FILE UNDER: Old-school until death.
CORPORATE LINE: Jurassic 5 won’t apologize for not making gangsta rap music, even though they hail from the west and were raised on a healthy diet of Ice T, Eazy-E, and Toddy Tee, in addition to East Coast offerings Run DMC, the Cold Crush Brothers and LL Cool J.
“That particular subject always bothered me,” explains Akil, “because I’ve heard conversations that go on about the type of music Jurassic 5 makes. I think it’s an issue of perception, in terms of what has been promoted. When people see us perform they understand.”
The five-man collective that also includes Zaakir (Soup), Chali 2na, Marc 7, and producer/DJ Nu-Mark may have shared concert stages in the U.S. and abroad with mainstream acts Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple, Green Day, D’Angelo and OutKast, but their music has always maintained the underground grit of their 1997 self-titled independent EP that sold 300,000 copies worldwide.
Feedback, their third major label release, has its share of crossover tracks. “Work It Out,” the album’s first single, is a collab with Jam Band superstar Dave Matthews, and “Brown Girl,” featuring vocals from new reggae sister act Brick & Lace, is a bonafide pop hit sculpted by Scott Storch. The rest of the album, however, is heavy on their trademark old school hip-hop, and even a dose of world music.
FRANKLY: There really doesn’t need to be a good or bad here. Nothing is worth listening to. Cut Chemist left and so did their chemistry. There isn’t one track that sounds fresh. In fact, it sounds like J5 is going back even further into the old school. Honestly, at this point if you want to hear old school hip-hop you should buy a real old school hip-hop record. There is a decade worth of material and all of it is better than Jurassic 5’s Feedback.
While every other band expanded J5 hasn’t moved on at all. They’ve stayed true—to what will ultimately be their demise. Feedback sounds like the end of a tired era—maybe that is why Cut Chemist cut and ran. J5 hasn’t released anything that has moved us since their first release. At least with their first album they sound fresh—even in their retro style. Tracks like “Radio” and “Brown Girl” go so far back you might mistake them for pre-retro. The only song that gives any hope of getting out of the funk is “Work It Out” featuring the Dave Matthews Band. And you can thank Dave Matthews for fixing J5’s bad trend.
Note to Jurassic 5: The ‘80s called and they want you to hang it up.
+ CC Morris
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