Consumer Guide Album

Haiku D'Etat [Pure Hip Hop, Inc., 2000]
Hooray for who-he? drummer Adrian Burley, mastermind of a Freestyle Fellowship-Project Blowed spinoff that slips horn and keyb cameos into a flow that's steady yet supple, catchy yet varied, live yet studio--a musicality that naturally extends to the rhymeslingers, who offset each other as well as the beats. Aceyalone's smart-ass singsong is more fun lip-by-jowl with Abstract Rude's rough edges; Mikah 9's alcoholic free-association sets up the star's righteous "Man I want money I need food/I want clothes I need housing/I want cars I need good health/I want knowledge of self I got knowledge of self." And it goes on. Worth reading along to, too. A-