Words by Landon A.

The rapper/producer group has been around since Hip-Hop’s inception, although it isn’t the staple it once was. However, modern rap duo’s have been steadily changing the format and pushing boundaries the last few years with concept albums, albums sampling a single artist, etc. One of the most talented and innovative rapper/producer groups to come out recently consists of Phonte and Nicolay, better known as The Foreign Exchange. Their first album, Connected was an instant cult-classic, blending smoothed down production from Nicolay with Phonte’s carefully constructed “I’m just an ordinary dude” rhymes. After a substantially long wait, the North Carolina bred MC/singer teams up yet again with the Netherlands import to turn out Leave It All Behind, a sonic steak knife that cuts through all musical standards and presents itself as a genre all its own.

One will notice from off the jump that the mighty Phontiggalo has dropped his throaty rhymes for a more soothing, “I can’t believe it’s not butter” singing voice. Fear not if R&B isn’t your cup of tea, because he still manages to flex his rhyme muscle on a few tracks along the way. For instance, “All or Nothing” is a track with far too much bounce not to be blessed with a hot verse; he comes up strong behind it with the slashie © Zoolander “Coming Home to You.”

Nicolay’s production is a sight in itself, with few voices worthy enough to breathe a single word over his tightly compacted drum arrangements, strategically placed horn blasts and warm synth stabs. On this project the man behind the boards implementing live instrumentation more than ever. “Sweeter Than You”, a track of beautifully chaotic musical fuckery throws screaming guitar riffs in the mix for good measure. However, his production seems to blend together song after song. That is until eventually he hits “If This Is Love,” a French house track that sounds like it should be blaring out of an Express in the mall lobby. The same problem goes for Phonte, after a while his voice is placed in the back of your mind in droning repetition, leaving you to wish Pooh would kick down the studio door and jump in the booth to spit a verse for the fans sake. Instead, Phonte parades fellow crooners Darien Brockington & Munsinah on a few tracks, adding to the dormant texture of the record.

Ultimately, Leave It All Behind is a solid follow up, although re-introduction may be a better term. It has its moments, and in its entirety it looks to be one of the best produced albums this year thus far. Fans of Zo! & Tiggalo Love the 80’s! will no doubt dig this record from start to finish. Phonte comes correct on the R&B tip, proving without a reasonable doubt that he’s more versatile than half the MC’s in the game. Nicolay’s production is on point as usual, providing a blueprint for ‘Te & friends to sing to and listeners to fantasize to because for real y’all….this is baby makin’ music.