74: Out of Time

Norwegian hip-hop producer Ol’ Burger Beats gave himself a big conceptual challenge with this project: not only does 74: Out of Time invoke a year and a moment in jazz he wasn’t alive to experience firsthand, he channels his beatmaker/archive-raider fascination with this time period into an album where every single track is 74 BPM. Keeping things dynamic over the course of 45 ½ minutes while doing nothing to vary up the tempo is a hard challenge for any producer to meet, and his decision to maintain a consistent soul-jazz atmosphere — bolstered by both live instrumentation and a (not always period-accurate) host of samples — could’ve led to a monochromatic listening experience without more careful attention. But considering it’s also a project that relies on a wide array of guest rappers to give it further life, OBB’s ability to orchestrate nuanced variations on this vibe is key to the album’s success despite his production’s self-imposed constraints. While 74 is fairly consistent in its mellow jazz trappings, its moods have a broad scope — at turns contemplative and searching (“Free Form”; “Out of Time”), confidently soulful (“Change the World”; “Holler Back”), and ethereally wavy (“PGO”; “Recuperating”). At its best, it puts some of underground hip-hop’s most distinct voices into deep focus, drawing out the deeper nuances of their flows when juxtaposed against the beats’ shifting modes. The unresolving quiet tension of “Black Sabbath” — all mournful piano, cage-pacing stand-up bass, and distant raindrop percussion punctuated with tide-shifting between-verse horns — brings out the sorrow and frustration beneath the sharp words in billy woods’ and Fahim the God’s verses. Quelle Chris’s reflective turn on “The Last of Us,” torn between next-step perseverance and pining for the past, is given space to breathe through a subtly swinging but otherwise hushed beat pierced with stark-yet-soft electric piano riffs. Pink Siifu serves as a ghostly presence on the blues-based “Running,” where he keeps feinting towards explaining what he’s running for but leaves enough of an impression that it’s not by choice. And the quiet confidence of Ill Camille is a welcome presence, pondering her origins on opener “Free Form” and navigating the stress of putting herself out in the world on “Out of Time.”