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 BUY + TRACK LIST |
US3 - QUESTIONS (www.US3.com) |
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THE RETURN OF INTELLIGENT HIP-HOP.
Successfully making the leap into the year 2005 with their much-anticipated, long-overdue fourth CD, (and their first major US release since the 1994 smash single “Cantaloop” took everyone by surprise) Geoff Wilkinson and his ever-evolving counterparts in US3 are back with more of their influential and jazzy thinking man’s hip-hop. Featuring two new breaths of fresh air in Brooklyn rapper Reggi Wyns and London-based, South African-born female singer Mpho Skeef, “Questions” highlights London-based producer Wilkinson’s amazing ear for quality sample-free instrumentation and thought-provoking, socially-conscious lyrics. Equal parts chill-out heaven and groovy Rap Valhalla, “Questions” is the outstanding by-product of the evolution of popular music in an era when introspection and self-doubt abound. With song titles like “Whatcha Gonna Do?”, “What Does It Mean?” (my favorite track, featuring the jaw-dropping turntable prowess of DJ First Rate), “Can U Feel It?” and “Why Not?”, “Questions” accomplishes the feat of asking many in a head-scratching fury of fun, while songs like “Get it Together”, “Believe in Yourself”, “The Truth”, and “Give Thanks” all bleed with a positive energy flow that is seldom seen (or heard) in popular music today. On track 2, “Get It Together”, the trumpet playing of Chris Storr melds wonderfully with Mike Gorman’s lush piano lines on track 4, “Believe in Youself” as the tenor sax and Rhodes keyboard sounds continue to wrap and weave their way around flutes and keys almost all the way through for 14 tracks of meticulously crafted funk. Cant(aloop) go wrong with this one!-- review by Carl Noone, Jr.
This album is a whiskeygroove collection of chilled grooves dripping with jazz flavor. "Whatcha Gonna Do?" lays out a soulful hip-hop groove with sexy soulful vocals. "Believe in Yourself?" is equally soulful but adds a slick piano line that makes the tune the cool piece that it is. When "She's Dancing" sticks in a catchy tribal-informed percussiveness and "The Truth" boasts a delicately lurchy groove and trumpet highlights and is certainly a standout track. "The Healer" throws in a nice guitar line on top of the soulful chilled hip-hop jazz. This is an ubersmooth batch of tracks. Im not a huge fan of a lot of this kind of music, but the quality of this disc is past dispute.-- review by Kristofer Upjohn
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