The music world is rife with artists who’ve been influenced by genres that originated in far away lands; and fortunately, not all of those artists have participated in the substantially American bastardization of what was the once reputable dubstep genre (RIP). Most of them are instead people like London-by-way-of-Istanbul producer Sami Baha, who was drawn to trap music while he was still living in his native Turkey, and who has highlighted Turkish Arabesk music as sharing similar emotional qualities with the genre otherwise spearheaded by people like Future and Young Jeezy. A Turkish expat living in London who has an affinity for trap music: it ain’t nothing but a new and potentially-exciting recipe!
Borderline obsessive followers of Planet Mu possibly got a taste when Baha reelased his debut Mavericks EP a couple of years ago. Now he has his debut full-length Free For All scheduled for release June 1, and there continues to be something wonderfully low-key and almost minimal about what we’re hearing so far.
The album has a number of guest features as well, which is something of a throwback to when Baha produced for rappers local to his Mediterranean motherland. Head here to pre-order it on your choice of every possible combination of disparate formats, then have a listen to the tracks “Discreet” (ft. Dimzy) and “Thugs” (ft. DJ Nate) down below — and as an added bonus, watch a clip of Sami dancing around dressed as shrubbery! Who could say no to that?
Free For All tracklisting:
01. Cash Rain
02. Discreet (ft. Dimzy)
03. Aliens
04. Gambit
05. Thugs (ft. DJ Nate)
06. Free For All
07. NAH
08. When The Sun’s Gone (ft. Yung Lean)
09. Path Riot
10. Glory (ft. Kufura)
11. Ahl El M8na (ft. Dawsha & Abanob)
12. Limbo
13. Cold Pursuit
More about: Sami Baha
