Guilty Simpson & Katalyst Unveil 2 Jazzy Detroit & Extras, "Letting Off Steam/Love," Ahead of The Kings Court Tour (Stones Throw)
"We recorded "Letting Off Steam" here in [Australia] in 2014. We both dug that joint, but it didn't make the album for various reasons; so, good to let the peeps hear it. Written and recorded in the same day. Just a dope vibe, really. Guilty killed that beat. Mad flow on that... "Love" is a joint we also had to leave off the album due to the album length. Neither of us like long records. It's a dope jam and Guilty's message/ lyrics are amazing. I really wanted peeps to hear that joint. Its deep. I mixed it again and got a much better mix, which is the one you [hear] released a couple of days back. That's all I can tell you."
– Detroit's Son and Detroit & Extras producer Katalyst
"Right now, all I'm listening to is beats. DETROIT'S SON is my favorite album. And I'm in a time capsule, bro – I'm still listening to The Commodores ha! I'm really into my own wave right now. I mostly listen to Jazz, when I'm not into my own stuff. Mainly Bob James. Anything Bob James will make me listen," Guilty Simpson befittingly replied, when I asked what a few of his favorite Hip-Hop albums of 2014-15 might have been during our expansive The Witzard interview last year; at the time, well... literally, that very same day, Stones Throw announced Simpson's impending Katalyst-produced Detroit's Son album, which effectively end up becoming my absolute favorite album of 2015. Now, nearly six months removed from Guilty & Katalyst's 9/11 release, Detroit's Son still remains one of my favorite Hip-Hop albums since Yeezus and late last night, Stones Throw unveiled the latest addition to their newly-dubbed Detroit & Extras collection; "Guilty Simpson and producer Katalyst recorded so many tracks for last year's Detroit's Son that they couldn't all make the album. "Animal," "Vanguard [Organization]," "Testify" were a few. Here's a couple more: "Letting Off Steam" (a short one) and "Love," presented here together."
What I'm ultimately working towards, in a very long-winded manner, is that Guilty's modest fanboy-esque Bob James influence has, either consciously or subconsciously, worked its way into his music. While it's indeed a track recorded during Detroit's Son's sessions and for whatever reasons, left on the cutting room floor, "Letting Off Steam" more so sounds like it could have been recorded by James himself during the sessions for his coveted crate-diggin' gems One, Two, Three, Heads, or even something akin to his legendary Taxi-popularized theme, "Angela." Stones Throw has made "Letting Off Steam" and "Love" available for your listening pleasure, as one concise Soundcloud stream, while subscribers to their newly-relaunched Kickstarter-backed Drip vinyl-to-mp3 service, like myself, can currently download a bundle complete with both separate tracks. Detroit's Son is now available in standard CD, metallic gatefold LP, and digital formats, for those of you who have been living under a damn rock for the past six months; although, with five post-Detroit's Son tracks floating around in the sonic atmosphere and impending 24-date The Kings Court Tour supported by Slum Village, Black Milk & Phat Kat, I would personally like to imagine Katalyst-helmed Detroit's Son 2 isn't too far off, in all reality.