Jake One "White Van Music"
Anyone from around here is going to be looking at this album with just a slightly different take, making me wish I could be talking with some people outside of the S-E-A about what they think of the debut offering from Jake One. The resident beat maker extraordinaire has been fudging the lines about what exactly “underground” and “mainstream” Hip Hop is for years now and to this end we see a diverse group of guests. From Young Buck and Busta Rhymes to MF Doom and a host of locally known emcees who will hopefully receive some much deserved attention after sharing grooves with the talent found herein. Now it could be my own bias but those tracks from the local emcees stand up incredibly well, to a point that I have to say I find them to be the best tracks on the album. From the D. Black solo “God Like” with it’s subdued beat (Blueprint esque? Shout to Crawford !) to the power trio of J Pinder, GMK and Spaceman on “Big Homie Style,” this is the hidden gem if you ask me. All three emcees h...