Ask most people to define hip hop, and they’ll likely talk to you about raps and beats. But if you go a level deeper, you realize that hip hop is really the art of the sample—not just in the literal sense of sampling sounds on a record, but in the wider sense of listening to the world, processing those observations, and then producing something new from your own perspective. That something new could be the poetry of a flow or the thump and rap of a beat. Though mostly instrumental, Tender Buttons manages to do both. The latest album by Oakland producer 4d., released on Hot Record Societe, samples from movies, TV shows, music (Pink Floyd, Janet Jackson, Biz Markie), and beyond. It’s awash in nostalgia, longing, wondering, pondering. It’s a personal work, you just know it, but it’s also widely spacious and open to interpretation. Best of all, the beats are golden. For even more from 4d., be sure to subscribe to SMARTBOMB on Patreon to get access to the producer’s newest 50-min mix.
