Unless you’re from the Left Coast or a card-carrying Hip-Hop nerd, you probably haven’t heard of the questionably named N.A.S.A, a collaborative effort between Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon. But if most Hip-Hop fans don’t recognize these two, their musical peers clearly respect their talents. The guest list on their debut The Spirit of Apollo reads like a Hip-Hop Hall of Fame: Scarface, Kanye West, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, E-40, as well as rock legends David Byrne and Tom Waits.

All that talent at your disposal is nice, but it also places an onus on the unknown producers to create music worthy of their artists. In this, Clean and Zegon have succeeded, fusing electronica, old school Hip-Hop beats and Brazilian funk to create a consistently engaging and dynamic sonic canvas for their artists. Read the rest of this entry »