Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal releases the fourth installment of the his Jazzmatazz series, on his sixth studio album, two years after the last one and seven seasons after the previous episode. The album comes out under the title "Jazzmatazz, Vol. 4: The Hip Hop Jazz Messenger: Back to the Future", is produced entirely by solar and features several guest singers, as well as Slum Village, Common, Damian Marley and Blackalicious.
Lyrically, the MC centers his lyrics on battle rap and braggadocio, deliver them without a truly inspired pen and with his usual rap. Solar's music isn't as bad as on previous records, and it's still not quite as good: sometimes it guesses the beat, sometimes he doesn't. When this guy finds the correct sound, they get the best results, nevertheless, Guru is perpetually overshadowed by guests, from Damian Marley to Vivian Green, from Dionne Farris to Common, who too easily overcoming him in "State of Clarity". The production is erratic and cheap, the rapper fails to save most of these songs and there are some of the worst hooks of his career, only a few guests manage to remedy, Vivian Green and Shelley Harland offer the best performances. Guru tries to make a modern record, yet another attempt to found hip-hop, soul and jazz, failing again due to a not concentrated lyricism and rapping and a mediocre production. Released by solar's label, the disc sees the light of the charts again and is doing well in the European market. It doesn't live up to the cream of the series, but it's not the Boston rapper's worst project either. Not recommended.
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