Unique album released by the Harlem, New York City hip-hop duo Bamboo Bros composed by producer and rapper Dave Dar and rapper Jorge "Kurious" Alvarez. Bamboo Bros provides the production, while the guests are Fire, Robert Brentley, Co Campbell, Mighty Buda, Pete Rock, L-Fudge, Kendra Ross, Talib Kweli, VonQwest, PrincePower, D. Garnes, Kelly V and Isaac Flores.
Dave Dar realizes a splendid soundscape for the inaugural track "Stay High", cheerful boom bap, hard drum uptempo, solid bass line, good horns, smooth rapping by the emcees. Skit outro with wonderful jazz bridge. The next choice "Make a 4Tune" features an eclectic production to support the rap of the artist along with Co Campbell for the pop/rnb hook. "Beyond a Sensation" has a solar beat, with cheerful trumpets, light bass, hard drum, the performers drop bars at their ease, Pete Rock is guest alongside Mighty Buda here.
An acoustic guitar is the fundament for the rhythm chosen by Dave Dar for "When I Bleed", light drum, dusty percussions, sweet strings, catchy hook, good rap. Boom bap even for the track number five, hard drum uptempo, rapid rap by Kurious. "Pain Killer" has another tepid boom bap, uptempo drum, piano keys without ambitions, sluggish licks, lazy bass line, I almost feel like saying that Kurious' rap deserves to be entirely remixed in this album, and I'm only halfway there.
L-Fudge hook sounds bad in "RingMaster" over another bad boom bap created by Dave Dar, not really inspired here. The producer found a good beat finally, for "Let It Go": harsh drum in a sort of clapping, solid bass line, keys in loop, Kurious is flanked by Talib Kweli at the mic, and Kendra Ross kills the chorus. VonQwest is guest in "Sunny (The Good Light)" performing alongside Kurious over a solar and positive boom bap beats invented by Dave Dar.
The album seems to be back on track by the time we get to "I Heart Three", which kicks off with a honeyed hook by Fire over a beat that boasts some nice amped-up guitar licks, a bare metal drum, poor hi-hats, and rap by Kurious and PrincePower. "That 70's Song" has a uptempo boom bap, fast drum, fast rap by Kurious, here joined by Kelly V and D Garnes.
Dave Dar extracts a soulful soundscape for "Home", hard drum, splendid strings, bass that stays in background, slow flow by Kurious. That hook really doesn't work. Over a rhythm that allows him to go at his own speed, Dave Dar he's seen in the booth, in one of the few moments in which the boys drop a track together.
The title track should symbolizes the whole effort. This boom bap rhythm simply doesn't sound good. The drum is too hard, the acoustic guitar plunked strings aren't rewarded in any way, flute making an unsolicited appearance, the rap plays a minor role in this song. Isaac Flores is the last guest of the tape in "Bienvenido (Bamboo)", the drum trips and falls on his face downtempo, scarce, fluid keys, solid bass, good samples, decent rap. As a bonus track in the CD edition there's "Brand New Day", Kurious piece extrapolated from his second studio album, "II" (2009), light musical carpet painted by Hi-Tek, chorus by Co Campbell, fluid execution by Kurious.
The disk is released by Benchmark Music and falls flat, ignored by fans, critics, other artists, forgotten even before being released. The duo would recover by working brilliantly with the LUV NY crew on two albums, leaving good tracks especially on the first album, however this effort is negligible. 5/10.
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