All instrumentals pressed on "cherry bomb" grape/canary yellow color-in-color with tangerine and magenta splatter vinyl.

Tall Black Guy chases his extraordinary 2021-released collab LP, Of Process and Progression alongside emcee Ozay Moore, with the long-awaited instrumental version. The record is a celebration of hip-hop and its many influences, especially jazz, funk, soul, and R&B. And now that it’s available in instrumental form, listeners can fully dive into and unpack the layers, samples, and sounds comprising the release.

In speaking about his approach to the album’s production, TBG explains the process as follows: "When myself and Ozay decided to come together to make OPAP, we really wanted to make it to where there were no skips. And the production had to be top notch.” He goes on to say that he didn’t want to just sample, but instead add live instrumentation and collaborations with other musicians to craft the sound they wanted.

“I wanted to make sure Ozay had a lot of space to get his point across in the songs he was coming up with,” TBG says. And while you can certainly hear that space in these instrumentals, they stand on their own as stunning odes to hip-hop and the genres that birthed it. This album is also brimming with musical Easter eggs on each song, particularly on repeated listens as the layers begin to unravel themselves to your ears.

This is evident right from the jump on “Stick Em,” a speaker-knocking banger anchored by an unmistakable Fat Boys vocal sample. And then there’s “Har Hanz,” a track that serves as a nod to both hip-hop classic Style Wars and the music of the Soulquarians. Another immediate standout is TBG’s flip of the Pharcyde’s timeless burner, “Runnin,” which he transforms into “Runnin Away” without losing the original’s essence.

There is so much to love and discover within the instrumentals of OPAP, and for fans of TBG’s past work, it exists as another triumph in what’s becoming one of hip-hop’s most thrilling discographies.

Tracklist: 

A1 Stick Em 
A2 Viberite 
A3 Har Hanz
A4 Mud
A5 Make It Like This 
B6 NUPWR
B7 Runnin Away 
B8 Does Anybody Care? 
B9 Black Is…