Jurassic 5 Releases Deluxe CD set
Compilation Includes Too Few of the Group's Stronger Tracks
Jul 7, 2009
Perhaps they were born too late. Hip-hop group Jurassic 5 -- comprised of Chali 2na, Akil, Zaakir, Mark 7even, DJ Nu-Mark, and Cut Chemist -- broke up in 2007 after a moderately successful run of four albums (J5, Quality Control, Power in Numbers, and Feedback, from oldest to newest).
Their radio-friendly content and rhyming style -- with no true lead vocalist -- was reminiscent of old-school groups such as De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers, and Black Star.
J5: Alternative Hip Hop
However, J5 failed to gain the fan base of their predecessors because of the changes in commercial hip-hop over the past decade. All too quickly, they became an old school hip-hop group in a new school, bling-based, Auto-Tune world. They were branded with the "alternative" label, even going as far as performing on the Lollapalooza concert tour.
New Jurassic 5 Album Release
Decon, the group's former record label, decided to re-release the group's debut album in a 2-CD, 1-DVD set. In addition to the debut CD, the set includes a disc of rarities and previously unreleased tracks. The DVD includes footage from three J5 concerts.
The set has its strengths. The debut CD includes tracks that show a burgeoning group of lyricists ("In the Flesh," "Jayou," "Concrete Schoolyard," and "Action Satisfaction") and some DJ work that drew from an eclectic mix of genres and generations that far exceeded the trend of the day, in which DJs simply (and simplistically) interpolated eighties pop tracks. (What hath Puff Daddy wrought?)
However, the strengths of the set end with the re-issue of the group's debut album. The purpose of the second disc is unclear. As a career retrospective, the compilation is woefully lacking. Rather than documenting the group's best work or its greatest hits, much of the second disc seems more like a musical rummage sale, in which Decon seeks to clear its inventory of unreleased material.
Such purges sometimes yield hidden gems; in this case, however, the second disc is disjointed, substandard, and desperate. (Does anyone crave a Jurassic 5 radio promo? How about three of them?) Not even the concert material on the accompanying DVD can countermand the disappointment of the second disc.
Simply put, J5 was a group with much more to say (and in more clever ways) than is revealed in this compilation. Curious music fans would be much better served by finding the group's other albums -- especially Power in Numbers and Quality Control, stronger testaments to the group's talents.
