Sophomore for this British group consisting of Simon Bartholomew, Jan Kincald, Andrew Love Levy, Carl Evans, Lascelles Gordon, Jim Wellman and N'Dea Davenport. In their second album, they bring several rappers among the best performers of the US scene in ten different tracks on jazzy rhythms: a quite curious choice, because usually the group plays jazz or funk music without going to touch hip-hop. As guests arrive Large Professor, Guru, Grand Puba, Masta Ace, G Rap, Dres, Edo G and The Pharcyde.
The tape is opened by a simple, almost tribal rhythm, with Large Pro to provide rapping on jazzy boom bap, with minimal syncopated skinny drum machine. "It's Gettin Hectic" is slightly better, Guru's slow flowing delivery is fit with the band's chosen jazzy boom bap, let to breathe here. Similar situation in the third choice, with Puba delivering smoothly and slowly on a meager jazzy production; the rhythms all start to look pretty similar and boring, the only variation here is the scratched chorus. Masta Ace finds himself spitting bars on a generic beat, while Jamalski, one of the lesser known names within this tape, a New York artist, delivers ultra-fast reggae bars on simple funky boom bap, with skeletal and syncopated drum machine, tight and hectic.
One of the weakest cuts on the album brings us to the strongest track, "Death Threat": light jazzy boom bap, with a lean, tight and light syncopated drum machine and jazzy samples in the background, Kool G Rap immediately attacks the beat with an impeccable and unstoppable flow, slow, smoothness, he kills the rhythm. No other pieces are at this level, Black Sheep shows slow syncopated delivery on a light jazzy beat, with a similar style to Edo G in the next choice. The Brand New Heavies return to funky-jazzy production in the solo one of Tiger, Kingston-native reggae performer. The album is closed by Pharcyde on simple jazzy boom bap, with good flowing flow.
Despite the considerable quality introduced by the chosen guests, it remains a discreet and non-essential album, offering rare highlights ("It's Gettin Hectic", "Who Makes the Loot?", "Death Threat", "Soul Flower").
Rating: 7/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment