Jurassic 5 Jurassic 5 Lyrics

When people talk about the resurgent hip-hop underground of the late 1990s, they're usually talking about the West Coast, Northern Cali uprising--and when they talk about that movement, chances are good that, somewhere between Company Flow and the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, there will be some mention of Jurassic 5. Their self-titled EP features the group's deep lyrical skills flip-flopped with DJ Cut Chemist's supreme turntable compositions. ("Lesson 6: The Lecture" is a classic DJ cut, building a hip-hop collage of samples out of scraps from an old instructional music record.) The format is typical for '90s hip-hop--an oversize crew of rappers passing the ball back and forth--but the vibe from the six-man pack of Jurassic 5 is still something of a throwback to a Last Poets or Pharoahs block party. Piano and flute loops weave through tracks like "Jayou" and "Concrete Schoolyard" and bring you to a place of higher consciousness, but the place where the MC skills truly meet the DJ skills is the anomalous cut-up funk of "Action Satisfaction," in which J5 teach the true meaning of sharing. --Todd Levin