Producer Phoniks first dropped the Raashan Ahmad assisted track That Feeling (which also had Slimkid3) sometime early last year and promised a full length project which finally materialised. The 7 track body of work titled Above The Clouds is a soulful, jazz influenced joints that would have heads nodding in positive agreement.

Hit the play button and get down with the program.

 

The “Above The Clouds” EP is the newest collaborative release from bay area emcee Raashan Ahmad and Portland, ME hip hop producer Phoniks. It’s infectious combination of electric piano loops, filtered basslines and lively drum breaks lay the backbone as Raashan exhibits his natural groove as an emcee masterfully over the project’s 7 cuts. Positive lyricism and jazzy soundscapes invoke memories of artists like A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul while featured emcees such as Virginia’s Awon, Chicago’s MC ADaD and Slimkid3 of legendary hip-hop group The Pharcyde each bring their own unique rhyme style to balance the sonic palette. All these factors lead to a jazzed out, feel good project that is both relatable and refreshing, perfect to digest on a sunny afternoon cruise this summer.

About Phoniks
Phoniks is a hip-hop producer from Portland, Maine known for his vintage-90’s boom bap production style and melodic jazz and soul samples. The 25-year old beatmaker has amassed over 15+ million plays over the last few years through exposure from his original work with emcee’s Awon, Dephlow, and Anti-Lilly and his series of popular remix tapes on Soundcloud. His work has been featured on websites such as Earmilk, 2DopeBoyz, IndieShuffle, Dealer De Musique, and The Source.

About Raashan Ahmad
Raashan Ahmad is the lead MC for the bay area collective Crown City Rockers as well as a solo MC/Poet/DJ. His solo albums “The Push”, “For What You’ve Lost” and “Ceremony” and collaborative projects with producers Ta-ku and Headnodic have garnered worldwide attention from International tastemakers, fans and press ranging from the BBC’s Giles Peterson, to XXL, Urb, The Source, countless blogs and other outlets. His collaborations with musicians around the world (including Aloe Blacc, Keren Ann, Fred Wesley (James brown), Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), Ta-ku, Geoffrey Oreyama and many more) keep him in high demand touring feverishly with both live bands and DJ’s alike in Europe, Japan, Australia, Brazil, North America, U.K. and beyond.