In June 2000, almost seven years after their formation,
underground rap
's most lauded crew finally hit with a full-length. Great expectations aside,
Quality Control
hits all the same highs as
Jurassic 5
's excellent EP of three years earlier, stretching out their resume to nearly an hour with a few turntablist jaunts from resident beat-jugglers
DJ Nu-Mark
and
Cut Chemist
. The formula is very similar to the EP, with the group usually going through a couple of lines of five-man harmonics before splitting off for tongue-twister solos from
Zaakir
,
Chali 2na
Akil
, and
Marc 7even
. As expected, there are plenty of nods to
old-school rap
, from
"Lausd,"
with its brief tribute to
hip-hop
classic
"The Bridge"
by
MC Shan
, to
"Monkey Bars,"
where the group claim inspiration (yet just a bit of distance) from their heroes: "Now you know us but it's not
the Cold Crush
, four MCs so it ain't
the Furious
/Not
the Force M.D.'s
or the three from
Treacherous
, it's a blast from the past from the moment we bust." Where
really laps previous
material is not only the lyrical material, though, but the themes and focus of the message tracks
"World of Entertainment (Woe Is Me),"
"Contribution."
The four-man crew take on major media and the responsibilities of adulthood with a degree of authority, eloquence, and compassion never before heard in
rap
music. (Just check out the lyrics to any of the above three at an online archive like www.ohhla.com.) Though critics and uptight
purists might fault them for not pushing the progression angle enough,
's rhymes are so devastating and the productions (by
Nu-Mark
) follow the raps so closely it certainly doesn't matter whether the group is old-school or not. ~ John Bush