Chicago artists Abitight and RP have turned a creative relationship stretching back nearly 30 years into their first collaborative album, Sample From the Menu. Released September 11, the 16-track project brings Abitight’s rhymes and melodic instincts together with RP’s work as a producer, DJ and emcee. The album draws from the boom-bap tradition that influenced both artists without presenting itself as a nostalgia project, using that foundation to tell stories about adulthood, ambition, relationships and life in Chicago. For Today’s Hip Hop, the project also represents something increasingly important to independent culture: artists with history, community and a clear musical identity continuing to create without chasing whatever sound happens to be popular at the moment.
Independent hip hop doesn’t always arrive through a viral song, a new artist introduction or a sudden explosion of attention. Sometimes the more interesting story is what happens when artists remain connected to the culture long enough for decades of experience to find its way into new music.
That is part of what makes Sample From the Menu an interesting project from Chicago artists Abitight and RP. After nearly three decades of friendship and making music, the two have released their first full collaborative album, bringing years of shared musical language into a 16-track project.
Nearly 30 Years Behind One Album
The relationship between Abitight and RP predates the current streaming era and many of the tools that have made independent music easier to distribute. Their connection was formed around a shared appreciation for hip hop, with the sound and spirit of the 1990s playing an important role in the music they eventually created together.
On Sample From the Menu, those influences provide a starting point rather than a set of restrictions. RP builds the production around drums, samples and soulful textures, while Abitight moves between straight-ahead rapping, storytelling and melody across the album.
The result is a project informed by an earlier period of hip hop but created by artists living firmly in the present. That distinction matters because independent hip hop has room for both experimentation and preservation, allowing artists to carry pieces of the culture forward without simply recreating what has already been done.
Chicago Is Part of the Story
RP Independent Artist
The city surrounding Abitight and RP also has a presence throughout the project. “For The Win” places Chicago directly into the album’s narrative, while the broader record draws from the relationships and community that have surrounded the artists during their years of making music.
That local connection gives Sample From the Menu an identity beyond the two names on its cover. Featured artists including Chicken Happens, Lilly Choi, Spiderface, Doc Wattson, KASTAWAY and Holly Prindle of The Hobbyist contribute to a project that reflects a network of musicians and collaborators rather than an isolated recording session.
That community element has always been central to independent hip hop. Long before social platforms gave artists direct access to global audiences, local scenes were built through DJs, producers, emcees, promoters, venues and fans supporting one another and creating ecosystems around the music.
Abitight Moves Between Different Sides of His Writing
Across the 16 tracks, Abitight doesn’t remain in a single lyrical mode. His writing moves through personal observations, humor, confidence, relationships and more reflective moments, allowing the album to reveal different parts of his perspective rather than relying on one theme.
“Whirlpool” arrives early in the project and begins establishing that range, while “P.O.A.H.F,” featuring Chicken Happens and Lilly Choi, brings additional voices into the record. “Smashburgers” puts Abitight’s rhymes against RP’s production, and “Soul Summit” shifts the energy again with Spiderface joining the track.
The middle of the album continues expanding the cast. Doc Wattson appears on “What’s For Dinner?,” while RP and KASTAWAY join Abitight on “Missing Link,” creating another connection between the central collaboration and the artists around them.
Everyday Life Becomes Material
Some of the most revealing ideas on Sample From the Menu come from ordinary experiences rather than attempts to manufacture larger-than-life moments. “To and Fro,” for example, begins with the familiar frustration of trying to reach another person and turns that everyday situation into material for a record.
“Finding Jubilee” moves through more serious territory, including an encounter with police before changing direction musically. That willingness to move between tension and celebration helps demonstrate the range Abitight and RP were looking to build across a full-length listening experience.
The mood becomes more confrontational on “Cutthroat,” while “Star Gazing” moves toward reflection and the awareness that opportunities and time cannot be taken for granted. Rather than making every track occupy the same emotional space, the collaborators allow the album to shift as the subjects change.
Relationships Find Their Way Onto the Record
The album also leaves room for relationships and emotional vulnerability. “I Am Your Heart,” featuring Holly Prindle of The Hobbyist, focuses on the intensity that can come with meeting someone and quickly developing feelings.
Those moments help broaden the picture of Abitight as an emcee. Independent hip hop can sometimes become narrowly associated with technical rapping or underground aesthetics, but Sample From the Menu allows personal writing, melody and traditional emceeing to coexist on the same project.
RP Helps Give the Album Its Shape
While Abitight is the primary lyrical voice, RP’s role extends beyond simply supplying beats. As a producer, DJ and fellow emcee, he brings another perspective to the project and helps create the musical framework connecting its different subjects and featured artists.
That relationship is particularly important across a 16-track album. A project of that length can easily feel like a collection of unrelated songs, but a producer working closely with one artist has an opportunity to establish recurring ideas and a consistent musical vocabulary across the record.
The collaboration also connects Sample From the Menu to one of hip hop’s longest-running creative traditions: the emcee-and-producer album. When two artists develop enough trust to build an entire project together, production becomes part of the storytelling rather than simply the instrumental underneath it.
An Album Designed to Be Heard as an Album
At a time when individual songs can be released continuously and consumed through playlists, Abitight is clearly interested in the experience of a complete project. His description of Sample From the Menu reaches back to an era when listeners spent time with physical albums, credits and liner notes rather than immediately moving to the next release.
“If this album had dropped when I was a kid, I would have studied the liner notes until every lyric was memorized, playing it front to back until the CD was scratched to hell. Sample From the Menu didn’t just satisfy; it had me licking the plate.”
That perspective says something about the intentions behind the record. Sixteen tracks give Abitight and RP enough space to build an experience rather than treating the album as packaging around one or two singles.
Independent Hip Hop Doesn’t Have an Expiration Date
Perhaps the most interesting part of the Abitight and RP story is its timeline. Nearly three decades of friendship leading to a debut collaborative album challenges the idea that hip hop is primarily a young artist’s pursuit or that every meaningful independent story needs to revolve around someone being newly discovered.
Independent culture can also be about longevity. Artists can have jobs, families, responsibilities and lives outside of music while continuing to write, produce, perform and participate in the communities that made them artists in the first place.
That makes Sample From the Menu more than another entry on a crowded release calendar. For Today’s Hip Hop, Abitight and RP represent the part of independent hip hop that survives because people continue creating whether or not the larger music industry is paying attention.
Their first collaborative album may have taken nearly 30 years of friendship to arrive, but that history is part of what gives the project its identity. Sample From the Menu is available now across major streaming platforms.
Listen to Abitight and RP
Sample From the Menu is available now across major streaming platforms, giving listeners 16 tracks from a partnership that began long before the current independent music ecosystem existed. You can listen to Sample From the Menu on Bandcamp and explore the full project directly from Abitight and RP.
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