Streetlight Records

Reviews:

Jurassic 5 sometimes gets dismissed as hip-hop for college kids and Urban Outfittersstore stereos. And there's some truth in that: J5 makes extremely accessible,enticing (and at worst, somewhat safe) hip-hop for people who might otherwiseneed an invitation. Ah, but J5 never gets enough credit for making intelligenthip-hop. In a genre where originality constantly takes a back seat to execution,the group boasts a great hook and an original vision that plays off of fuzzynostalgia. The Jurassic 5 sound is an ironically modern one, a perfectly executedblend of Cold Crush Brothers and Whodini-style overlapping rhyme schemes, primalrump-shaking rhythms and everything else that's great about old schoolrap.

As with 2000's undeniably catchy Quality Control, this latest full-lengthfinds the group keeping one collective foot in West Coast undie-hop while anglingfor the mainstream with the other. It's tough to straddle both worlds (justask the Roots), but J5 achieves a fine balance on Power in Numbers. Andwhile nothing here reaches the peaks of their self-titled 1997 mini-LP, cutslike "Break" and "What's Golden" prove that MCs Akil,Zaakir, Chali 2Na and Mark 7even know how to rock a crowd with the best of 'em.Guest spots have been kept to a minimum to avoid clutter, though Big Daddy Kanereturns from the great beyond on "A Day at the Races" and ubiquitouswaif Nelly Furtado accompanies the record's best track "Thin Line."World-class DJs Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark don't get nearly enough time inthe spotlight-though when they do (as on the instrumental closer "AcetateProphets"), it's a complete head-trip. Once again, J5 have saved thebest for last and left us hungry for more.