“The Green Seed is a [four]-person hip-hop outfit roaming the streets of Birmingham, helmed by founding MC R-Tist. Their tracks are accessibly melodic and constructed with the sensibility of classic ’90s forebears like De La Soul—and, like De La, offer messages of positivity and cultural awareness with deft humor as opposed to wearisome sermonizing.”
Drapetomania (pronounced druh-pet-oh-may-nee-uh), the first official record from The Green Seed, has all the gusto and urgency of a debut. Brimming with lyrics of fury courtesy of emcees R-Tist and C.O.M.P.L.E.
R-Tist has long been a fantastic producer, one who mixed MPC mastery with live instrumentation. Still, joining forces with the production crew at Birmingham-based label Communicating Vessels — namely, producer Jeffrey Cain (Remy Zero, Isidore), engineer Kyle Ginther, and mastering guru Paul Logus — has taken his beats to dizzying new heights. You’d be forgiven for thinking that Drapetomania wasn’t the product of the Dirty South but rather the blunted grit of J Dilla’s Detroit or the otherwordly production of Lex Records. Drapetomania is no homage though, it’s a unique blend of heart, laughter, and guts.
Drapetomania is out July 15th on Communicating Vessels in Limited Edition Vinyl, CD, and Digital formats.
Early critiques have described the record as “intense” and “cleverly arranged”.
Check out the video for “Jude Law” below: