Raz Fresco & Futurewave – Stadium Lo Champions (Deluxe Edition) (Vinyl) (2025) (FLAC + 320 kbps)

Stadium Lo Champions is full of effervescent, minimalist grooves and largely devoid of the bloodshot tension that’s characterized much of Raz and Futurewave’s previous work. Raz’s hyperactive delivery still seems beamed in from mid-’90s New York, and Futurewave’s drums still crack like cautious steps on thin ice, but there’s more air around each element. On “Olympic Flame”, a flute shimmies through the openings between Raz’s words, distant percussion gently pushing forward. The syncopated jazz sample on “Honestly” nudges against a rigid drum pattern, creating a sense of swing deepened by Raz’s circular flow. There are lots of mentions of microphones and namechecks of Jay-Z and Notorious B.I.G. songs, but Raz can make this golden-era bravado sound exhilarating, like when his rhymes tumble over themselves on “Mind Light”: “It manifest what my mind show when my eyes closed/Not for a like on a phone, a title, or throne/It’s hip-hop that brought the light to my  soul/The prototype, ice form on every mic that he hold.”

Despite its clear, spacious mixing, Stadium Lo Champions feels outside time, as if it really were recorded in the ’90s and only recently unearthed from some moldy basement in Park Hill, Staten Island. It hits all the right marks: esoteric slang terms delivered with a bug-eyed, Raekwon-esque flow, snares that sound ripped from dusty dollar-bin LPs, echoing horn samples, and the feeling of cold clinging to concrete buildings. Gorgeous Polo Sportsmen was Raz’s first full-length collaboration with another producer, and though he’s since notched excellent records with Dibia$e, Nicholas Craven, and DJ Muggs, they feel like warm-ups for this rematch. Perhaps it’s their shared Toronto postal code, their respective years of practice, or a shared vision of throwback prestige rap, but Raz and
| Futurewave both sound more comfortable than they have in some time.

Tracklist:

A1. Intro
A2. Mind Light
A3. OK, Let’s Go
A4. Tesla Tower Power
A5. Steve Austin (Feat. Daniel Son)
A6. Lauren Story
A7. Cyanide
A8. Earth Spin (Feat. Sonnyjim & Gritfall)
B1. Olympic Flame
B2. What’s The Word
B3. Alpaca (Feat. Estee Nack & Al.Divino)
B4. Honestly
B5. Mortal Kombat (Feat. The 6th Letter)
B6. In My Lifetime
B7. Sam Never Was My Uncle
B8. Lo Champions (Outro)
C1. Intro (Instrumental)
C2. Mind Light (Instrumental)
C3. OK, Let’s Go (Instrumental)
C4. Tesla Tower Power (Instrumental)
C5. Steve Austin (Instrumental)
C6. Lauren Story (Instrumental)
C7. Cyanide (Instrumental)
C8. Earth Spin (Instrumental)
D1. Olympic Flame (Instrumental)
D2. What’s The Word (Instrumental)
D3. Alpaca (Instrumental)
D4. Honestly (Instrumental)
D5. Mortal Kombat (Instrumental)
D6. In My Lifetime (Instrumental)
D7. Sam Never Was My Uncle (Instrumental)
D8. Lo Champions (Outro) (Instrumental)

Download:

FLAC – Wayshare

320 kbps – Wayshare