LMD Flying High (White)

Cali rap heavyweights LMNO, MED, and Declaime have joined forces to spit blunted tales, make wack emcees tremble, and showcase their lyrical gifts as the group LMD. And for their debut release, Flying High, they've called on another longtime collaborator-none other than living production legend Madlib-to produce the entire project. He provides his signature mind-bending instrumentals for his rapping cohorts, and the result is an organic, expertly crafted slice of hip-hop. Flying High is the embodiment of that smoked-out, spiritually inclined boom-bap you'd want from this trio, with a few surprises along the way. You may also catch a contact high from a few of these cuts, because you can almost smell the weed smoke on "Flying High" and "The Cypher." There are strong hits of soulful funk on the album, too, like the DJ Romes-assisted "Super," as well as smoothed-out burners, like "Kool," which features raps from Fly Anakin and scratches from J Rocc. When they began to create the roots of Flying High in the mid-2010s, the three emcees hit the studio together with the shared belief that they needed to shake up the rap game by restoring the culture's essence. And through plenty of trial and error-and bags of weed-LMD was inevitably formed in the way we get to hear them today. To say the wait was worth it would be a massive understatement, because this crew of hip-hop greats has certainly outdone themselves.