It has finally happened. Since first discovering the exotica production of Monster Rally some odd years ago, it has been our professional opinion that a rapper’s vocal dexterity and proclivity for grandiose claims of beach chairs in foreign lands would assimilate nicely into the Monster Rally aesthetic. While our theories of who Monster Rally should collaborate with abound, it’s fitting that he would align his production with a relatively unknown Oakland rapper in Jay Stone.
Not entirely a newcomer, Jay Stone’s Bandcamp page dates back to his Melodious Miscreant record from 2012. But it’s his 2013 collaborative EP with Trippy Swaggert, entitled 16th & Adeline, that is an unheralded achievement from yesteryear. Jay Stone’s style recalls the super-scientifical mentality of early Heiro, while still capable of the crossover into the lavish braggadocio side of the coin in rap currency. It is this universally-Bay identity that dominates the introduction to his Monster Rally collab, “Cognac”.
Jay Stone has the elocution of his forefathers like E-40 or Gift of Gab—it’s in the way he says increment—and a casual comfort within the grooves that never disrupts the stylish twinkle of the 70s funk production. While the track feels like a slight departure from Monster Rally’s definitive exoticism, the album title Foreign Pedestrians, suggests otherwise and that Jay Stone came into the project with an understanding of his producer’s picturesque backdrops.
Foreign Pedestrians is out January 27, 2015 on Gold Robot Records.
