Waajeed, Presents the War LP

The producer for Detroit hip-hop outfit Platinum Pied Pipers, Waajeed learnt his craft under the spell of the late, sorely missed Jay Dee (aka J Dilla), and deploys a similarly tangled web of bumping electronic beats and raw samples. The War LP is a dark, semi-conceptual showcase for his Bling 47 label's roster, and though it suffers from a surfeit of tough but aimless instrumentals, it's worth the price of entry for Tiombe Lockhart, whose caramel vocals over the sledgehammer riffing of 'The Overtaking' evoke the spirit of Erykah Badu transplanted onto the body of a hip-hop Black Sabbath.