2024 is coming to a close, and in years prior I’d use this time to reflect on the year in music. This reflection would usually come in the form of various ranked lists and retrospective projects I’d work on. This year has been a little different. While I have contributed to a few “Best of 2024” lists, it has been far less than usual. 2024 has required me to focus a lot more on my book and music production, which hasn’t left much time for contributing to publications. While this changing dynamic in my work feels good (less pressure to stay up on every release), I also feel a bit out of the loop. Therefore, I won’t attempt to offer another Top five of 2024 list here. Instead, I’ll keep it simple and do what I’ve been doing with this column all year. Here are five Philly-related things that caught my ear and heart this month.
Bilal | photo by Dylan Itkin
John Morrison’s Philly Top Five: Putting a bow on it with Vinyl Tap, Small Pro, Bilal and more in December
As per usual, the Culture Cypher Radio shares what caught his eye (and touched his heart) in the Philadelphia music scene this month.
Vinyl Tap 215 – Seasons Greetings Edition
On December 7th, Philly-based music community Vinyl Tap 215 hosted the holiday edition of their monthly jam at Common Beat Music in West Philly. I played the closing set, playing favorites like Mary J. Blige’s cover of “Let No Man Put Asunder” and the Danny Krivit edit of MFSB’s “Love is the Message.” As always, the vibe was warm and fun as we were treated to fantastic sets from Miss Maddie, cuurlzz, Dr. Dave McCullough, Street Orchestra, and Lady Prowl. Much love and shout outs to DuiJi 13 for bringing together so many great people in celebration of community and music.
Small Professor – i had to be a pharoahe in the future past
Small Professor’s i had to be a pharoahe in the future past is a sort of alternate version or continuation of the i had to be a pharoahe in the past beat tape that he released back in March. With each track titled after a line from named from Organized Konfusion’s song “Thirteen,” the album is full of references and callbacks to the past. Packed with sweeping strings, glistening pianos, shifting tempos, and irregular times, the beats here are as texturally rich as they are rhythmic inventive. Like much of his work, Small Professor’s latest is a meditation on the potential and possibilities of hip-hop production.
Philadelphia Mass Choir – Everything You Do, Do It In The Spirit
The Philadelphia Mass Choir’s 1983 album Everything You Do, Do It In The Spirit is a potent snapshot of the style of music played in Black Baptist churches throughout late 70s and early 80s. Relying heavily on piano and choral vocals, Everything You Do… is rooted in the classic style of contemporary Gospel pioneered by Reverend James Cleveland in the 1950s. Despite their many traditional characteristics, Philly Mass Choir songs like “Patience of Job” and “Strongholds” add R&B-style rhythms and basslines to great effect.
Bilal – Adjust Brightness
Adjust Brightness is the latest album from Germantown’s finest, Bilal Oliver. A delightfully experimental take on psychedelic soul, Adjust Brightness contains some of Bilal’s most forward-thinking music. While Bilal’s vocal talents are the heart of the project, the production from Antman Wonder, Hezekiah, flanafi, Conley Whitfield, and others match Bilal’s gifts, and adorn him with a number of gorgeous and trippy instrumentals.
The Money Making Jam Boys – “Philadelphia Zoo”
Taking their name from Rusty Cundief’s 1994 cult-classic rap mockumentary Fear Of A Black Hat, The Money Making Jam Boys are a supergroup comprised of Black Thought, Dice Raw, Truck North, S.T.S., and Greg P.O.R.N. The group’s 2011 mixtape The Prestige is a veritable cypher on wax with each member contributing staggering verses in a relentless game of lyrical one-upmanship. For his solo effort on the tape-entitled “Philadelphia Zoo,” Black Thought unleashes an absolutely unhinged 40+ bar, single verse flip of Old Dirty Bastard’s “Brooklyn Zoo.” With a dramatic, apocalyptic beat from the late producer, Kleph Dollaz, “Philadelphia Zoo” is a peak moment in a tape full of dizzying heights.