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Artist: Soul SupremeTitle: Soul Supreme Presents The Saturday Nite AgendaRating: 4 StarsReviewed by: N. Context

What is this? No “bling bling”; no gratuitous materialism; no gun play; no grandiose, drug dealing tales? What about the “bounce”? Not here. Soul Supreme Presents: The Saturday Nite Agenda is a black sheep in this era of rap music. Soul Supreme, a Swedish (yes, hip-hop is worldwide) producer with Inebriated Rhythms, lives up to the “producer-driven” label’s desire to highlight original production with his debut offering. He provides an array of Old School vets and New School talent with smooth, bass laden tracks that you will be hard pressed to find in modern day rap music. The question is will Soul Supreme’s sound be able to generate the same appeal as his commercialized counterparts.

“Future Flavas” is the jump off for this album with an up-tempo drum track and edgy keys, which coincide with the unorthodox rhyme cadence used by AG, Party Arty and Dezmontero. It is good to hear Big Daddy Kane still spittin’ fire on “Come Get It” featuring Checkmark with lines like “you’re mind got bewildered/ and now you’re looking for definition like body builders/ my only question is what’s fuckin with this/ like Bernard Hopkins, the one they duckin to miss.”. It comes in with sharp synths, precise cuts and vocal sample “you want some? (echo) Come and get some (echo).” Most enjoyable is the way this album appears ro seamlessly advance from track to track with blaxploitation movie samples to keep the…feel.

One of the standout tracks is “Queen” whose mellow drum track accompanied by soothing keys and a ballad like vocal sample relax your mind and pulls you in until you get lost in the track. The melody is hypnotic as Pete Rock, AG and T-Max flow on this beat each with a story to tell. Another notable cut is “Worst Nightmare” with OC featuring KAI. These two collaborate to ride this track with voracity. With a steady drum track and sampled electronic guitar strums emitting a 1970’s vibe, OC and KAI lyrics remind you its 2003.

Soul Supreme Presents The Saturday Nite Agendais a well-crafted album from beginning to end. It displays a cohesiveness between the beats and rhymes normally only found in long time producer/emcee groups; i.e. – Gangstarr, RZA and Wu-Tang, Pete Rock & CL Smooth. This album will be coveted by traditional Hip-Hop enthusiasts and underground heads alike. Although without that “bounce” Timbaland and The Neptunes have made so popular, it is unfortunate it is unlikely to gain mainstream acclaim. But at least another good album is out there to listen to on any day of the week.