The YellowStraps from Brussels released their new album. On Yellockdown Project the duo presents numerous collabos with international artists. Together they created a mixtape with the most beautiful French-speaking HipHop these days.
Flowing beats
Do you know these flowing rhymes and beats that are actually only found in French-speaking HipHop? If you like them too, I have a real recommendation for you today: The Yellockdown mixtape by the YellowStraps! When I first read about the new album of the two brothers, I was very sceptical. Please, not another one of those self-produced Lockdown-home-projects, was my first thought. But the first single at the end of July convinced me directly. The complete album is a blast!
Alban and Yvan Murenz have created this typical sound on their new album, with beats and lyrics that you always expect when listening to French hip hop. Soft, full of RnB, a touch of Jazz & Soul with the soft rap that vocals can only have in French.
Asking Yvan in an interview a few days ago how all these fantastic collaborations came about, he told me the story of two young talents sitting at home in the spring of 2020, looking for something to help them overcome the lockdown. “Some of the artists we already knew, others we came across by chance on the internet“. They got in touch, beats and text fragments were sent back and forth. Recordings were done over mikes away directly on PC. From Brussels to the world they finally mixed 13 songs with 16 different international artists. Get a glympse of the creative process by looking on the videos.
YellowStraps with a real mixtape
Friends of soulful, hip hop with RnB and jazz will surely fall in love with the Yellockdown album, just like I did. The YellowStraps have created an album that offers tracks for dancing, in addition to tracks for the evening at the bar. Or let it just be the perfect album to listen to music at home with friends, as we used to do in these days.
If I had to name my favourite tracks, it would certainly be first of all. The Ballad . A song, written in collaboration with Rudi Creswick and Louis VI, about the importance of a real relationship. It has the typical HipHop beats of the 2000s that still fascinate me. Rudi Crewick is also known as the drummer of Tom Misch. Another of my favourites on the album is Frisson. The deep drum beats and effects remind me of my short but heavy drum & bass time. It’s one of those songs that I’d love to hear loud in a club and sink into the beat while dancing.
Every single song on the Yellockdown Project has its own flow due to the different collabos. Together they become a really perfect mixtape, which would have had a permanent place in my collection even 20 years ago. A tape full of HipHop, RnR with light jazz, which sounds so smooth that you want to listen to the album on repeat all day long. Just try it out.
Addional infos about the YellowStraps you get on Facebook, Instagram, Soundcloud, Spotify und Youtube. You want to listen t more smooth HipHop with RnB and a soft breeze of jazz? Listen to Origin by Jordan Rakei it may be another the perfect album for you.
Fotocredits: YellowStraps by Baudouin Willemart
