SPIT: 90 Minutes of Hip Hop

Have been listening to some UK rap I've found on mixtapetorrent and raphustle lately and some of it has caught my attention. MCs Mega and Mayhem were recently signed to the Roc-A-Fella/DipSet outfit and have released several mixtapes and miscellaneous stuff over the last couple of years.

Although some of it is pretty bland and perhaps "too New York" (in a DipSet-way) for some, there's no denying these guys know what they're doing. The two brothers Mega and Mayhem moved from London to New York after one of them was offered a basketball scholarship there and they soon got attention from the biggest in the game. Apparently Kanye West was interested in a production deal but thank God they didn't go with that or we would soon hear them in a mash-up with an American Idol winner or something.

Full of fancy word play and a very cocky mix between Staten Island and cockney slang these guys tear up any track, especially the slow signature DipSet beats with the cinematic samples they usually do. Definitely worth checking out. Their Streets All Salute Mixtape is good, so is the Dipset/Eurogang mixtape by Grind Entertainment and Harlem Piff.

It's here. The album that was supposed to redefine Busta's career, one of the most anticipated records of the year, another Dre-produced classic. Problem is it doesn't really live up to any of these promises, dreads or not.

Don't get me wrong, this is a tight album. Very tight. Dre has produced five of the beats and there are also some gems here from Green Lantern and Swizz Beats. The collabo list is enough to make this album an almost guaranteed multi-platinum record. you have Stevie Wonder on the cheesy but good Been Through the Storm, Nas on the very dramatic and tight Don't Get Carried Away, Raekwon spits some rhymes on Goldmine, and Q-Tip features on two tracks on the album.

The album is going for a bit of a retro sound, a sort of nineties New York feel which is somewhat refreshing. The problem is that Busta himself doesn't really live up to his reputation. He's not playful enough and his flows are actually pretty average. Oh yes, he has a powerful voice but the lyrical content here is quite boring and Busta ends up as "just another rapper".

Personal favourites here are the introductory track Get You Some with Q-Tip Marsha of Floetry and Don't Get Carried Away with Nas, who proves himself as probably THE greatest MC. Yes, it's contentous but what the hell. The problem is that these are the two first tracks on the album and from then on it gets a bit boring. The third track with Raekwon, Goldmine, is a bit of a gem but you're better off getting a Raekwon mixtape or album if this is the type of track you want.

All in all it's OK. But it doesn't redefine Busta's career, it's not a Dre-classic and it's not the greatest album this year. Hopefully Busta will chill out a bit on his next one, experiment a bit more and let his flow be the centre of attention. That's after all what he does best.