jeffvrabel.com

Something between an extra-credit project and a tribute, Chicago producer Nomadic takes his skills to some of hip-hop’s most valuable artifacts in “Back To The Beat: Old-School Classics Remixed.” Clearly, this is solemn ground he’s treading. But Nomadic’s not out to top the originals, merely play around with them, and that makes the record not a lazy mash-up cash-in but an ingratiating spin.