Tweet

Album Details

• Artist: Rjd2
• Album: Deadringer
• Label: Definitive Jux
• Year of Release: 2002
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2003-04-01

How could I not special order RJD2 after being on pretty much everyone’s best of 2002 list? It finally came in (I still don’t get record store mentality when it comes to independent music) and I’m grooving along nicely too it. I’m not sure if Deadringer would have made my list or not but it’s still a damn fine album. DJ Shadow fans, this way please. Call it instrumental hip-hop, call it cut-and-paste, or call it turntablism, RJD2 has this art down nicely. Deadringer is as an important debut album as DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing was. There is definitely room for the two of them in this specialized niche in hip-hop and they both have their own characteristics. RJD2 is not near as dark as DJ Shadow is and RJ leans a little more towards the hip-hop sound, complete with guest appearances from Blueprint, Copywrite, and Jakki. These true hip-hop tracks are amazing, proving that the key to a good hip-hop album is the DJ. But it is really the instrumentals that show off RJD2’s talents. He is a forward thinker and is able to deliver the good on his visions. Some say instrumental hip-hop sounds boring but I say that you need to check out the likes of Deadringer before you make that decision final. Deadringer is as fine a debut as any artist could ask for. Pretty damn groovy for a white guy.

User Reviews and Comments

Log In or Register to Rate Albums