by Dan O

Brain knows when a song is done. The standard is if it touches you.

Brainorchestra raps! Takes his best beats for himself for his E Town General series as well as others releases. Artists in this position end up having 2 careers; Brainorchestra the rapper and Brainorchestra the producer. The producer has released several super dope instrumental projects (Fallout: Vault 908 & Message For You). As far as unexplored growth the next level for producer Brainorchestra is doing full albums with great rappers and developing musical relationships in a new way. Can you imagine if Reductive and Apollo Kids Meal from Premrock’s wonderful 2021 album Load Bearing Crows Feet had led to a full Brain & Prem project? That is the kind of opportunity I would love to see take shape. Here are five non-Prem suggestions for full albums with producer Brain:

1. O.C.-Most people would start this discussing Times Up and that peak DITC era. Nope. Anyone who loves hip hop should own Ray’s Café by Ray West & OC. The warmth and durability West gave OC allowed for us to get everything out of the sneaky dope veteran. I think of OC similarly to Masta Ace. People identify them as spitters but they are song craftsman, ILL concepts deeply felt hooks that connect to the meaning of the song, all time flow. OC was never a side dish but the complete meal and as an MC has remained vigilant in pursuit of new eras in his own career. Listen to 2017’s Same Moon Same Sun and imagine this OC linking with Brain. It would mean everything in the world to get top tier OC back. At least for those of us who dearly love DITC.

2. Kurious-Kurious and Ro Data’s project (Koncrete Jungle) is one of my top 3 Chong Wizard Records projects of all time. The NY legend found a comfortable soundbed and dug into himself. Kurious is fearless in his desire to be candid about grudges, loves, New York in the past present and future. Brain knows when a song is done. The standard is if it touches you. Some songs are a primal thump with knocking baseline moving your whole body, others are psychedelic guitars with audio snippets and humor. Just like Kurious it needs to touch the soul to activate. Sincerity connects with results you can’t deny. Kurious is still ready to burn down tracks, just listen to his newest single (Tis The Season).

3. A.J. Suede-This one is a slam dunk. Suede is a star: lyrical, ready-to-go on any kind of production, funny, great at crafting songs, elite at utilizing resources. Suede is no joke as a producer himself which should make it easy for Brain and Suede to connect on common ground for a whole project. Over the years Suede has been quietly scaling up his whole essence. Maximizing all aspects!  Brain would be a great ally in going bigger and better than either have been before.

4. Bruiser Wolf-Same year Brain gave Prem two songs that rocked my world Bruiser Wolf dropped Dope Game Stupid, largely produced by Raphy, it might age into a classic. The stories of Wolf writing Rodney Dangerfield like hip hop punch lines on napkins and stuffing pockets make sense. When I interviewed Raphy he said Wolf is a perfectionist that wants all these songs spotless. Raphy and the Bruiser Brigade production was off kilter, fuzzy, stripped down with punk rock energy. It fit with the one of a kind slinky flow of Bruiser Wolf…now it’s time to go the other way. Brian’s skillset is to make unique sounds that also sound essential to the defining production that shaped the genre. Weird but not weird at all. Big, loud, and clean would be a new soundscape for Wolf. A new ecosystem to thrive in. I love Bruiser Brigade and if Wolf stays with their production team I will never complain but I’d love to see what happens when Wolf spits over a track like Beyond The Mountains off Message To You.

5. King Micah the Infamous-Micah is a powerful writer with a confident completely understandable delivery. If you listen to Projects and Pyramids from 2018 you can hear Micah spitting confidently to some of his own thumping, boom bap production. Meeting up with MIGHTYHEALTHY changed everything. Through KINGMIGHTY 1 and 2 they have grown together. MIGHTYHEALTHY challenged Micah forcing his assured ease to fit into different containers and making things much louder. Brain has a chunky organic sound that fills space but allows a focused emcee to blast off. Micah is always on a mission to shred the track and has a high standard for his own rhymes so getting elite Brain production would be a different space, one I would love to see manifest.