Beatnuts

Psycho Les and Juju have long been known for their production skills and hedonistic lyrics. Despite the fact that “Watch Out Now” was the summer’s hottest single, the duo isn’t about to cash in their chips and their main drawing card is still their beats. In other words, not much has changed. The swirling “Beatnuts Forever” and appropriately dreamy “Puffin’ On A Cloud” as well as the playful “You’re A Clown” (featuring the inimitable Biz Markie) are tracks that hit immediately. But the group still comes up short in the lyrics department — they are nowhere near as interesting as their beats. Revenge fantasies and mic bravado only go so far from two average MCs, so the group recruits Common and Dead Prez among others to add to the mix. While these moves help, the album is not quite consistent enough and falls short of the duo’s potential.