Bravehearts - Bravehearted 2

2008 release from the Hip Hop act, a return to their gritty Queensbridge roots. The overall sound is startlingly amped-up at points becoming borderline dusted coming off like the bastard audio child of Madlib and Lil' Jon. Add beats that alternately make the Bomb Squad sound tame and recall the brilliant pop smash of Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life", with elements of the soulful minimal backing of 2000-era D'Angelo or Erykah Badu, and it's crazy. The independent nature of this release has resulted in a pure, unadulterated "artist's vision" album with Nashawn and Jungle's street lyric lending a rough edge to a well-rounded album, equal parts tough R&B and Queensbridge swagger. Megabucks.