This week Kamaiyah and Capolow treat us with their collaborative effort Oakland Nights. Among all the albums to release this past Friday, this one is surely one of the more slept on LP’s. In typical hyphy fashion, the album is filled all throughout with funky baselines and gritty 808’s. Each of the 10 tracks on “Oakland Nights” make you want to drive down your street at night with the music blasting through your speakers as your friends pop their bodies out the windows and go dumb. Standout tracks include “Player’s Club” and “So Much Money.” These songs display the collaborative energy Kamaiyah and Capolow are able to bounce off each other, with Kamaiyah offering a chill, nonchalant flow and delivery balanced by Capolow’s vehement and hyperactive sound. The sole two features on the project appear courtesy of Los Angeles’ RJmrLA on “Gang Gang,” and Oakland’s very own Keak da Sneak on the rightfully titled track “Oakland Nights.”
Most impressive is how the sound The Bay Area created for itself almost 30 years ago with rappers like E-40, Mac Dre, Too $hort, Keak Da Sneak paving the way, is still popular within youth culture in the city. In a fashion similar to how LA artists have modernized the gangsta rap sound to combine elements from the past with fresh new sounds, Bay Area rappers have also updated the sound of Hyphy music, while maintaining its prominent components. Perhaps it’s the West Coast confidence that intimidates the corporate music setting, but the industry has often overlooked California’s unique and talented artists’. However, when given the opportunity, California artists always rise to the occasion and deliver bodies of work that influence the next wave of artists and culture.
Kamaiyah and Capolow’s Oakland Nights album is one of the best collab albums to release this year and is filled with a ranging styles of Bay Area influence. On this project, Kaimayah and Capolow show the world they aren’t playing with us and mean strictly Town Bizness. Listen below and tap in with two of the Bay’s finest for more music.
Well written piece, I appreciate the detail with which this is described. The history of music described made me wanna listen even more. Forsure gonna bump this now.