I got TH!NK’s record a couple of weeks ago and I have been listening to it every day since. It’s full of top tracks with old school sounds and rhymes that are well-constructed, cool, funny and thought provoking; and if you’ll excuse the pun- I think that’s the point. Headspace shows TH!NK has a pretty cool record collection and his album is full of great samples, loops, beats that sits it on the wrong side of copyright clearance so this might be a collection of tunes that don’t stay around for ever.
There are a hell of a lot of standout tracks and this makes Headspace a pretty remarkable body of work. If I had to single of some tunes I’d start with his track Idris which I thought was about Stringer Bell, simply because both the track and Idris Elba are cool as, but it turns out it uses a sample from a tune featuring drumming legends Idris Muhammed. Consider me educated.
Mingus is also killer track which also has my second favourite funny as f**k lyric and rhymes that sum up a lot of people’s opinions on politics.
There are many reasons I have been listening to Headspace over and over; its packed full of real highlights, Natural has a rather wicked love letter to women that has one of the best sing-a-longs I’ve heard in a while, but it’s almost unfair to single out individual tracks as there are just so many great tunes. I had a long chat with TH!NK about his record. He wanted to make an album that gave people a window into his head and what occupies his mind.
Surprisingly for such a well-constructed collection, he hates mixing. He talked about how his tunes evolve from samples, loops, beats and rhymes. He also talked about making tunes quickly. This was something that he’s only learnt recently; the tunes you make and put together quickly have the best energy, the ones that take too long lose their power. Headspace been two or three years in the making and TH!NK has plenty more tunes, rhymes, and styles to push. Currently making his way through South America and up to New Orleans, I am sure he will find more inspiration along the way. Check Headspace out sharpish.