Cuba Libre: NY Beatmaker Dub Sonata’s Caribbean Excursions

Words by Jesse Serwer

Last year, New York-based hiphop producer Dub Sonata, whose credits include beats for Kool G. Rap, Rhymefest and Sadat X, went on a beat-digging journey to Cuba. Instead of just sampling the Los Reyes 73 and Pablo Milanes records he found all willy nilly, he decided to turn the entire experience into an instrumental album, Nights In Cuba. Adding to the audio scrapbok aspect of the project, the photos he took on his trip were compiled into a 28-page booklet which accompanied the album’s physical release. In keeping with the cigar-friendly vibes of that release, Dub Sonata last week followed that release up with Bluntitled, a reggae-flavored 4/20 release whose pro-legalization title track distills a rundown of crucial reggae weed anthems (Linval Thompson’s “I Love Marijuana,” etc.) into a 3-minute slice of agitprop.

Stream “Bluntitled” below, and check out more of Dub Sonata’s Cuba photos after the jump.

[audio:http://largeup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Bluntitled.mp3|titles=Bluntitled]