Jurassic 5: Quality Control

Reverence for the old school and its musical pioneers has long been a calling card of hip-hop's underground. But few have taken their affection for the genre's fabled beginnings as far as Jurassic 5, whose name and album cover—which depicts the band sitting next to a tree stump sculpted into a turntable—pay loving homage to hip-hop's distant past. In the hands of a lesser group, such retro affectations would be little more than a clever gimmick, the marketing hook of a blatantly nostalgic hip-hop Sha Na Na. In the hands of Jurassic 5's four gifted rappers and two enormously promising DJs and producers, however, it's a brilliant musical strategy that draws on the energy and enthusiasm of the old school to take hip-hop in new, exciting, unexpected directions. Quality Control's irresistible title track nicely illustrates Jurassic 5's winning alchemy, name-dropping Kurtis Blow while capturing the house-party vibe of his best work, complete with joyful crowd noise. "Jurass Finish First" is another highlight, a near-perfect lyrical relay race with remarkable production and vocal interplay making a convincing case for just that. Drawing on more than 20 years of progress, Jurassic 5 captures the best of all worlds on its remarkable debut, embodying the upbeat vibe, vocal harmonies, and endless possibilities of the old school but adding inventive samples, sophisticated production, social commentary, and thematic diversity. A flat-out great full-length debut, Quality Control proves there's sonic gold in hip-hop's rich and storied past.