The Chicago hip-hop producer Lapgan, best known around these parts for last year’s great collaborative album with Heems, has a fun new project on deck for the end of this week. On Friday, he’ll release Lapgan Is Ecstatic, an album-length reimagining of Mos Def/Yasiin Bey’s 2009 stunner The Ecstatic, now infused with the South Asian sounds that have defined his beats. Just as The Ecstatic does not exist on streaming platforms, Lapgan Is Ecstatic will live on Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and YouTube only.
At Flood, Lapgan offered some background on the project:
I come back to The Ecstatic often. It’s one of my favorite hip-hop albums and one that really influenced my sound. Yasiin Bey speaking profound truths and affirmations over some of the greatest beats ever — it’s timeless. I was especially drawn to the beat and sample selection on the album. Madlib, Preservation, Dillla, Oh No all delivering a masterclass in sampling. The samples on “Supermagic” and “Auditorium” really stuck with me through the years.
I had wanted to make a remix album for a while, and one weekend felt inspired to try remixing this one. I kept it all sample based and leaned heavily into my crates from India and Pakistan. I tried not to overthink it too much and just have fun with it. Hope people enjoy it and that it brings people back to the original classic.
Ahead of the full album’s release later this week, today Lapgan has shared three preview tracks from Lapgan Is Ecstatic: “Wahid,” “No Hay Nada Mas,” and “Pretty Dancer.” Hear all three below.
Lapgan Is Ecstatic is out 12/5.
