Steve 'Flash' JuonDoug Simpson, Kareem Knight, Onree Gill and Collin Davis are a production team collectively known as the Aqua League. The first place my mind instinctively leapt was Christopher Ward (MC Pee Pants).
It’s not because either of the aforementioned peeps wouldn’t be talented enough to come up with words that make sense and deliver them in a rhythmically structured way. It’s not because the tracks themselves lack the cohesion to make any kind of delivery over them, whether sung or rapped, fit properly into the context. The truth of the matter is that the Aqua League doesn’t hunger for ANY emcee. These are hip-hop instrumentals that clearly take inspiration from jazz, with a heavy emphasis on piano keys, blended almost seamlessly together even though they are sequenced so that you can access them randomly or specifically over six cuts.
I’m honestly a little blown away by the mellow, relaxing nature of tracks like the Spanish influenced “Piragua.” I’m trying to figure out how and why I’ve never come across the Aqua League before now. According to their bio their instrumentals have been featured on TV shows like Ray Donovan and Blue Bloods, and been featured in major motion pictures such as “Fast & Furious 6.” I couldn’t just take their word (or Ironhorse’s word) for it so I checked around, and “Douglas G. Simpson” does indeed have movie credits on IMDB.com, so their music doesn’t just sound legit – it IS legit.
At first I wasn’t sure I could tell you where to buy “Mosaic, but apparently this EP was released August 9th on iTunes. Selfishly that doesn’t benefit me at all because the only referral links we have on RapReviews are to Amazon, but I like “Mosaic” enough I’m going to encourage you to get it outside of there anyway. This isn’t bang in the whip music. You won’t be cranking this at high volume in a residential neighborhood. If you just want to kick back, chill and relax though songs like “Let’s Get Lost” and “DreamcatcHer” are just the ticket. You could just float, float on to the “Mosaic” EP… if it wasn’t so short! It’s under 25 minutes. It’s a pleasant 25 minutes though. If you’re having a hard day at work and only have a half hour lunch break, you may want to put this one on and melt the stress away.