It’s never fun for musicians to be compared to their more famous siblings. In the case of Oh No – brother of revered Stones Throw producer Madlib – the comparison highlights his own distinctive strengths as a beatmaker.
Although both specialise in psychedelic hip-hop with a short attention span, Oh No’s work is often more focussed than that of his brother. His best records are defiantly high-concept: 2007’s Dr No’s Oxperiment used samples from old European and Turkish funk records, whereas 2009’s Dr No’s Ethiopium built hip-hop miniatures out of arcane Ethiopian singles.
Having dialled down his conceptual ambitions for the last few years, Prefix report that Oh No is set to return with OhNoMite, an LP based entirely of samples from 1975 blaxploitation flick Dolemite. DOOM, Erick Sermon, Guilty Simpson and frequent collaborator Alchemist are among the mooted guest spots on the record.
OhNoMite is due on June 5; a limited edition 5-inch vinyl single (the DOOM-featuring ‘3 Dollars’) is also on the way. You can hear a punchy cut from the album below, titled ‘Sounds Off’.