R.A.P. Ferreira, the idiosyncratic indie-rap veteran formerly known as milo, has been on a real tear ever since he relocated his operations from Maine to Nashville. A few months ago, Ferreira released the mini-album ASIATIQUE BLACK WIZARD LILY FUNK. Today, he’s announced plans for a new one called the First Fist to Make Contact When We Dap. Ferreira usually produces most of his own tracks, but this time he made the full LP with Japanese producer Fumitake Tamura.

Fumitake Tamura has collaborated with artists like Busdriver and YUNGMORPHEUS, and he’s also worked with R.A.P. Ferreira, though the two hadn’t met until recently. In the new album’s Bandcamp description, Ferreira writes that he got to know Tamura while accompanying Low End Theory founder Daddy Kev on a Japanese tour last year. Ferreira also enthuses about what the two artists were albe to capture on this record:

i wanted to make a work with bun that highlights the trust of the rapper / producer relationship. tamura’s compositions pushed me like nothing yet has, his conception of what my sound could be left me needing to actualize it. i followed blindly and excitedly. we worked with diligence through the year.

this album more than any other i’ve made encapsulates my vision of rap music. it is free. it is international. it is beloved. it is sharp and silly. it presents one way and participates another. it flexes and is flexible. there is study and there is the mystical. slices and crumbs. it’s something my whole family listened to and enjoyed first. thank you for working with me bun.

A few guests appear on the First Fist to Make Contact When We Dap, including Freestyle Fellowship great Self Jupiter and Hprizm, the Antipop Consortium member formerly known as High Priest. Kenny Segal mixed the record, and Daddy Kev mastered it. Hprizm appears on “begonias,” one of the record’s two early singles, and Ferreira writes, “i think the entire crux of this project is in the hprizm verse on begonias.” Both “begonias” and “bending corners (sittin sidewayz revisited),” the other single, are playfully spaced-out rap workouts. The tracks are beautiful, and Ferreira really does sound energized. Below, listen to both songs and check out the tracklist.

TRACKLIST:
01 “humble vessel”
02 “47 rockets taped to my chair (for dr. refaat alareer)”
03 “hereing color, green”
04 “culture war patriots” (Feat. Self Jupiter)
05 “mr. susan type slapper” (Feat. ELDON)
06 “medicinal hymnal #77”
07 “Jes’ Grew in Osaka”
08 “begonias” (Feat. Hprizm)
09 “elite mind flayer judo
10 “bending corners (sittin sidewayz revisited)”
11 “the words of the poem” (Feat. sha ray)
12 “soulfolks signal”

the First Fist to Make Contact When We Dap is out 1/26 on Ruby Yacht.