When we saw the announcement for Boula One’s upcoming recording project, his name rang a bell. Indeed a few years ago, the French producer – also releasing projects under the Ben Bella Jazz banner – contributed a couple of productions to the world of African hip hop in 2008 on the first album ‘Metaphor za Mtaa’ by Kenyan rapper Goreala.

On his plate now is something new. Boula One reinterpreted afrofunk and afrobeat classics and rare grooves from the 70s and 80s, something done by other producers in recent years – think Madlib’s ‘Beat Konducta in Africa’ excursions or the many Fela interpretations floating around the web. His approach is a bit different though, the teasers released for the upcoming ‘Afrique 3D’ don’t merely sound like quickly cut loops or instrumentals with a drum added. They are well crafted beats, and the hip hop vocals added on top often work well – what about Slick Rick meets Ghanaian highlife band Vis a Vis?

Listen to more of what’s supposed to come later this year in this Mixcloud show courtesy of Belgian online station Laid Back Radio. The pre-release mixtape includes re-edits of Goreala songs and collabos with Dudley Perkins, Sandra Nkake (the voice in the teaser video above), dj Grazhoppa and many more.