Slightly offbeat, but not off kilter, Lean Quatifah's remix of "Juice" keeps things one hundred.
The young producer, using the vocals as the glue which holds the series of conflicting beats intact, turns "Juice" into anti-rap for persons who want their grime with a side of future electronica. Whereas the original tune, produced by Tails, was more infatuated with minimalist and heady compositions, Lean Quatifah introduces crafty chirrups imbuing the track with geeky self-awareness. It's this mentality which makes the remix transition between grime purists to the electronic music nerd within all of us who also likes hip-hop; it gives us the grit, but in a way that appeals to the kids who kind of just want to go to the club to see what Pokémon are there.
In a lot of ways, Lean Quatifah's work here is symbolic of what we can expect to see in the next wave of hip-hop / electronic / pop music integration: where the real rock stars aren't the vocalists or the rappers, but the nerdy producers in the corner who like to make noises even more weird because it just isn't weird enough. And that's what makes future, well, the future.
