“I’m on tour and I’m checking out Walmart!” chuckles a jovial Ramble John Krohn as Brainer asks how the man otherwise known as RJD2 is doing. Three years on from his last album ‘The Third Hand’, Krohn is ready to release his fourth studio album: ‘The Colossus’. Which would explain why he’s on tour and perusing the well-stocked shelves of Walmart.

Since his debut album ‘Deadringer’ was released in 2002 on independent New York hip-hop label Def Jux, the producer slash deejay slash multi-instrumentalist slash singer has, perhaps more than any of his peers, been the subject of close and fierce scrutiny, both positive and negative.

‘Deadringer’ itself was an instant success, with Def Jux boss El-P proclaiming that the record would “change the motherfucking world”. And this seemingly hyperbolic statement was absolutely right; the Columbus, Ohio beatsmith affected listeners to the core with his haunting yet earth shattering soundscapes. Here you had someone that could successfully take the mantle from DJ Shadow – make sweeping, cinematic, sample-based instrumental hip-hop that was both dynamic and engaging. ‘Since We Last Spoke’, his sophomore album, was met with similar adulation, but it wasn’t until Krohn released his third long player – ‘The Third Hand’ – that he witnessed how instantly public opinion could turn.

The record marked a drastic change in how the producer made music. Rather than continuing to craft expansive instrumentals that were inextricably linked with the steady boom bap of hip-hop, ‘The Third Hand’ saw the 33 year-old explore lighter, more indie-pop territory. Playing live instruments and singing (really quite effectively) on the majority of the album’s fifteen songs, RJD2 found himself facing a disappointed fan base that just didn’t understand the why behind the abrupt shift in sound.

“From my perspective, everything I do, for better or worse, comes from a backbeat, funk, groove, 4/4 perspective. Which is synonymous with hip-hop music,” he explains. “With ‘The Third Hand’ I reached a point where I was willing to throw caution to the wind. Have you ever stood at the top of a parking garage, and you’re holding an empty bottle? And you wonder, ‘What’s gonna happen if I just drop this off of the edge of this ten storey parking garage?’ This may not be a good idea, or maybe it is a good idea… Eventually you simply decide to say ‘Fuck it, I just wanna see what happens’. Well, that’s the closest analogy that I can draw to the decision of actually releasing ‘The Third Hand’. It was a healthy process,” he continues. “It helped me get over the idea of being concerned with what people think about the records and that whole kind of thing.”