Living Legends

To kick off 2008, the eight-man Living Legends collective holed up at Encore Studios, birthplace to Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, 2001 and Eminem’s Marshall Mathers LP, to record The Gathering. The seven-song EP features all eight MCs — Murs, the Grouch, Luckyiam, Eligh, Scarub, Sunspot Jonz, Aesop and Bicasso — on every track and is produced entirely by the Grouch, Eligh and Bicasso. Over the course of 35 minutes, the LL crew cover topics including loose ladies ("She Wants Me”), liars ("Pants on Fire”) and a call for peace ("War and Peace”). The album culminates with the sprawling "After Hours (Extended Euro Mix),” a jazzy, nearly eight-and-a-half-minute number punctuated with horns that perfectly reflects the grown-up sexiness of nightfall. While some will invariably be disappointed by the short playtime, the seven tracks of The Gathering are strung together with a fairly stable energy to create a solid offering devoid of filler.