Guru, the legendary lord of jazz rap, the man who, along with DJ Premier in their guise of Gangstarr, led hip hop back to its roots to start afresh at the end of the Eighties, is back with the third instalment of his Jazzmatazz project.
'Streetsoul' follows a lengthy gap of some five years or so since the somewhat lacklustre Jazzmatazz volume two. And there are welcome changes.
Unlike the first two volumes, which dug into black musical history and dragged stars such as Donald Byrd back into the limelight, Guru's latest venture takes note of the current wealth of soul artists working R&B and matches with his earthy raps and appreciation of beats.
On Streetsoul Guru pulls together a heavyweight roster of Angie Stone, Donell Jones (on the excellent 'Hustlin' Daze'), Macy Gray (on All I Said), Bilal, Erykah Badu, The Roots, Amel Larrieux and Kelis.
With a line up like that it would be easy to dismiss the album as a marketing ploy as Guru reaps the reward of his reputation to gather a collection of high selling stars around him and waits for the Benjamin's to roll in.
But characteristically Guru is picking up today's vibe to expand things. Hence he invites European acts, such as Les Nubians and Craig David (at the time of recording barely known here let alone in the USA), to contribute and adds Isaac Hayes and Herbie Hancock to the mixture.
The album delves into hip hop, P-Funk (on 'Certified'), funk and, of course, cool dope-jazz.
Last time Guru launched his Jazzmatazz project, at the beginning of the last decade, he kicked musical movement into being that impacted on dance beats across all genres. If this album engenders half that mood we'll all be in for a very sweet winter.
