Street Poets — Street Poets

Very little is known about Street Poets and their only album, released in 1995. The minimal cover adds little, with the group name in graffiti style and a figure in the center. Discogs gives the album as "Untitled", while the album is eponymous, as stated by the Street Poets themselves.

The composition of the project is curious: twelve tracks, equally divided into sections performed by three different performers. The first is by Richard "Punch" Bembery, who discogs also credits as Punch Spiked W/ Poison. The second is by Peter "DIF Productions" Bazile. The third is by Brick "Polecat" Casey. More than a group or an act, it looks like a union of intentions on the part of a young collective born in the nineties in Boston, Massachusetts. The guests are Trevor "Jukebox" Blanchard, who was part of the collective / group, Maze 1, E-Sense and Govuna Pete, who's one of the monikers of Peter Bazile, who should already be the main performer in those songs.

Production is entirely handled by Underground Productions, a local production team made up of Brad Young & Dow Brain, except for the track "Skinz". DIF Productions produces all the beats of its section (5-8), Sean Gillis is credited in co-production for "Skinz", while Vitamin D Productions is credited in co-production for "True Romance". G-Spin, DJ Buzz and DJ Butterfingers are credited with scratches.

These different performers flow with a competent, tidy, velvety, confident, calm, pleasant rapping style. Lyrically, the tape is average, with bravado arguments and little else, although the boys show ample flashes of writing talent. Production is the very strong point of the project, Underground Productions does a great job and holds the album together. The rhythms are fluid jazz boom bap choices, with excellent smooth, elegant and light samples, sometimes raw, dark, soul, gloomy and haunting loops, laced with dirty and dusty, dry and gaunt midtempo drums. The choice of these soundscapes is very professional, exaggerating, I'd like to say that this is one of the best sets of the year, in one of the best years of hip-hop history.

"Everybody Knows Me", "Skinz" and "Out Ta Flip" are the highlights of the respective three sections. The best track on the album is definitely "Can't Find My Way": the production created by Brad Young & Dow Brain is flawless, dark piano, vinyl sound in the background, immense soul sample, obscure strings, perfect midtempo drum, dirty and dusty, Punch delivers totally inspired and realizes a hidden classic. Either way, I think the whole album is essential for any boom bap / jazz rap fan. Released by the Boston label DBK Records, consisting of twelve songs and about fifty minutes of listening, it becomes the first and only album of the collective, of which, until autumn 2020, little is known, until a rare music video for "Out Ta Flip" is released, which clarifies what the present of the three boys is and states that Punch was one of Dr. Dre's "2001" ghostwriters.

Rating: 7.5/10.