow, humble simplicity to it that is actually soothing and beautiful but a bit somnolent in places.
All that said, these beats are clearly made by a professional. They do indeed have a sound that immediately took me back to the indie rap I fell in love with back in High School. We're talking Madvillain, Lord Quas, Ugly Duckling. That stuff a lot of your friends probably thought was weird but you didn't care. This has that dusty, slightly offbeat charm and makes creative use of sounds (whispers, unorthodox time signatures) to build a chilled out atmosphere.
Jae Krxnalege can rap no doubt as well. We've got a few instances here of his poetry and it does a great job of really showing you the potential these beats have to become dope ass rap tracks as well as showing what he can do. I'm definitely intrigued as songs like "Cold" really showcase what he's capable of. As he plainly states in "Teachable" "I feel I've finally found my purpose and I speak it so" and 2022 Tape shows us that this guy is a jack of all trades hip hop artist, clearly loving the art and doing it for that alone.
This tape is cool. It's not going to blow any minds but I don't think that's the purpose here. What it does is show us a new artist who's been struggling behind the scenes for most of us and cultivating a real amount of talent. Tsoh Tso and Fang Over Fist want to show for those of us outside of the Indigenous community and the Southwest what Jae Krxnalege can do. I'm on board, let's see what he can do with the time and budget he needs.
For $3 this is worth your money. I know he could use the funds and if you can afford it you've got a nice little tape to relax and chill with friends to.
Check it out, here once again!
