The experimental hip-hop and R&B producer RudeManners follows the axiom that a diverse portfolio is a stronger portfolio. Pegging this New York producer with one style is hard. He makes jazzy work, boom-bap tunes, “phonk” and trap beats, a bit of lo-fi house, and a ton of spacey trip-hop-influenced songs. But in comparison to his peers, his catalog has a distinct and recognizable sound that’s defined by a lounge aesthetic.

This lounge sound is best captured on his Avant Garde LP with Inner Ocean Records He reserves his more abstract work for a series of self-released LPs called “Do Not Disturb”, although to be sure, each of his 25+ releases all have at least a spoonful of each of his different flavors. RudeManners music is excellent for relaxing, but it can also highly emotional and cathartic at times, leading listeners into provocative mental states.

Dalton Mannerud (RudeManners) is also a fantastic illustrator who has drawn most of the artwork associated with his music and created album covers for several other beatmakers. By doing so, he’s made a substantial contribution to the overall visual aesthetics associated contemporary instrumental hip-hop at large. He supports the wider scene in other ways, too. He’s always big-upping other musicians’ work and hosted several well-curated episodes of Stzzy Radio. Dalton selected a wide-range of contemporary hip-hop and R&B for this podcast from the foundational StzzyAsFuck collective, although the episodes seem to have inexplicably and unfortunately disappeared from the web.