Boombox Saints

Boombox Saints. Bringing back the boom. Bullshit. Sure, some boom bap finds its way into the beats ― almost exclusively on the Golden Age throwback title track ― but for the most part, Bringin' Back the Boom is composed of soft drums under smooth hip-hop beats well-suited to the love songs that make up the abundance of this EP. But amongst the straight-up love songs, "Late Night Creep" and "TheBreakUpSong" go beyond the love for a good woman. "Never Enough" expresses their love to hip-hop, à la "I Used to Love H.E.R.," while "Where I'm From" has the trio of Freaky P, Huggy Fresh and Adlib giving their love to their respective hometowns of Hamilton, ON, Winnipeg, MB and Vancouver, BC (the group's base of operations). As befits an album that revolves around themes of love, R&B hooks are plentiful and as the album progresses, these hooks start to become verses and even full songs. The singing is hit and miss, the nasal vocals sometimes falling flat and often failing to express much emotion, although the singing on "Needing You" is eerily mesmerizing. While Boombox Saints deserve props for creating an album with a positive vibe and a strong adherence to a specific theme, Bringin' Back the Boom is unfortunately a one-trick pony that lacks diversity and doesn't always hit the right notes.