Dedicated to his father who has been battling pancreatic cancer since 2020, renowned producer Kenny Beats has given us his debut album, Louie, to celebrate the life of the man who has shaped his life. Through 17 songs that span over the course of 33 minutes, the 31-year-old producer puts together a predominantly instrumental experience that is embedded with some of the most soul warming production hip hop has seen all year.
While many instrumentally focused projects can tend to feel like a simple backdrop to something much greater, Kenny uses each chord, sample, and turn on this record to let his feelings out in this beautiful tribute. Through the power of a masterfully chopped-up soul sample and Kenny’s chord playing ability, he can make a track like “Eternal” bring up boiled-up emotions that are buried inside the people listening to this project. From top to bottom, this ability remains a constant throughout, and it serves as the force that gives so much power to these simple instrumental passages.
Kenny’s attention to detail really makes each point of this album hit you right in the gut, and this can be reflected in everything from the synths on “Parenthesis” to the frequency of the chopped-up vocals on “Hooper.” Kenny’s sonic worldbuilding is so good that even the featured artists on this album just feel like they becoming another facet of the instrumental as opposed to being the centerpiece of the track. This is really impressive of a feat when considering larger-than-life MCs like JPEGMAFIA, Slowthai, and Pink Siffu are some of the guests we encounter on this project. Speaking of Slowthai, the track he appears on “Family Tree” is one of the highlights on this project as we see Kenny Beats share the boards with the one of a kind Mac Demarco and they create a vibe here that is one to remember.
Overall, Louie does exactly what its meant to do in the most meaningful way possible. The album is a masterclass in production not just because of how good it sounds but also due to the emotion Kenny Beats is able to staple into these sonic loops. It is truly rare when a record can embody the thoughts and feelings of a person and the fact that this album does it through just the power of production makes this living tribute to Kenny’s father a piece that is worth more than words can describe.
Rating: 7.5/10
Tracklist Ranked:
- Family Tree
- Eternal
- Last Words
- Still
- Head My Head
- Parenthesis
- Hot Hand
- Hooper
- Rotten
- Moire
- Drop 10
- So They Say
- Really Really
- The Perch
- Get Around
- That Third Thing
- Leonard
