Adrian Young and Ali Shaheed Muhammad are The Midnight Hour. The duo has scored the hit Netflix series Luke Cage to much praise, and this project “continues the conversations started by yesterday’s jazz and funk pioneers.” Armed with a jazz rhythm section and a full orchestra, Young and Muhammad record sophisticated hip-hop to analog tape, and the list of features they have curated to bless the tracks is top notch: CeeLo Green, Raphael Saadiq, Marsha Ambrosius, Bilal, Eryn Allen Kane, Karolina, and more. Check out “Questions” featuring the aforementioned Goodie Mob member; the story goes that Kendrick Lamar heard a unfinished version of the song and sampled it for “Untitled 06 | 06.30.2014” off of his 2016 compilation untitled unmastered. Young and Muhammad reimagine a 1986 Luther Vandross song on “So Amazing,” taking the singer’s original vocals stems and building brand new sounds around it. Other highlights include “The Midnight Hour,” “Black Beacon,” “Bitches Do Voodoo,” and “Together Again.”
- music label: Linear Labs 2018