Nicolay- City Lights Vol. 1.5; Here (2005-06)

Its easy to say that Phonte Coleman has really found his own voice and sound since leaving Little Brother. Although Phontes voice goes a long way, a big part of his sound comes from the connection he has with Dutch producer Nicolay. I love all the things these two make together, and recently realized I had dug deep into Phontes earlier work, but had neglected checking further Nicolay.

City Lights 1.5 is a 20 track album of mostly instrumental hiphop tracks; a few have guest rappers rhyming or giving Nicolay a shoutout, but for the most part it is tight, chill beats and nice instrumentation. Here came out a year later, and is an 11 track collaboration he produced and wrote, but it features vocals throughout, focusing on the vocal melodies, rhyming and harmony over the longer instrumentals on City Lights. Both are very nice; heres track 4 on City Lights, Light it Up:



vol. 1.5
here