sloh

LIAB_Stands for Leave It All Behind. It’s the title of the sophomore offering from the incredible duo, The Foreign Exchange , made up of Netherlands producer Nicolay and North Carolina, emcee Phonte (Also of the group Little Brother).

It appears the two haven’t lost their recipe to a winning record. Although completely different from the heavily Hip-hop based debut album, Connected , this record effortlessly transports you over the bridge into the land of their interpretation of RnB’s grooves and melodies. It is such a smooth transition that you don’t even realise the switch until you’re deep into it, catching yourself singing along with Phonte, when someone asks you, ‘who’s this guy, I’ve never heard him before?’ and your response is ‘actually he’s a dope emcee from North Carolina , part of Little Brother, you know them! He just happens to sing and he’s singing on  this album’.

The funny thing is even as I picked up the record for the first time, I can’t say I had expectations on the genre front, I didn’t think whether I’d be getting another Hip-hop album or not, I was just waiting to be blown away by these musicians. They have certainly achieved that and more. I believe it’s a certain kind of musician that can open themselves up to this kind of exploration, especially when they’re so clearly defined by hiphop, and it’s a certain kind of following or fanbase they would have had to have cultivated in order for them to make this detour without even confusing, let alone losing a huge chunk of that fanbase. (see Common: Electric Circus/Universal Mind Control)

The album is completely complete, if you know what I mean. From the first to the last track, there is not a time you feel like there was something missing in any of them. I’ve never skipped a song while listening to this album, it is that good, however, a few tracks will always stand out. Take Off The Blues (ft. Darien Brockington) is upbeat and groovy and will have you dancing at first listen. The track that made me sit up and really believe Phonte was singing in my ear was I Wanna Know which is more of a ballad. It is smooth and easy on the ear, Phonte is also on the backing vocals, harmonising like a real 90’s RnB cat. I have to say though, that my favourite track is If She Breaks Your Heart (ft. YahZarah). I cannot even begin to tell you how this song makes me feel. If it’s not the baseline driving me crazy, it’s YahZarah’s voice so seductively whispering and tickling my ears, the whole arrangement, and don’t even get me started on the transition when Phonte comes in, the tempo changes and makes you wanna start to salsa! Needless to say, I cannot say enough about this song, or the album.

Coming from a strong Hip-hop back-round, the duo has managed to do what some debut-hit-artists fail to do which is follow up with an even better and more successful album, gaining more of a following in the process. And they did all this with one had tied behind their backs! This by going a completely different route, and genre to the first album responsible for their success, to begin with. Yet another classic, CLASSIC album from the camp. If you don’t already know, I would suggest you get familiar with a quickness.

These two individuals are proof that good music is undeniable. Now they need to find a way to come and show us LIVE here is South Africa!