We Would Say Our Rhymes to the Beat Right

I know I’ve said this whenever I talk about rap, but as a youth, I was a huge hip-hop fan. For most of Middle School that was all I listen to. Then as I grew, I listen to less and less because I found it, for the most part, uninspiring. Just the same raps about bling over the same tired beats. Seriously, how hasn’t anyone figured out that Lil’ Jon only has just one song. But anyways. One of the few rap troupes worth listening to, Jurassic 5 is back with their latest album, Feedback. Don’t expect the normal rap fair of recent times because, as they say, “we would say our rhymes to the beat right, but we never indulged in the street life.”

The boys came up around the same time as another underground sensation, the Black Eyed Peas, but unlike the Peas, this group didn’t become Jurassic 6 by adding a cast off from Kids Incorporated and not so coincidently Jurassic 5 has yet to have a breakout hit. But on Feedback, the 5 do some things that could be considered selling out. First they brought in Scott Storch, one of many new producers they worked with after longtime DJ Cut Chemist left to pursue a solo career. Storch is best know for being responsible for bringing Paris Hilton and Brooke Hogan to the radio, thanks for that by the way (end sarcasm), produced Brown Girl (Suga Plum). Needless to say this is the weakest track on the album. The other and more successful way the boys try to crossover is the addition of the Dave Matthews Band on the track Work it Out.

The collective expands their horizons more than just bringing talented guest, and Scott Storch, like on How Did We End up like This, a smooth track where the group look back at themselves, and possibly hip-hop culture as a whole and wonder what went wrong. But the backpackers are at the top of their games when they kick it old school like Radio. They seamlessly switch between each other before coming together for the chorus and the song should be coming out of your radio’s speakers this summer. In the House sounds like something that could have been heard in New York City in the early eighties. Hopefully the next time around Jurassic 5 don’t call up Scott Storch, because they don’t need him.

Song to Download - Work it Out

Feedback gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.