Second chapter of the Guru's Jazzmatazz series, conceived by the MC of Roxbury, on his second solo studio album, two years after his first. The sound carpet of the disc is made up of hip-hop production and live jazz music played by different musicians. Guru is credited behind the keyboards on the entire album as a producer and co-producer, alongside him are The Solsonics, Carlos Bess, Nikke Nicole, True Master, DJ Premier and Mark Sparks. Guests are 27 different musicians, including Branford Marsalis, Kenny Garnett, Donald Byrd, Courtney Pine and Freddie Hubbard, and 19 performers, including Chaka Khan, Baybe, Big Shug, Kool Keith, Bahamadia and Dee C Lee, as well as Jamiroquai and Lucien Revolucien.
Irregular, heavy, positive, at times even boring, definitely not as good as the debut, the record breathes positive vibes and leaves along its way some brilliant moments and different gems that represent Guru to the best of him. Released by Chrysalis and distributed by EMI, the album is greeted with a wave of skepticism by virtually all professional critics: on the East Coast, it's seen as a sophomore jinx, on the West Coast, it's easily shot down, gaining mixed reviews from others. The record earns more comforting sales results in Europe than in the US, reaching the second position in the dedicated UK chart, while it remains outside the top 15 in the American one.
The album starts very well and seems to be destined to surpass the first volume in quality, solidity, compactness and cohesion, then it drops after the first three-four tracks and practically doesn't reach that excellent level in the remaining fifty minutes. Guru maintains a monotonous rapping tone, gives it a lighter and softer twist than usual and in doing so, he takes away some of its usual punch, making his style soft enough to match the jazz provided by the guests and, at the same time, a little too light to hold the listener's attention all this time. The product exaggerates with the amount of material introduced into the tape and is inflated up to 74 minutes of execution, in which at least half an hour isn't necessary. The hip-hop production and rapping both seem to be done a bit on autopilot and undertone, most of the time the CD sounds good in intention and less good in its performance.
"Watch What You Say" should be one of the best tracks of the edition, by right: DJ Premier behind the keyboards, Chaka Khan sings the hook, there's Branford Marsalis' sublime sax, and Guru's velvety rapping. It's all great, except The One and Only Preemo gets the wrong sample, the drum is great, but the sample ruins the hook with those quick, raw, dirty, sticky, digital sounds that very trivially are dissonant from everything else. It's a big shame, especially as the previous songs looked flawless. Among others, the magnificent "Lifesaver" stands out: beautiful sample from "Django" by Cal Tjader, intro by Guru, then comes the elegant hook of Baybe, which is one of the best things you can hear on this album. French rapper Lucien Revolucien, also credited with the moniker Papalu, delivers a great last verse and provides yet another demonstration of how the French language marries perfectly with hip-hop. Welcomed by a hard, dusty, midtempo drum machine, Guru stops everyone, raises his hand and responds to the appeal proposed by Hip-Hop 1995: he's there too, and gives an immortal classic.
Highlights: "Life Saver", "Livin in This World", "Looking Through Darkness", "Lost Souls", "Nobody Knows", "Something in the Past", "Revelation".
Rating: 7/10.
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