Respected Hip-Hop maestro, Funky DL, innovatively came correct for 2010 with ‘Back To Frank’, a piece of Amy Winehouse-inspired audio alchemy. The project came about after a conversation with UK Hip-Hop legend, MCD (Silent Eclipse), from which MCD suggested ideas for DL to expand his appeal to audiences that would appreciate his trademark jazz sound. MCD suggested he use an Amy hook. A cautious DL took his advice and came up with ‘Kicked To The Curb’, sampling Amy Winehouse’s ‘You Sent Me Flying’ and after this initial foray, DL never looked back, turning the whole thing into an album project based around Amy Winehouse’s debut album ‘Frank’… The interplay between DL’s rhymes and the blissful musical backdrops including Amy’s distinctive voice, meshes together some of the finest hip-hop / jazz in the game.

Then, less than four months later, Funky DL returned to the studio for the second time to record the sequel to ‘Back To Frank’ and this was to become ‘Back To Rap’. Primarily based around Amy’s sophomore album ‘Back To Black’, this time round would feature a slew of artists as guests. This of course deviated away from the jazzier sound known from ‘Back To Frank’, as Amy’s “‘Back To Black’ was moodier and darker than her debut. Even still, the combination worked just as well the second time around, carrying a boom-bap swing, a depth in subject matter and a sublimeness of lyrical ability (just listen to ‘The Chips Were Down’) to be envied by any budding MC.

DL has always been a huge fan of Amy’s to the extent that both these albums were written, recorded and released back in 2010 prior to Amy’s sad departure.

For the first time, both albums are combined into one long player set and have enough music to keep the speakers alive for days… But in all cases of audio commentary, it’s always best to “let the music do the talking”… in the meantime, here are the joints, broken down for you track by track.