Debut for Brooklyn hidden hip-hop group Da Bush Babees, consisting of Harold "Babe-B-Face Kaos" Lee aka Lee Majors, Acklins "Mr. Man" Dillon aka King Khaliyl and Y-Tee aka Light. The production is handled by Jermaine Dupri, JP, Mark Batson, Nikkie Nikole, Salaam Remi, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and the group itself. 2 Unorthodox is the only host on the disc.
The three guys spit battle rap all the time, with a hardcore rapping style with ragga influence on dancehall beats: most of the lyrics are screamed, energetic songs come out that make the record vibrate. The beats made by the guys behind the keyboards are minimal: it's mostly boom bap with tight and fast drum, sometimes midtempo, and honest samples, to support the frantic and crazy bars of the performers, who bring to the table a delivery style similar to the one already heard by other contemporary rappers. For this reason, despite the great energy brought by the trio, the record is quite generic and a bit boring.
Marked as members of the Native Tongues collective, Da Bush Babees are published by Reprise and distributed by Time Warner (WEA): nevertheless, they get little commercial success, coming in few copies and barely making it to the hip-hop record chart. Ultimately, it's not your typical Native Tongues album: made up of 13 tunes and 48 minutes, this is a good album, but it's not essential. If you want to hear some hardcore rap on dancehall-influenced beats, that's perfect, otherwise their sophomore is something else, easily one of the best albums of the year, go to that one.
Rating: 6.5/10.
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