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Double Cup
Chicago’s footwork movement didn’t necessarily need the blessing of an avant-conversant label like Hyperdub to be legitimized; its street-music origins would always feel centered no matter how many wonky-beat Brits or extremely online bedroom producers got their fingers into it. But less than half a year before his far-too-soon passing, DJ Rashad’s first album for Hyperdub — and his only full-length for the label in his lifetime — defiantly confronted the prospects of a broader international club-hopping juke movement and went sure, if it’s on my terms. Granted, Rashad’s terms were shared by a lot of people. Only two cuts on Double Cup are sole credits, and while they’re absolute monsters — the Pac-in-Juice tone spasms of “I Don’t Give A Fuck” and the house-vs-trap clash of “Reggie” do absolutely unholy things with the genre’s tumbling triplet-heavy drum patterns — the collaborative presence of his extended Teklife family, including Taso, Manny, DJ Phil, and DJ Spinn, reinforces his case as not just a titan of the movement but a cultivator of it. Those collective efforts turn out hellbent on making footwork as immersive melodically as it is rhythmically; soak up the hyperaccelerated sleight-of-tempo g-funk “Pass That Shit,” the stammering ’90s R&B echolalia of “Only One,” and the title track’s nods to Chicago acid house’s glorious 303 squelches for the best effect. Even the appearance of Bristol juke adopter Addison Groove on “Acid Bit” feels like less of a startling trans-Atlantic crossover than a knowing nod: you’re welcome to try this sound out for yourself just as long as you have the respect to know its roots, the curiosity to find your voice through it, and the momentum to keep up with it.