Float by Rotjoch offers a fascinating sample of Dutch hip-hop ★★★☆☆

Rotjoch’s album Float.

As a little boy, Rotjoch jumped into the water, even though he couldn’t swim. Keeping his head above water was a struggleuntil he decided: ‘Bad boy must float. Comfortable.’

It’s the intro of float: finally a Rotjoch studio album to his name. In the twenty tracks that follow, more than 35 (!) artists rap and sing along. Rotjoch himself is primarily host, producer, connector, ringmaster and creative brain.

Rotjoch (Angelo Diop) from Amsterdam-Zuidoost is label boss, presenter of hip-hop platform 101 Barz, key figure in the hip-hop scene. And rapper, but on float he prefers to delegate.

The nature of the album proves both its strength and its weakness: it’s a lot, it shoots in all directions, from eventful life story to party bangerfrom mature contemplation to angry chest-thumping.

float is a qualitatively capricious, yet fascinating sample of Dutch-language hip-hop: Rotjoch’s liber amicorum in album form, from Hef to Kempi, from Adje to Dopebwoy, from Frenna to Lil Kleine.

damn boy

float

doll

★★★ renvers

Top Notch/Universal

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