Gumshoe Strut

Bursting out of the Backpack with a deck of cards and a microphone in hand, Your Brothers’ the Gumshoe Strut hopes you might enjoy a game of 52 Pick Up. Play is slow to start with the first couple of hands, but when "What’s Next???” kicks in by track three, the intensity picks up immensely. Each of the five producers (PenPointz, Bonafide, Murder, Jenero and the Strut himself) lays down at least one banging track out of the two or three that each contributes, but it’s PenPointz’s "What’s Next???” and Jenero’s "Just My Luck” that really trumps the rest of the pack with darker, more aggressive production. "Clock Goes Tic” also makes an impact with Saratonin’s guest vocals on the hook adding juice to the minimal beat. Over it all, the Strut shuffles from introspection to braggadocio with a style that would fit nicely within the ranks of Peanuts & Corn, with which he is closely associated as evidenced by the appearance of P&C performers John Smith, Pipi Skid and Gruf the Druid. Too bad usual rhyme partner Yy is oddly absent. Regardless, unlike the card game, 52 Pick Up is an enjoyable, stress-free way to spend half an hour.