producers: rusty p's

guests: imani of the pharcyde, slug, dj abilities.

The Rusty P's used to be called the Rusty Pelicans, and they live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin of all places. And the 12" that brought them to our attention, contained the cuts "Tread Water" and "All I Have". And both tracks can be found on here again, what must be to every listeners enjoyment, as they easily are two of the best tracks on this album. Hence there's nothing wrong about it, when we start this review with talking about these cuts. We start with "Tread Water", that features Imani of The Pharcyde, who's asked to flow over a hard drum, that has a dope almost stumbling feel to it. The rhymers are talking as if under hypnosis, with some evil ish going on, that however if closely listened to suddenly appears to be real life advice given. The second cut "All I Have" is featuring Slug and DJ Abilities, who could never do a track that is not interesting. The drum is again hard, but here more straight lined and lacking the back up of further menacing instrumentation. Lyrically we are not going an easier route though, as once more the P's are spitting reflecting words, while Sluggo opens the track with his usual kind of making whatever he talks about sound incredibly fresh. So we know that the P's can do a dope 12". But are they able to do a full album, without depending on too much or any filler material?

Things still sound right on "On & On", where the emcees are doing some party grooving, matching their lyrics with the artwork, that is showing photos of live performances. With a rolling bass, this sure can move a crowd, but that is actually a statement that could be said about each cut on here. And it must be one, if not the main priority, that the beats are getting heads in motion, while the lyrics can fall back into expected and traditional content. Hence cuts like "Piece Of Mind" or the jazzy vibe of "S.O.S." (what stands for 'same ol' shit') are sure movers, with the lyrics adding the lightweight company to the instrumentals. But that also means that we are not really given anything innovative and new, as not only on these cuts we easily could find similarities to other artists.

Then again there's suddenly "Boomerang Effect", that features a slicing guitar and cuts, and a rather evil side to it. But that's quickly exchanged again with "On The Mic", where a bare bass is combined with another prominent drum. This is again catering to the ones desiring to move around, with this also reminding us of the flavors of a couple of years back. But on here, the rhyming folks once more proof their skills when they do some back and forth rhyming, with the flows sounding less slurred than on other tracks too. There's little wrong with "The Phantom Channel", what however doesn't make everything brilliant, because this actually is quite likely the weakest track yet. The "Interlude" is going cool dub routes, that are slightly continued on "Out Of Many". This one here is comfortable to be slow, and it contains sounds that progress like the rings in the water after something dropped in it. The party vibe is put aside, and the emcees are tempted to do reflective rhymes, that are standing in for the usual repping going on. On "Grapevine" we are returning to the previously heard formula again, while on "A Way With Words", we are bumrushed with surprising siren like sounds, an up pace speed, and a flavor that can easily alienate, also as it is going completely bonkers towards the end of the cut. What then leaves us with "Slow Burn", where we are chilling with the people on the sofa, sharing the moment of quietly just taking the time to be sitting still.

What we now need to note is the care these beats are crafted, as they always feature changes that make things more than a mere idea getting looped and rode to death. Hence they are always featuring the proof of thought that went into them. And that is exactly what separates the Pelicans from the hundreds of other braggadocios rhymers that flow over bouncy beats. And it also moves them away from the status of being only a live performance group (despite them enjoying this position), and moves them into your living room stereo system too.