Spotlight #17

Hawaii super-producer/S P A C E C A S A captain/mr.flying throughyourneighborhoodathyperspeed, magu the dog, has been one of the go-to beatmakers for the Hawaii music sphere for over the last few years. His already established credibility soars from the incredible joint-collaboration project with cnrboy (cerulean city) which landed in my Top 2 of 2016, to the continuing variety of material he has released with local emcees, Koins, Lazy Luciano, Prie, Shitty Cornelius, etc, to the countless musical features on J O N C O Z Y’s VLOG series.

To simplify all of this… he hasn’t been off the Hawaii hip-hop radar in some time. His music catalog consists mostly of instrumentals, however, he does have a few tracks featuring the aforementioned emcees. Be sure to check out some of his releases here and here. His production style is more laid-back, mellow, jazzy and often all of the above; so it tends to fit perfectly with the reflective style most Hawaii emcees possess.

favorite track has to be…

1. ＴＭ１３ （Ｉｃｅ Ｂｅａｍ）（ｆｔ． ｃｎｒｂｏｙ＆ｃｏｒｎｅｌｉｕｓ）

It honestly caught my attention at the track name because how wouldn’t you know one of the most sought after moves in PKM. The smooth & serene beat (reminds me of Nujabes) meshes great with the assisted vocals of cnrboy & cornelius. Too bad it wasn’t longer.

2.  Q.M. StrangeLove (feat. cnrboy, Koins & Sire)

Another fire track with likewise attributes as the above. Can’t fail with the mixture.

3. から夜間に犬の好奇心の事件戸塚(The.Curious.Incident.Of.The.Dog.In.The.Nighttime.From.Totsuka…Fifth.Station)

4.  保土ヶ谷 (Falling.In.Love.In.Hodogaya…Fourth.Station)

Had to include some instrumentals and these two hit the spot. Great beats to vibe out to.

magu is a rising/standout producer that Hawaii has to offer. His unique style often incorporates and is highly influenced by the Japanese culture; separating him from the masses. The high quality of production he demonstrates lures the attention he receives on a worldwide platform. In a way, he is creating a sound for Hawaii Hip-Hop in general and this is further supported by the consistent rate at which he releases material resulting in the constant relevance to his music.

[2017]