Paul White

London beatmaker Paul White crafts psychedelic, sample-heavy instrumentals that betray a love for the sloppy chops of Madlib and J Dilla's more outré work. Following two prior instrumental albums, Rapping With Paul White is his first attempt at a vocal record, with decidedly mixed results. White's beats are uniformly knocking, from Arabic funk on "Run Shit" to funhouse Mellotron on "A Weird Day" to antique vocoders on "The Doldrums." The problem lies with the rappers. UK spitters Jehst and Tranqill and rising indie star Homeboy Sandman disappoint with their spots. Only Detroit residents Danny Brown and Guilty Simpson sound truly comfortable; Brown squeaks unprintable punch lines over the burbling, whimsical electronics of "One of Life's Pleasures," while Guilty Simpson's gruff tone roughhouses the echoing synths of "Dirty Slang." Thankfully, the album's seven instrumentals deliver, as tracks like the kalimba funk of "Right On" and the rolling congas of "African New Wave" more than compensate for the weak vocal spots.