J Rawls x Hotels

Alright. I know this isn’t brand new any more, but moving across the country has precluded me from gettin’ this in here. But now, all of you Lone Catalyst fans may commence rejoicing as your favorite mid west emcee/producer, J Rawls, is back with a batch of tracks cooked up throughout the nation as he toured working to spread his name and the fact that he’s actually a skillful dude in a general sense. Rap fans probably should have already been aware of the fact, because prior to this tape – and his other solo work – this guy right here was already puttin’ it down.

During the mid ‘90s as both J Rawls and his eventual partner in the Lone Cats, J Sands, lived in Cincinnati, they were both privy to witnessing not just the blossoming of that scene’s rap prowess, but the underground swelling that came towards the end of the decade. Cincy even played host to Scribble Jam for a number of years prior to the festival running into monetary problems and not being held in ’09. But alongside that immense hip hop festival, there were acts like Mood kicking around. Doing work for that group’s Doom album put the fledgling producer in the sights of Talib Kweli just before he and Mos Def went and set down the first Black Starr disc.

Contributing some behind the boards work to "Brown Skin Lady" as well as "Yo Yeah" on Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star elevated J Rawls’ profile to untoward heights. And as a result, the Ohio native went on to be something of an underground stalwart in the deejay booth. Beginning in 2001, though, Rawls released four, solo full lengths – and an additional effort in tandem with Declaime, aka Dudley Perkins. And while hip hop in a general sense is what Rawls is about, it seems that his predilection for production has taken over for this new mix tape.

Coming out in July (yeah, I know that’s years in innernut time), Hotel Beats is exactly what it sounds like: a clutch of disparate beats, composed on the road, sans vocals, but with added bumps for the listener’s pleasure. At points the disc seems to be meandering through some bland hip hop territory, but moments eventually crop up that should convince even the passing rap fan(atic) of Rawls’ talent. There’s not quite Premiere or Dilla greatness on here, but Rawls shows that he can hold his own with any number of top tier producers.

After the rocky start – and a spoken intro describing the process and giving listeners a little skit – some funky gems crop up. “Hold On To It” starts off with a guitar part fit for the Meters or some other southern combo that’s as dirty and grity as it is funky. And supplemented by that sporadic vocal snippet, the track bounces to its natural end just prior to listeners wanting more. Hotel Beats isn’t going to impact Rawls’ career the same way that working with Mos Def and Talib Kweli did, but it’s certainly a competent and at times insanely headnodic collection of 24 tracks.