Ras G - Raw Fruit Vol. 3 & 4 (Album Review)

 

Ras G - Raw Fruit Vol. 3 & 4

(2015)

My copy: 2015 press by Leaving Records.

Ras G was the project of Gregory Shorter Jr. who tragically passed away in 2019. Cut from the same cloth as fellow sample based producers as Madlib and Flying Lotus, Shorter Jr. began releasing his Raw Fruit series on Leaving Records in 2012. This double album collects both volumes three and four, which are the final two entries in the collection. 

Volume three kicks off with “Hear U,” displaying the heavy, low-end centric production of the album with murky mids and trembling bass hits. Shorter Jr. was known for his “cosmic” touch, with many tracks featuring glimmers of beeping electronic samples. The mid section of the A-side suffers from a serious underrepresentation of high frequencies in the samples, of note being “Rawk ‘n’s” weak guitar that could have made for a powerful loop. The first sample features rapper Giovanni Marks on “Keep It Crev” but the performance sounds sleepy and bored in spite of the production’s best efforts to keep things flowing. The record picks up with “Tomita Kush” in an interesting looped percussive sample that maintains tension instead of diving into steady snare usage - the vocal samples are also delightfully layered. 

“Lovin” features fun chopped samples before spasming across channels into the rattling bass of “T.V. Party.” The strange synth sample that loops on “Fa Shiro” is too in focus to not get annoying, though none of the tracks last long enough to truly become bothersome. Industrial ambiance keeps “G Iz Us 7” afloat until a bumping beat breaks in with woozy digital bleating. “Walk With Me” is the best track on Volume three and has the best feature in Kahil Sadiq’s laid back flow - the music itself is a collection of soothing woodwind samples. The drunken stumbling of “Ice” comes before the jazzy melancholy of “Spaceship On Cruise Control” by which point the record has nearly totally redeemed itself. Koreatown Oddity features on “Bruce Leroy Glow” with religious vocal chanting clashing with his more aggressive rap style. Volume three concludes with Sadiq’s “South Central Matrix” which is a longer acid-rap trip with great flow. 

Volume four comes in with an entertaining sample about recording to tape, but most noticeable is how upgraded the production is. The mids and highs are now much more present and glossy, while retaining and even upgrading the bass to feel thicker. “$2 Cup Of Water” dips into gospel territory with swelling string samples and a grandiose progression. Freaky and mysterious eastern scales pervade “Da Hipster Hummus” before the twirling, dejected synth pulses of “ShiroFaceKilla” take over. The eccentric sampling continues into “Stoney O’ Hara’s” rituals and “$10 Coffee Cake’s” baroque vibrancy, dancing elegantly into funk on “James Is The Father.” Kahil Sadiq takes over again with the warm, nicely layered fusion of “Spacebase Identification” though his rapping only comes in halfway through. 

The final side of the album spaces out into calming repetition, stretching out samples and cleverly delaying resolutions until Shorter Jr. is ready to switch attention to his next plaything. Of note is “Got (Gear Games)” for its dramatic soul loops and “What Would Paul Mooney Say?” for mixing in lush RnB flair. “The Green One” is Kahil’s final feature, and is a delightful trip through overstimulation, like an arcade of sound effects and immersive sonic manipulations. “Bonus Fruit” is a final offering with oozing synth bass and grin-inducing melodies. 

While volume 3 starts out a bit bumpy, things pick up nicely and peak in volume 4. As I lack a broad experience with instrumental, sample-based hip-hop, it is more difficult to compare to contemporary works. When compared to Dilla’s Donuts which was clearly an inspiration, Raw Fruit doesn’t quite hold up, though Shorter Jr. has forged his own unique musical personality, even with his own signature motifs that reappear through both volumes. Unfortunately, passing young at 39 years old, we can’t know what another Raw Fruit record might have sounded like; but with Shorter Jr.’s creative approach, it’s likely he would have truly outdone himself.