ArtOfficial - The Payback

As anyone who’s been to a Roots show can attest, live instrument hip-hop is better. It just is. So why don’t we hear more groups like Miami-based jazz/rock hip-hop outfit ArtOfficial? Only the rap gods know, so for now we’ll just have to make do with quality over quantity; quality that comes to us today in the form of the title track off ArtOfficial’s upcoming DJBooth-sponsored project The Payback. A reworking of jazz trio Medeski, Martin & Wood’s Chubb Sub, this smokey joint contains one of the funkier bass lines I’ve heard in a minute and a hot saxophone (saxophone?) solo, along with native ArtOfficial emcees Newsense and Logics and Booth regular K. Sparks (who’s also doing solo work today on Momma Say) spitting a lyrical exploration of karma’s effect in the world. Or to put it way less deeply, payback’s a bi**h. Fans can see watch some behind the scenes footage of ArtOfficial recording The Payback (the song) here, and everyone should expect to hear some sonic vengeance when The Payback drops April 23 on the greatest hip-hop site on the planet…that would be DJBooth.