An appetizer is something that's coming up before a meal. Those little meat balls, cheese balls, salt bakeries, whatever's nice and fits in your hands, and does not let you chew too long, so that you can still talk to the other people chewing next to you. An appetizer will never seize your hunger, and that's also not it's goal. Actually the opposite: it has to get you even hungrier for something that's coming up later. And that's what this EP does.
After the intro, first up to bat is Humdrum's "Provoke", a track the liner notes call the 'raw 4-track version'. The bass line hums on the low ends, and Humdrum flows without giving his lungs much time to breathe between each line, spit with confidence. He's on some "step aside or get sprayed by my jet stream" tip. "Pocket Lint" has to be a track that everybody can relate to, cause everybody will have a day, where he's "I got no money, I'm collecting pocket lint". San Diego's Subdivision kicks these rhymes to some horns, some funky drums, as well as a dope hook, and the whole combination of this track shows how dope a concept can be. And the thoughts that went into this cut, into the chit chat conversation, makes this track a winner that should get so much more shine than it actually gets. Dope track. The compilation character of this tape continues with Commonwealth's "L.I.F.E." track. The beat goes the same route as the track before this one, again a horn carries the track. And while this is not "Elevator Music", as the forthcoming album will be called, it's still smooth and just makes every gray day a little friendlier. And the outro to this track, the jazzyness, makes us feel the appreciation these artist have for music. And finally there's "Chill". A hugely dope evs produced beat, that somewhat gives away their Cali roots, without screaming it too loud.

On the p side, things start up with "No Worries" by Commonwealth. And while this track is already 4 years old, it does not ask for a modern days update, but can be enjoyed just as much in this form. Not allowing themselves to babble, they kick rhymes like "in the future, the only certainty are death, taxes and change", while a piano and another horn fight for the status of being more melancholy. Subdivision return with "The Charlie Brown Song". This almost uptempo piano gives this track a very humorous and funny feel. And this is convincing you of the huge amount of ideas these guys have, that they execute them well, and that they succeed in giving us a little something different. And well, maybe it's a little unfair having this beat taking away so much of the attention away from the emcees, but as they say themselves too, this song does not have a topic anyways, sort of. And to give this tape it's final underground status, they put Kid Dragon's appearance on the "Wake Up" show on it. First doing some heavy scratching, over bare drums, things get ugly with very fast cutting during part two , and the overkill is when he flips his 'scratch rapping' style over the infamous "Ice Ice Baby" track.
Again, the title says it. This is only an appetizer, so don't expect a multiple course meal. But just like them nasty little cheese things, they get your mouth all watery, and you can't wait to get the genuine deal. And while they are delicious, they are not as satisfying as a big bowl of spaghetti would be. But an appetizer is by definition only an appetizer if a meal is coming up later on. So keep up your hunger. (tadah the byk)

explanation of our rating: each album can get a total of 100 stripes. there are three categories the albums are rated in: lyrics (40 stripes), beats (40 stripes) and originality (20 stripes). the stripes in black show the remaining stripes for the full 100.