so it’s been a really, really good week for independent hip hop in the state of hawaii. know:juander’s a kid love beta EP dropped, homie k-love’s new band know black box dropped a poppin’ 4-track demo tape, and of course homies the deadbeats released their first official album. to go off on a tangent for a second, let me say this: a lot of people always say shit like “support local music, buy this album” and personally, i always thought that was kind of a bad way to put it. as though the best reason you could have to get a band’s music was to support them. so i’m not going to say that. what i will tell you is, that you should get these artists’ music, because you will genuinely enjoy it.

the deadbeats’ self-titled freshman album was professionally recorded and mastered, if you remember, i took a few candids of them in the studio laying down the foundations that would eventually become this album. i was also hired to design the album art.

attached are the original proof sheets of the layouts. this was cranked out in two days (it was a last minute design choice by the band) and i think it turned out swimmingly. i did all the photography and of course everything other than the text. the idea was to put together something very simple, with a heavy, colorful cover and a very minimalist back, think vintage 12″ soul album.  i think it mostly worked out that way.  i’d write a review of their record but unfortunately i don’t review albums that i was involved with creatively…call it an effort to try to remain objective in my opinion.

in my opinion the album sounds great, the composition, lyricism, and fun factor are way, way, way up there…definitely a must-buy if you’re gonna buy just one CD by a local band released this whole year, so far this would be the one that i think most people should buy.

congrats fellas, i’m so happy to see everyone getting up and really putting the work in and collecting on all that effort.

dope. so what are you waiting for? go buy the deadbeats album!

-a