Steve 'Flash' JuonI’m not saying you need a unique name to make it is as a producer, but it’s a lot easier to search for “DJ Premier” or “Mike Will Made It” than it is to search for Roland Jones. “Jones” has to be almost the most common last name in the United States, which means the antagonist of The Matrix could have just as easily been called “Agent Jones” as “Agent Smith.” Thankfully on “Smoked Out” he does what’s necessary to distinguish himself even with an indistinguishable name.
What’s more curious is that either Jones, his label or both hail from Poland. Now there’s more than a little personal history for me there. I have no Polish heritage (not that I’m aware of anyway) but my sister lived in Poland and worked at a Polish university for several years, and as a child I had a Solidarność banner hanging on my bedroom door. I’m not surprised that Poland has a hip-hop scene; I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about it in the last 40 years. As a country which is proud of its Democratic freedoms and reforms, shedding the shackles of communism and of being considered a Russian satellite state, I’d honestly have expected even more rap producers like Roland Jones.
“BACKYARDPIMPIN” is just one of many tracks here that shows Jones has an infatuation with the Southern rap style of the United States. Perhaps the fact that a Polish producer can mix the Dirty South well enough to sound like he hails from there is the best statement of how universal hip-hop music truly is. Elsewhere songs like “BUSTAZCANTFUKKWITME” have the swag and funk of a 1970’s blaxpolitation flick, and if you aren’t digging what he’s laying down here, muh’fucka you aren’t trying. This is a stone cold groove.
Perhaps this is all a coincidence and “Smoked Out” is just an American producer signed to a Polish label. I can’t find a solid bio one way or the other owing to that overly common name, and any searches lead me right back to the Bandcamp page that says “Poland.” That’s what I’m going with and if I’m wrong Blunted Astronaut or the producer can speak up. In the meantime my head canon is that someone in Warsaw is cruising around with the top down blasting Project Pat x Roland Jones on “SMOKINSTINKYPT2” at high volume, and that makes me smile.