Style: Jazz influenced hip hop
Primary Emotions/Themes: Sitting in a smokey lounge on a lazy Saturday night, listening to a jazz band that is accompanied by a DJ
Thoughts: I normally prefer my hip hop instrumental with a sparkling of vocals here and there. Every now and then though I find an album that is filled with vocals that hits my mood just right. Rosy Lee is just one such album.
The instrumental portion of Rosy Lee is fueled with influences from jazz and lounge music... to call this smooth jazz wouldn't be too far removed. It's primarily based around piano and sometimes a trumpet. They will play passages like you would find at a jazz lounge in a smoke filled room in the early hours of the morning.
The beats are well constructed, and compliment the music well. There isn't anything that stands out about them in either a positive or negative way, they are simply content to exist. They back up the instrumentals to near perfection, and will often accent the rhythm set by the vocals.
The vocals themselves are straight forward in the best way possible. They vary between soft spoken and more conversational. They have a good amount of emotion to them and work well for the release. Nothing exceptional, but again it works perfectly for the album as a whole.
Rosy Lee isn't a groundbreaking album, but it is an album that I enjoy to an immense degree. I don't have nearly enough hip hop in my collection, less so that is jazz influenced. This hits both of those points with one release. For that alone this is more than worth a spot in my collection.
Written July 22nd 2024
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