The producer behind the beat for Kendrick Lamar’s track “Momma” from the Grammy Award-winning To Pimp A Butterfly album and one half of NxWorries with Anderson .Paak is the producer based out of Los Angeles by way of New Jersey that goes by the name of Knxwledge. Today he released a brand new EP entitled Gladwemet that boasts 6 new songs. You may have already heard the lead single “Relapse” featuring Traffic as it was also used recently as part of the Adult Swim singles program.
Knxwledge’s style is the evolution of J Dilla and Madlib, with his jazzy lo-fi hip-hop grooves that seamlessly flow from one track to the next. And like the previously mentioned beatmakers, his musical style can be tailored to MC’s or be left as stand-alone instrumental hip-hop songs. While his resume of collaborations is quite extensive it certainly doesn’t lack quality, boasting credits for Ghostface Killah, Earl Sweatshirt, Roc Marciano, Action Bronson, Joey Bada$$, Westside Gunn, Homeboy Sandman.
With 88 releases on his website since 2010, it can be quite intimidating to jump straight in and start listening, especially when you see how he names his songs and albums. His discography can be broken into four main categories: Beat Tapes, his Hexual Sealings series which are R&B focused remix projects, Wrap Taypes which are his hip-hop remix projects and he has a handful of singular rapper remix projects such as [DB]FiXXX’s which is a remixed version of Danny Brown’s album XXX.
For anyone looking start the trek down the path of Knxwledge, Hud Dreems is a 26-track offering released through Stones Throw Records. It is a well crafted and spacey trip filled with both traditional hip-hop drum breaks and off-kilter rhythms. He also dropped a 53-track cassette project called Anthology that serves as an anthology various tracks of his work from 2009-2013.
With a second to none work rate behind the drum pads, Knxwledge is much more than the other guy on Action Bronson’s couch as seen on Viceland. Knxw the ledge and check out Gladwemet on Apple and Spotify.
