While checking out the fantastic mixes on DJ Jazzy Jeff's Youtube Channel, I found this gem of an song/album. This is a song in the vein of A Day Like Any Other (which I'll expound upon in another post). Each experience has some common elements; there's a grand epic, multiple short snippets that capture distinct moods, great rhyming and the whole experience clocks in a bit over 10 minutes.

For now, let's focus on Andre The Elf; a bunch of nice, family friendly hip-hop songs that even the most disillusioned person could enjoy. Rhymefest voices all the characters on this song A quote from a friend who heard this:

Omfg! I love this shit! Actual Xmas tunes i can jam to and dont want to throw up when listening

Andre is the first Black elf to be hired at the North Pole. I don't want to go into too much detail about the story because it's easily discovered & digested with a listen. I will say that Andre goes through a journey going from "selfish to elfish". Rhymefest deftly matches pockets to beats to encourage serious head nodding, particularly when Santa is drinking coffee about two minutes in. As for the beats? Holiday themed, indoor cocoa (with or without liquor) boom bap. I would love to have a release of the instrumentals for this holiday season.

To top it off, the whole story is animated, so kids can enjoy a great story AND be introduced to *cough* REAL HIP-HOP! Happy Holidays.