There's one thing Rakim killed off back in 87 that was regrettable, and that was that sense of vocal theater that defined early hip hop. He made it into a cooled out studio session, forever dooming rap to being a live joke. Guys like Doug E Fresh resisted but couldn't stop the tide. Emceeing got it's start not as rhyming but as being exciting whip-the-crowd-into-a-frenzy vocals placed over the break beats, rhyming evolved from that. What makes FF so great is that they maintain that style while not only rhyming well but spitting some of the best rhymes around (Aceyalone is in here remember). It's an amazing feat on a studio album in 93, but these guys manage to sound like they're performing at the club they rose to fame in while on wax. This really isn't headphone music. It's meant to be blasted on a loudspeaker, but even then it requires close attention to really take in the right way. Mainly because damn do these cats go fast, your ears may not keep up with the vocals here if you don't watch out. The standouts in the group are Aceyalone (of course) but also the underrated Mikah 9, who is probably the speediest of the bunch but also mixes his rapping with an almost scat like singing (not unlike the BoneThugs), which works best over the more jazz influenced numbers. I've always kind of thought of scat as a sort of precursor to rapping, and I wish more emcees would give it a go, as Mikah proves it can be dope. Overall this album restricts itself to nothing in terms of musical tones and topics, which makes it really refreshing. But it never drops the live sound, none of the production sounds super-studio, keeping even in the more beat-like songs an organic groove sound, and even in their most detailed rhymes the emcees sound like they're freestyling. An amazing achievement, one of west coast alt rap's best. After it though, due to Self Jupiter getting a prison sentence they splintered and never really got it together again, thankfully Aceyalone embarked on a great solo career.

"Soul Flower (Remix)" is the jam

yeah i was about to say, that song ruled. Got that good times vibes

i might have to re-consider my fav rap albums of all time list now. It's on heavy rotation in my car

Bman, see my post at the top! That song is dope.

:siren: awwwwww shiiiit