Athens, GA based producer and musician Wesley Johnson, who goes by the stage name WesdaRuler does some serious genre mashups in his album Ocean Drive. With jazz, slow funk and hip hop as the tow most prominent stepping stone he constructed a concept record about reconnecting with his family and close friends after a dark spell. He doesn't go into detail about the latter, but it was definitely something quite serious.
Johnson barely keeps his emotions in check, but the never breaks character as a laid-back spoken word master, which makes his storytelling quite intense and forces the listener to hang on to each word. This is hip hop for people who don't like hip hop as such, but can appreciate risk-taking and mixing it up.
Ocean Drive is released via Happy Happy Birthday to Me records The deluxe version on white vinyl comes with bonus instrumentals cassette & button.
Tracks:- The Intro
- Butterfly
- StayatHome
- Dreaming
- Let da music play
- Interlude
- GeturAssintheCar
- Life Life
- Loseit4tonite
- Wannado
- Ocean Drive