Canadian rapper/producer Moka Only teams up with Swiss beatmaker Chief for the finest indie hip-hop album you might hear this year, “Crickets”. The album showcases the talent of two very gifted artists, pushing the boundaries of hip-hop while preserving its backbone. The album showcases Moka Only’s unique raps fused with Chief’s sound signature of merging straight hip-hop elements with forward-thinking production.
Moka Only and Chief first collaborated in 2008 on the tracks “Do Work” and “Felt before”, and soon after Moka Only released his album “Lowdown Suite 2 – The Box” on Chief’s label Feelin’ music. A good connection and the fact that each artist seemed to get the best out of the other convinced Moka Only and Chief to deepen the collaboration and have this natural flow of united work result in a full-length album, so in 2010 they started getting busy with this.
The result is “Crickets”, a smashing collision between two creative minds with strong backgrounds in hip-hop which coupled with borderless imagination bring you more than “just another hip-hop album”. The album confirms the genuinely productive union of Moka Only and Chief’s abilities, it is the finely crafted and accomplished result of two artists naturally complementing each other’s ideas.
From moody ambiences, bewitching loops and hybrid beats to sophisticated soulful beats or mesmerizing urban soundscapes, “Crickets” exhibits a rich pallet of atmospheres and attitudes with a smart and creative approach. Blending deft production with unique raps, “Crickets” truly is a refreshing hip-hop exploit from two driving forces in the hip-hop scene.
For fans of : Madlib, Stones Throw, Flying Lotus,…
Moka Only is a founding member of the chart-topping hip-hop supergroup Swollen Members. Moka Only has collaborated with the late great J Dilla, MF Doom, Aceyalone, Buck 65, K-Os, Sadat X and Oh No just to name a few. Chief previously produced for artists such as Blu, Co$$, John Robinson, Kissey Asplund, Dynas, Les Nubians, or Sene. He also released the successful album “Collabo Collection” and the instrumental album “Drone Beats & Electric Waves”.
Moka Only’s career spans over 10 years, 26 LP’s and 400,000 records sold independently. He has won three Juno’s, seven Much Music video awards and so much more. Chief is the founder of Feelin’ music, label that put out his own material as well as Moka Only’s “Lowdown Suite 2 – the Box”, releases from Blu & Sene, etc…CD / Digital album – Out in November 2011 on Feelin’ music
TRACKLISTING
01. Crickets
02. Mess around
03. Let it show
04. For always
05. In here
06. Form the future
07. Relief
08. What to do
09. Tropicana
10. Show
11. Next step
12. It’s all us
13. Appreciation
14. First time back
15. If you want it
16. The new
