goya gumbani: bean pie
Francisco Espregueira
Brooklyn-born, South East London-based Goya Gumbani has a way of making rap feel like a conversation that can wander wherever it needs to go. His writing moves between personal reflections, quick observations and loose streams of thought, often finding its shape around jazz-informed production. After Warlord of the Weejuns [Ghostly International, 2025], he returns with Bean Pie, a five-track EP released once again by Ghostly International. The ingredients come from different moments in time, but they settle into place without much fuss. Joe Armon-Jones, Franky Bones, Blk Deco and Velvetian Sky handle production across the record, giving Gumbani room to shift gears. The artist intentionally pushes the tempo here, trading pure introspection for physical movement and rhythmic bounce.
The change is clear on “Hold It Up” and “Come or GO”, where Gumbani slips through rapid-fire verses over crisp drums and sliding organ lines. On “Shouldn’t Be”, his exchange with longtime collaborator Joe Armon-Jones feels more exposed, the beat leaving space for lines about cutting ties and moving carefully. The EP’s loose construction comes together most clearly on “PrettyLady, WYA”, inspired by a trip to Marseille and the fleeting sight of someone in a club. SALIMATA adds vocals, Velvetian Sky co-produces, and Marc-Antoine Bianco brings keys and bass to the track. Each song feels like a small scene rather than part of a tightly plotted story. That’s the point of Bean Pie: different experiences, moods and half-formed ideas sharing the same space, until they become something that makes sense on its own terms. Available via Bandcamp.
“Some are fresh, some have been sitting around and changing shape with me. They each have their own flavour, their own little world. ”