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First Spin: iNDEED’s Full-Length Album ‘iNDEEDFACE’

iNDEED/ Photo by MeKayla Roy

Atlanta producer DJ Burn One’s persistent mixtape release schedule recalls the workhorse mentality of Memphis’ Hypnotize Minds and Houston’s Suave House — ’90s regional rap monoliths that made their names thanks to a constant stream of innovative, well-crafted Southern hip-hop. Every once in a while, something a bit more high-profile has Burn One’s name attached to it, as well, such as last month’s resurrection of rubbery-voiced T.I. sidekick Young Dro on Ralph Lauren Reefa. But for the most part, he’s putting out studious rap albums at a frequency of at least one per month. Constants on those tapes are Burn One’s ambitious country-rap production — imagine Big K.R.I.T. teaming up with the early legends of Detroit techno — and live instrumentation from his in-house band Five Points, which features Ricky Fontaine on guitar, Walt Live on keys, the Professor on bass, and of course, Burn One on the boards.

Out of Five Points’ constant collaboration comes iNDEED, the psyche-funk hip-hop duo of Fontaine and Walt, backed up by Burn One and the Professor. This past spring’s self-titled EP introduced the group, which sounds like Funkadelic reined in just a little bit by hip-hop’s rigid dedication to loops and samples. And their album, iNDEEDFACE, out next week, emboldens these impulses, collapsing genre borders and experimenting. A take on Santana’s “Black Magic Woman” that refuses to identify itself as a cover or a remix is a highlight, and there’s a refreshing, goofing-around spirit to the work, as a whole. Song titles like “Double Cup Etiquette,” “Late PMS Early AMS,” and “Crown Royalty,” invoke the ’70s world of prog-fusion and jazz-funk where punny titles and nerdy, confident noodling were de rigueur for session dudes getting together to just do their thing. Walt and Ricky also happen to be expressive, funny rapper/singers, recalling the immensely talented second-stringers of the once-unimpeachable Dungeon Family. You can download iNDEED’s iNDEEDFACE on October 9, but you can stream it exclusively at SPIN, below.

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