About Unexpected Records

Amsterdam based label Unexpected Records was established in March 2001 by composer/producer Perquisite, at that time 18 years of age. The main purpose of the label was, and still is, to release original, mostly groove-based music - covering a wide range of genres during its existence. Over the years, Unexpected Records has had the pleasure to collaborate with various labels and distributors worldwide, including PIAS, RushHour and Epitaph in Europe, P-Vine in Japan, MusicAroma in Korea and ANTI in the United States. Being the director and curator of Unexpected Records, Perquisite not only releases his own music through the label, but also the work of artists he finds to fit the Unexpected sound.

Unexpected Records kicked off with two jazzy instrumental Hip Hop EP’s on which Perquisite collaborated with saxophonist Benjamin Herman (2001) and clarinetist David Kweksliber (2002). In 2003 an EP by Amsterdam hip-hop collective North West Metropolis was released, soon followed by EP’s and albums by hip-hop group The Proov, producer Arts the Beatdoctor and hardjazz-formation Monsieur Dubois. In 2004 Perquisite hooked up with MC Pete Philly and their Mindstate EP was released, followed a year later by the Mindstate album. Eventually being released worldwide, Mindstate was the first big success of the label. It caused quite a stir in the international music scene, with Talib Kweli proclaiming Pete Philly & Perquisite to be ‘lightyears ahead of the game’ and UK’s Notion Magazine calling them ‘as much 21st century soul as hip hop genius’. Their second album, Mystery Repeats, was released in 2007 and entered the Dutch charts at the first position in the week of its release, beating Kanye West. Exploring new genres, Perquisite started to work on his first full-length solo album, Across, which was released in 2010. In 2013 a collaboration kicked off between Perquisite and singer Kris Berry, resulting in the soulful album Lovestruck Puzzles, which was embraced by the press as ‘ideal dream music, smoothly bouncing like a trampoline’. Their single ‘Let Go’ became 3FM megahit and the album was nominated at the 3FM awards 2014.

In December 2015, Surinam-born singer/songwriter Jeangu Macrooy was signed to Unexpected Records, after being scouted by Perquisite. Jeangu’s debut EP ‘Brave Enough’ (2016), received immediate critical acclaim: he was named ‘Serious Talent’ by 3FM, became a frequent guest at Dutch talkshow ‘De Wereld Draait Door’, played over 120 shows in 12 months and concluded 2016 with a performance at Eurosonic/Noorderslag and a nomination for an Edison Award in the category ‘Best New Artist.’ Jeangu’s debut album, ‘High On You’ was released a year later, in April 2017. The record entered the Dutch album charts and received an Edison Pop Award nomination, this time for ‘Best Album’. The release of the album was celebrated with two almost fully sold out club tours throughout the Netherlands. Jeangu Macrooy’s second album ‘Horizon’ was released on February 8th 2019 and celebrated with a sold out show at Amsterdam poptemple Paradiso. Just like Jeangu’s debut EP and debut album, ‘Horizon’ was produced by Perquisite and received a lot of critical acclaim in the press.

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