His second LP is foundational bossa. With the spotlight on acoustic guitar and his caressing voice, these are spare, intimate renditions of songs which would become much-versioned standards, severally revisited by Valle himself. Listen out for the blueprints of Astrud Gilberto’s hits The Face I Love and So Nice, for example.
The Compton rapper nailing it on his major-label debut — brilliant story-telling, intimate and natural, but ruminative and densely rhymed — with blaxploitation-style settings by Dre, Pharrell, Just Blaze and co.