Pizza Party: Vinyl LP

Advancing the unfolding legacy of instrumental hip-hop at Stones Throw is Samiyam’s Pizza Party: 24 minutes of off-kilter mobster music mixed with a warm soul sound that is unmistakably L.A. producer and beatmaker Samiyam. Praised by his collaborators Action Bronson, Earl Sweatshirt, The Alchemist, and Flying Lotus, Sam’s independent beat tape ventures and instrumental albums are revered by rappers, respected by producers. Pizza Party is free of samples from the characteristically dusty vinyl grooves and warped tapes of past recordings. Instead, we have originally-played synthesizer and FX in unison with the off-the-grid drum patterns and aesthetic sonic swagger that Samiyam owns. The last track, “What Can I Do,” features co-production with Jonwayne. Samiyam grew up Sam Baker in Michigan. He was among a network of post-Donuts producers focusing on instrumental hip-hop beat as the finished work, who found themselves migrating west and huddling in the scene around Low End Theory in east Los Angeles. That's where Flying Lotus met Sam and released Rap Beats Vol. 1 as the debut on Brainfeeder in 2008. Three other albums followed – Sam Baker's Album (Brainfeeder, 2011), Wish You Were Here (Leaving, 2013), and Animals Have Feelings (Stones Throw, 2016) – along with production work for Earl Sweatshirt, Captain Murphy, and Pharoahe Monch.