Kenny Beats: Louie — musical get-well card gets commercial release

Mixtapes have been assimilated into the rap industry as not-quite-albums, a dashed-off set of songs released to keep fans on the simmer between studio LPs. In the past, however, they represented a shadow recording industry. Unsigned rappers and DJs released mixtapes of their work in search of a label deal. Meanwhile, listeners made compilation tapes for friends, a practice that extended beyond hip-hop into other genres. This was the home-taping wing of the mixtape.

The debut solo album by inventive US rap producer Kenny Beats began life as a throwback to homemade mixtapes. Louie was meant for an audience of one — his father, Kenneth Blume II, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2020 while his son was in the UK producing an album for the punk band Idles. Beats, real name Kenneth Blume III, was inspired to craft his musical get-well card by the compilation tapes that his father used to make in the 1990s. But it has now become a commercial product with Louie’s official release.

Its move from private communication to public commodity mirrors Beats’s position in music production. He inhabits an interesting space between underground and mainstream, with credits ranging from cult Atlanta rapper Key! to Ed Sheeran. A pair of MCs (Slowthai, Jpegmafia) have cameos on Louie, but the tracks are mainly instrumentals.

Samples of 1970s soul hits such as Foster Sylvers’ “Misdemeanor” and crate-digging gems such as Shira Small’s 1974 psychedelic song “Eternal Life” are set against relaxed beats and warm melodies. A number of the sampled vocalists are children. The voices of Beats as a boy and his father also feature. The results resemble a mellow, small-scale version of the grand sampladelic canvases made by DJ Shadow, an expertly assembled collage of deep cuts and deep feelings.

★★★★☆

‘Louie’ is released by XL Recordings