Ras G – Down 2 Earth

Ras G – Down 2 Earth
Ramp: 2011

To say that Down 2 Earth, the latest outing from LA beatsmith Ras G, is a brief album is a huge understatement. The runtime is barely over half an hour, but it packs in 21 tracks. The most drawn out tracks come in a little over two minutes each, while most tracks clock in at just around 90 seconds.

It’s painstaking brevity can be frustrating at times, but makes what could be an otherwise difficult listen quite easy. Before a song has time to become tired, the next song has already started. Blink and the first dozen or so tracks of the album will already be over. Instead of letting the beats slowly build and formulate, most songs are in full form from the start, quickly transitioning into the next, almost like a DJ mix instead of an album.

Almost all the songs on the album fit in the same similar blunted sample heavy sound palette, but that’s not to say there is a lack of diversity here. From the tribal influenced drums of “(((Shrooms)))” that sound like something Gonjasufi would appear on, to the horns and throw-back vibes of the aptly titled “I Love the 90’s Hip-Hop”, Ras fills the album to the brim with different forward thinking ideas.

Even though at parts of the album I found myself wishing that a song would go for just another minute, or the incessant “Oh Ras!” sample punctuating each track would go unheard, they are just minor gripes in an otherwise great final product. Down 2 Earth is a crazy concoction of Madlib like sampling, Dilla album construction, and Flying Lotus experimentation; however, it all comes together as Ras G’s vision of a dubbed out sci-fi adventure through instrumental hip-hop.

Stream “(((Shrooms)))” below.

4 out of 5