Five Deez Rev Koolmotor

ack in 2000, Five Deez dropped an album by the name of Secret Agent Number 005 and introduced themselves to the hip hop community in convincing fashion before disappearing in darkness for over a year. Now the team of Fat Jon, Pase, Kyle David and Sonic have re-emerged, and this time underground heads have grabbed hold and pulled them into the dim-but-flattering spotlight of chat rooms and message boards across the internet. And that's just where these smooth sons of A Tribe Called Quest and Digable Planets want to be.

Oftentimes underground albums are so hell-bent on bringing the anti-bullshit message (whether we want it or not) they neglect one of the genre's most powerful aspects--the vibe. Not so with these cats. They seem to have reached back into the history book of mid '90's jazz/soul heavy grooves and combined them with present day drum-programming for an end product which proves to be both cooled out and driven. Think DJ-Shadow rolling in a Cadillac Deville.

Though attention is pretty evenly divided among the group's three MCs (Sonic works the boards only twice) Five Deez is most certainly producer Fat Jon's group. As lyricists, none of the members bring anything but heat when they grab the mic. This is most clearly noted on standouts "TEN" and "B.E.A.T." The former lets each MC go for broke over a Fat Jon beat that sounds like classically trained aliens trying to make a bounce track. The flawless display of breath control exhibited makes it a true banger. "B.E.A.T." may be one of the most creative compositions to drop in some time. The lyrics of the track, included in the liner notes, are seemingly random words arranged in three columns. Recited three times in three different orders--top to bottom, bottom to top and left to right--the words come alive through varied cadence and voice inflection. Heard and understood it's nothing short of incredible.

But don't get it twisted--as noted earlier, Fat Jon is definitely flying this plane and it's his contribution which really elevates Koolmotor. Many tracks contain long instrumental sections, such as the dope "Sexual For Elizabeth," which builds up for three minutes before Japanese wordsmith Shingo2 drops by to show us how it's done across the Pacific. A full five of the 14 offerings on the album are even straight-up instrumentals, which reach their peak on the final cut, "Afghanistan Dan's Skating Stand." Ten minutes of gorgeous samples, break-neck drums and constantly changing rhythms close the album perfectly. An album like Koolmotor is so packed full of soul-sonic pleasure that you could go on forever discussing the varied beats, solid lyrics and hella chill vibe it brings and still not do it justice. Help prolong Five Deez's time in the sun this time around and give this disc a spin.