A perfect example of post-millennial hip-hop for purists who prefer their albums in a decidedly erudite, East Coast/Native Tongues mold, but without having to experience the guilty feelings that afflict those snagged in a musical time loop. This D.C. duo has the same sort of complex singing deliveries, engage in the same sort of sinewy rhyme tradeoffs, and are just as cerebral, optimistic, and liltingly uplifting as
A Tribe Called Quest and
De la Soul. (Or to strike a nearer chronological note, simpatico peers like
Black Star and
Jurassic 5.) The only quality
Soon Come cannot communicate to quite the same degree is the wonderment that accompanies ingenuity and stylistic freshness. By 2001 this sort of buoyant, loose hip-hop had become a part of the genre's history; nevertheless, the duo proved here that they were no mere relic and that they still had plenty of corners in which to root around. The album taps a bubbling reserve of energy and vitality, and Asheru and Blue Black stir in just enough of the new with a whole lot of old-school style to make an irresistible blend. Snatches of very cool jazz saunter into the backgrounds of great cuts like "Dear You," "Elevator Music," "Live at Home," "Jamboree," and "This Is Me," the latter of which lays a particularly brilliant electric guitar tag down as backdrop to some equally fetching linguistics, and the rest of the album maintains an extremely relaxed, laid-back vibe, like a small gathering of friends trading rhymes over a couple bottles of wine and a few
Lee Morgan,
Wes Montgomery, and
Thelonious Monk albums. Of such a quality that it should have been for 2001 what
Quality Control was to the previous year,
Soon Come unfortunately didn't have a similar, deserved commercial impact. It does have all the attributes, however, that keep heads across the hip-hop spectrum nodding, and it raised the level of anticipation for future joints from the Unspoken Heard crew. ~ Stanton Swihart