Fresh Espresso Acapellas

Posted by Justin Hoyt

P Smoov(Left) Rik Rude(Right) Photo by Rabid Child Images

It's impossible to knock P Smoov's hustle. Hate him all you want (and his haters have plenty of justified reasons to) but this dude knows how to market a product. The Mad Rad, Fresh Espresso producer/mc has created a hell of a name for himself around the Northwest, much of this done by well publicized incidents involving Neumo's and their security, rowdy ass shows, and an aesthetic image  more commonly associated with indie rock than bass heavy hip-hop. The facts are the facts though, and Smoov has got skills. I had listened to a little bit of Mad Rad in the past (not for me), really enjoyed the Fresh Espresso album Glamour, but it wasn't until P Smoov dropped the Face Scrunchers EP that I remember being sold on the hype. The one track, almost fully instrumental beat tape fuses hard-hitting drums, electro bass, synths, and some well chosen and flipped samples to create what I feel like is a showcasing of what's in store for Smoov.

But that's all a preface to what I feel is one of the more ingenious marketing tactics I have seen by a local artist in a long while. I first caught wind of a "Diamond Pistols" (off Glamour) remix by Seattle's own File Jerks a couple weeks ago via MOM. I damn near tore my room apart like an angry eight grader listening to this cut. Heavy base, epic drops, rapid hi-hats, and enough elements from the original to keep the essence, I'm pretty sure I played it six or seven times in a row upon hearing it. So I'm thinking cool, Smoov and the File Jerks probably ran into eachother somewhere talked about doing this and a week after there's a really solid remix on the internet, no big deal. Then a couple weeks later I head over to one of my favorite time-kill sites 206proof to see: this. Smoov had put the whole album up as acapellas in order for any producer to remix. The brilliance behind this is just as soon as Fresh Espresso begins to creep out of people's minds, P Smoov put's it right back in. Not only that, but he does it in such a way that allows producers to interact with the material themselves all while Smoov takes a listen. Producers around the Northwest are being allowed to showcase their skills for one of the areas imminent producers, all while he gets free marketing for his group. Like I said before I definitely listened to Glamour when it came out but have myself reenergized toward the material through these remixes. It's got me excited for new Fresh Espresso all without Smoov taking more than a few minutes out of his day. Hats off on this one, I'm impressed.

Oh, yeah! The music! I'm posting a few of my favorites below, including Sebino's brilliant reworking of "Diamond Pistols", but make sure and check out this link for future updates. Also check out Seattle producer OC Notes website to download his reworking of the entire album (too much heat).

Sebino
Fresh Espresso - Diamond Pistols (Sebino Remix) by FreshEspresso

File Jerks
Fresh Espresso - Diamond Pistols (FileJerks remix) by outforstardom

Baked Beats
Fresh Espresso - Girls and fast cars (Baked Beatz remix) by bakedbeatz