A year after releasing their first EP, the Beatnuts debut with a studio album: Psycho Les, Juju and Kool Fashion (shortly before leaving the group to attempt a solo career) deal with rhythms and rap, leaving a beat to Lucien and VIC each, and calling Grand Puba, Miss Jones and Gab Gotcha as guests.
The project is completely relaxed and effortless, combining generic and light-hearted lyricism with a tough and robust jazzy boom bap production, composed of layered samples from funk, soul, jazz and hip-hop: among the best choices, Heath Brothers' "Smilin' Billy Suite Pt. II" ("Ya Don't Stop"), Monty Alexander's "Love and Happiness" ("Let Off a Couple"), David Axelrod's "Holy Thursday" ("Hit Me With That"), "Ballad (For My Love)" by Eric Harris ("Psycho Dwarf"), "Bitches Brew" by Miles Davis ("2-3 Break"), and "In the Mood" by Tyrone Davis ("Lick the P*ssy").
I was expecting an entirely instrumental album from Beatnuts, instead there's also rap here: it's not that bad, the guys spit with decent regular style, but their uninspired execution never feels necessary and lowers the quality of the project (the Brand Nubian MC is the exception). Released by Relativity / Violator, the album, also known as "Street Level", stops early in the charts, reaching the top 30 of rap releases. Recommended to boom bap fans, there are nice tunes. 7.5/10.
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