Rob Shawneci Icecold / Smith For Heads That Break

At the same time Hip Hop MCs like Run DMC and Kurtis Blow were helping Hip Hop evolve lyrically in the formative years of producing hip-hop albums, producers like Davey D and Vincent Davis were defining the sound of instrumental hip-hop. Four decades later, Rob Swift and Shawneci continue to push the boundaries of what an instrumental Hip Hop project can sound like on For Heads That Break. Rob Swift says, "It's not like instrumental Hip Hop albums haven't existed. Respect to J Dilla and all that. But I feel as though For Heads That Break is more of a tribute to the originators of instrumental hip-hop. I'm talkin' dudes like Malcolm McClaren and the Supreme Team. A lot of people may not know that Duck Rock was the first EP to feature scratches and the majority of the EP's songs were instrumental. So when Shawneci and I linked up on this project, we knew scratches would play an integral role in the music." For Heads That Break serves up the kind of hip-hop that stays true to the genre's most influential and diverse era.