Tune of the Week: Sensational

Sensational is a Brooklyn, NY based one man hip hop powerhouse. First discovered by The Jungle Brothers, who brought him onboard for the original version of their third full length “J Beez Wit The Remedy”. This version was scrapped after Warner Bros. rejected it as being too experimental. Sensational went his own way afterwards. His productions feature off-kilter rhythms that both recall early hip hop in their simplicity of arrangement but also, as he is wont to say, “match his flow”. The lo-fi, sometimes recorded through headphones, vocals feature a lot of hip hop tropes: weed consumption, money and gear accumulation, sex and general bravado. However, Sensational’s pride in the uniqueness of his style in the face of corniness shines over all. The uniformity of his style and presentation creates something not so weird as something more true to one of the genre’s original ideals: originality above all.