Footwork is a Chicago-born form of dance music characterized by very high BPMs, frenetic rhythms, extreme repetition, and dance battles. The footwork community largely credits RP Boo with creating the form in the late 90s. This is RP Boo’s debut album. The music is meant for battling, so it’s playful and menacing in equal measure. The drums snap, the bass is miles deep, the rhythms scramble your head. RP Boo says about the intensity of his music, “if you listen to the track and understand what it is telling you and saying, you could become the track.” This stuff absolutely destroys, so hop on it before all the EDM bros do in a few years. All tracks fast unless noted otherwise. Favorites: 3, 5, 7, 8, 9. FCC WARNING: 10.

1. (4:41)—Mid-tempo. Samples of epic strings, women soul singers. “Keeping it real.”
2. (4:43)—Gritty noir dance. Sample of soul singer, turntable manipulation of guy saying “yes.”
3. *(4:33)—Super fun and wobbly. Picks up over time, adds horn samples. Don’t let the squeaking rhythm throw you off…
4. (4:20)—Electronic chirps, blown-out drums, ominous strings. Pitched-up vocals: “It’s party time tonight!”
5. *(3:44)—Super aggressive. Full Metal Jacket samples, war wailing. RP Boo repeats the track title.
6. (3:44)—Slow, in 5/4. Aaliyah sample, sample of woman shouting, RP Boo saying “you can’t bang.”
7. *(3:57)—Samples of sizzling horns, operatic male vocals. RP Boo repeats the name of the track.
8. *(3:17)—A complete rhythmic head-wrecker. Spacious, frenetic, catchy, ever-changing. Man.
9. *(3:44)—More Full Metal Jacket samples. Samples of horns, a vocal group. Fiery, hair-raising.
10. (3:18)—TOO MANY FCCs (m**********r repeated like 100 times). Cool song—just not for radio.
11. (3:07)—Bouncy, mid-tempo. Samples of something that sounds like an old TV theme. Old sci-fi sounds. “Robots, robots.”
12. (4:09)—Starts slow, picks up speed. Sample of sexy slow jam mutated into rhythmic freakout. Kind of pretty.
13. (5:12)—(No FCCs, but if you don’t like playing songs with the n-word, avoid this.) Samples of horns holding one note, singers repeating the title of the song.
14. (4:36)—Beat is restrained for the most part. Murmuring bass, sparkly keyboards, buzzing electronic tone, something that sounds like a tinny sample of an 80s rock song. “I’m coming to earth.”