For the collaboration of London producer Jim 2tall (aka Om Unit), Kper & turntablist DJ Clockwork, 2009 marked the year where they always had one thing on their mind. Having fast become one of the most talked about mixes in recent hip-hop history, A Boom Bap Continuum is the end result of a project to chronologically catalog the last ten years of ‘the boom bap sound’. With the self-imposed constraint that it should fit on a 90-minute cassette tape, there’s approximately 250 tracks from over 50 producers, ocassionally layered with interview clips of hip-hop’s finest discussing the directions of past, present and future recordings.

The trio has definitely delivered a next-level offering, with the sheer quality of the mixing and time-spent on track selection seeing it gather much deserved hype and support. The official website for the project lets you stream or download the mix itself as well as the accompanying artwork, and there’s also interviews and information from those involved in the project.

‘For me the intention behind this is simple: to highlight the lineage of hip-hop production and beat making from the turn of the millennium to the present day, and perhaps shed some light on the fairly quiet revolution that has been taking place under the surface of mainstream media in recent years.

With some strange tags being applied to the current standard in beat making, I feel it it is important to shed some light on to this lineage. This is a journey from late 90s crate digging, to the circuit-bent soundscapes of the so called ‘post-dilla’ era.

I hope this music inspires you as much as it has inspired me these past 11 years’.

Jim 2tall, London, November 2009

To download the mix directly just right click here and select ’save link as’.