Evidence

Three months ago, Mass Appeal magazine dropped a short, black & white film about rapper/producer Evidence, following him from his quaint, white stucco abode to the Venice Beach boardwalk. There, he meets up with a fellow photographer and shoots on a souped-up iPhone, one of several creative endeavours Ev maintains by hitting the bong intermittently. Another one of those endeavours is his instrumental series, the Green Tape being the fourth instalment, and longest to date. Rather than layering an intricate collage like Alchemist might, or tinkering with something passable as hip-hop elevator music, Ev turns his collection of 20 vintage breakbeats into a flea market for serious heads. A decade ago, MCs flexed their freestyle chops to tapes like this, whereas today they go online. That said, this collection is more for the enthusiast, a cat who knows and cares what ASR10, Akai and Reason mean, or can spit a spontaneous eight or 16 bars to pass the time in the car. For the casual smoker, the Green Tape is a mere conversation starter, something to get fans talking before Lord Steppington, Ev's long-awaited Step Brothers collab with Alchemist, drops. Still, beats "Roc Germany," "Break" and "Synth Moments" make for an alternative soundtrack to the day-to-day life in Venice, CA.