JD. REID

After garnering plenty of attention with his debut EP ‘Word Gets Around’, September saw the release of JD Reid‘s latest offering, ’88 EP’.  Nestled amongst the five tracks of British creative brilliance is ‘Nobunaga’, the producer’s collaboration with Brxtherhood’s Denzel Himself and Piff Gang’s Milkavelli.

The track begins with a warped snippet of the Chinese dialogue that ties the whole EP together, before Reid’s minimal beat creeps into existence.  There are elements of Two-step and Garage in the production that make this track reminiscent of the scene that gave birth to UK Dubstep, but Reid mixes these elements with some hectic Trap-style hi hats to give the sound a really up-to-the-minute re-working.

Both MCs use the bare-bones nature of the beat to their advantage, demonstrating some unrestricted flow and making some fitting nods to Tekken, Sushi, Kung Fu and Anime while they’re at it.  With this track, JD. Reid demonstrates exactly how to hand-pick MCs to complement an instrumental, rather than dominate it.

Words by Lewis Lister

Tip courtesy of Grant Brydon