Rather, it’s an immaculately designed introduction to his craft. And, a bit unsurprisingly, it sounds a bit like what we’ve heard before. This isn’t to say that 32 Levels isn’t a bold artistic statement.

Clams has released three instrumental mixtapes featuring beats used by these and other artists, with unreleased material sprinkled in now, though, Volpe reveals what a fully conceptualized Clams album sounds like. His murky, downbeat tracks have helped define the current era of hip-hop. He’s been supporting modern rap icons like A$AP Rocky, Vince Staples, and the Based God himself, Lil B, for the past decade.

The man born Michael Volpe is one of a small number of producers influential enough to break out under their own name. If anything, this has been a long time coming. It was only a matter of time before New Jersey cloud rap pioneer Clams Casino jumped into the mix with his full-length debut, 32 Levels. Call it the “Jamie xx Effect.” While Jamie xx isn’t necessarily a “hip-hop producer,” his debut solo album last year was the first major example in a wave of producer-helmed records, including noteworthy recent entries from Kaytranada and DJ Esco. The tables are starting to turn, however. He caught flack for using rape language to describe rappers benefiting off of broke producers, but his point of Future’s music being “Metro Boomin featuring Future” carries some weight. Last month, Flying Lotus went on a Twitter rant about the treatment of producers in rap music today.

Unless you were the type to dig through the liner notes and pay close attention, it’d be hard to know who was behind some of the best beats on the radio. That quickly started to change in the late ’80s and through the ’90s as the rappers themselves became the stars, with notable exceptions like Dr. The artists behind the boards and turntables were often given higher billing and were also the higher selling points at the time.

In the early days of hip-hop, producers were king.

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