Nick Hook is NYC’s waviest resident: an in-demand collaborator, producer extraordinaire, and all around provider of vibes who’s lent his touch to projects from Run The Jewels, Young Thug, and countless others, all while building a creative community around his studio, thespacepit, in Greenpoint. Now the redheaded kingpin steps forward with his Relationships LP on Fool’s Gold, a 16 track album of collaborations that are unconventional, unexpected and all-the-way live (literally: each song was recorded in-person with Nick behind the boards, a refreshing move in the email verse era).

Featuring a festival-worthy lineup of new school rap upstarts (21 Savage, Novelist, ILoveMakonnen) and fellow beat radicals (Prefuse 73, Hudson Mohawke, the late DJ Rashad), Relationships isn’t just the world’s greatest party guestlist, but a chronicle of Nick’s year long, after-midnight vision quest—the sound of a producer breaking through the chrysalis, killing the ego, and raising the bar. Put your phone down and dive in. (Ideally with the deluxe 2×12″ color vinyl edition, featuring a bonus postcard flexi disc!) Sleeve by Nick Hook & NB.