Debut album for this Los Angeles hip-hop group of five elements, five MCs, Eddie "Aceyalone" Hayes Jr., Michael "Mikah 9" Troy, Ornette "Self Jupiter" Glenn, Mtulazaji "P.E.A.C.E." Davis, and James "J Sumbi" Sumbi, the first and the last are the only ones whose bars stand out clearly, the others spit out quite confusing things: you struggle to understand them, their senseless lyricism is almost indecipherable, I mean, even they don't know what they said here, seriously.
Their style is extravagant and deliberately confused, technically decent, with fun and playful lyrics, afrocentric bars and a positive mood, don't look at the lyrics because there's no way. It should be a group album, but most of the tracks are soloists to allow singles to shine alone, without too much success, since the album doesn't feature classics or bangers and doesn't launch anyone's solo career, except Aceyalone.
Production is provided by one of the group members, J Sumbi, and is light, dark, cheap, with a minimal drum machine and subdued, jazzy samples, sometimes funky, always fit with the group's smooth delivery. The random rhymes, the random words spit out by these five on dusty beats, allows him to become one of the first groups in alt rap and abstract rap, which is why this record is still so unknown and forgotten. It's a pure, conscious, conscious album in LA, in a period in which the gangsta dominated. Conscious in LA. It takes guts to do it, while everyone is going to cool off in money showers smeared with blood from the streets of the ghetto, this would be enough to make you not sleep on this effort released by independent label Sun Music.
Rating: 7.5/10.
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