DJ Revolution

With a solid roster (Strong Arm Steady, Joel Ortiz, Bumpy Knuckles and Bishop Lamont, to name a few), DJ Revolution puts his beats and cuts on the table for this DJ/rapper collaborative effort. While some of the production is squashed by the MCs, or just fails to resonate, his cuts are some of the sharpest around, and all the evidence is available on "King of the Decks” with Sean Price and Tash. You get the sense that the music is actually inspired by the scratches. "The Big Top” takes a Royce da 5’9” sample ("Rap now is a circus of clowns”) and a carnival-style organ tune to make boom bap courtesy of Special Teams. DJ Revolution even goes head-to-head with DJ Spinbad on "The Rematch.” KRS-One makes an appearance on "The DJ,” weighing in on modern digital DJs; it’s the most hype KRS-One has sounded in years. Of course, with any album 24 tracks deep, there’s going to be lots of excess fat, but there’s also "Willie Lynch” with Styliztik Jones and Kbimean, a must-have song smarter than your average compilation offering.