With the hyphy (or hyphie) craze invading the music industry and permeating the ears of the Hip-Hop lovers the last few years, it was only a question of when – not if. With Bravez Team Hyphy, the sub-genre’s first foray into the boy band idiom has officially started. Unfortunately, it’s not All Systems Go (Stand Up/Green Light), as the Bay Area group’s album would purport it to be. For the most part, at least. Beyond the multiracial ‘we-hyphie’ facade of the group, there’s some method to the madness. All Systems Go radiates with energy that will have one ‘go dumb’ within the quickness. But, the title track sounds like any ol’ hyphie beat and the lyrics are light on anything, much less substance. The rappers have no clue that punchlines and witticisms are necessary. “Bay Finna Jump” creeps along nicely, with lyrics that are more lucid and substantive. Punchlines like, “Get my real estate up like monopoly” are still questionable, but at least the effort is there. The best song on the album is “Only One Chance,” which is laced with melody and harmonic keys. Again, the lyrics are too generic and some of the rappers simply show that they need to spend more time in the lab making their flow “go” better because too much energy isn’t going cover other inefficiencies. Overall, All Systems Go reaks of formula, and even when individual tracks are leveraged against it, it still doesn’t add up. If the label released an EP for BTH, they could easily have been the B2K of Hyphy and proceeded to have great solo careers. Which they still may.
