Los Angeles’ 16-strong collective, The Urban Renewal Project, returns with a bold statement on their new single “Money," featuring Oh No, a sound that crackles over some timeless questions. With their patented blend of jazz, hip-hop, and old-school soul, the group demonstrates once more that they’ve earned a reputation for changing people’s definitions of what a modern big band should be.
“Money” is a catchy conundrum. Oh No’s cameos intertwine with the band’s horn-fired arrangements, resulting in a clean but cutting meditation on the role of currency in our lives. According to the bandleader R.W., the song meditates on every corner of the nature of money, as a symbol of hope and opportunity, but also greed and vice. That polarity blessing or burden, glory or duty, represents the heartbeat of the song.
The Urban Renewal Project brings its 16-member weight to bear. A face-melting horn section drives the song with impeccable swagger while singer Alex Nester and MCs Elmer Demond & Slim da Reazon add soul and flame. The band has a knack for blending memories with experimentation, and that shines brightly throughout the song, harkening back to jazz and soul’s golden era while forging into a new frontier of open-minded creation.
From SXSW to the Java Jazz Festival, The Urban Renewal Project has been a rare breed, an acid jazz big band that makes room not just for funky grooves, but nimble raps and astute social commentary. “Money” is a mirror held up to society’s obsessions and contradictions, delivered inside an earworm of a track that demands repeat listens. On this release, the Urban Renewal Project offers us a frosty reminder that music can be both a party and a meditation, swinging hard while asking all the questions that remain long after the last note has decayed away.