Five boroughs, five cuts, five love letters pressed to wax. On his debut EP “New York City”, sampling artisan and groove tactician from Nice Nuts launches his Nuts World Tour label with a fierce and affectionate deep-dive into the soul of the Big Apple. Each track paints a portrait of a borough – not in cliché or caricature, but in composite: voices, rhythms, and stories collaged from HipHop, R&B, House, Jazz, and sheer street energy. It’s not just a tour stop; it’s a musical passport stamp. A history lesson disguised as a dancefloor invitation.
“MNHTTN” opens the A-side like a curtain rising on a Broadway show soaked in champagne and subway grime. Alicia Keys floats in and out like a memory on the skyline, cut into breathy phrases that hover above lush pads and tightly clipped house drums. Jazz-laced piano runs brush through the arrangement like yellow cabs in slow motion, while vocal flickers glimmer like windows in midtown at midnight. It’s the borough of dreams and disillusionment, bottled in groove, tender and tall.
On “STTN ISLND”, we drift out into cooler air – not winter’s bite, but early spring’s chill. The track breathes slower, deeper, backed by dusty breakbeats and shimmering pads that rise like fog over the harbor. Spoken vocals, seemingly lifted from a film monologue, emerge and dissolve like ghostly dispatches from a borough so often forgotten it becomes legend. It’s intimate, cinematic – a ferry ride through memory, scored in jazz blush and breakbeat sway.
Flip the wax, and “BRX” doesn’t wait. It hits. Cardi B’s presence isn’t shouted but channeled – her voice sharp and commanding, wrapped in a gospel-fueled, piano-led hook that stomps with defiance and swing. The Bronx gets what it deserves: a track that feels sacred and street, spiritual and subversive. The keys preach while the rhythm prowls. This isn’t just a tribute – it’s a resurrection.
“QNS” leans into warmth and movement, funk-driven and family-souled. R&B wisps curl around filtered basslines and HipHop nods and scratches, while vocal textures – barely there, like overheard chats on stoops — thread through a groove as fluid as Roosevelt Avenue itself. There’s joy here, casual and earned. Queens doesn’t need to shout – it dances.
Finally, “BRKLN” lands last, but not least. Chopped Biggie bars from “Hypnotize” swagger through the mix, never stealing the scene, just seasoning it. The kick is raw, the snare crooked just right, and the groove is pure low-slung funk. It’s a head-nodder with house bones and boom-bap blood. Brooklyn isn’t trying to impress – it already did.
“New York City” is more than a debut; it’s a declaration. Nuts doesn’t sample to copy – he samples to conjure. These aren’t just edits; they’re reconstructions, acts of reverence and rebellion that breathe new heat into familiar voices. Each track tells a story, but also invites one: five boroughs, five narratives, five flavors melted into one unmistakable dish.
This is a bold first move from Nuts and his new imprint – and a masterclass in how to build bridges between the club, the crate, and the concrete. If “Half On A Room” was the warm-up, “New York City” is the arrival. Loud, clever, and full of soul, it’s a passport to both the past and the next place we’re going.
Words by Holger Breuer
Torture the Artist 