Freestyle Fellowship

The L.A.-based Freestyle Fellowship is made up of MCs Aceyalone, Mikah Nine, Self-Jupiter, and P.E.A.C.E., a crew of uncompromising hip-hop purists. On its very-limited-edition debut, To Whom It May Concern, the group's evangelical rhyming approach is breathtaking (especially for those who got to see the MCs perform at the time). After the release of its second album, the group hadn't quite found a balance between its native environment, the stage, and the studio setting. Whereas To Whom was raw, Inner City Griots was much more of a traditional hip-hop album (save for the verbal ballistics, the albums could have been made by two different groups). Whatever their faults, these releases delivered on a lot of promise, so the faithful waited -- and waited -- with bated breath for the next one. Finally, after eight years of various solo albums and mix-tape appearances, 2001 brought Temptations, on which the group embraced the ideology of "No Hooks, No Chorus" (also the name of one of the album's tracks). Because the MCs highlight their mic skills here rather than craft compelling beats, they undermine the fellowship's legacy, at least on wax. Ironically, they released an instrumental version of Temptations, which is like Billy Bob Thornton listing his country-rock CDs but omitting his movies from his resume. The chronology of the fellowship's career and catalogue is kind of confusing. For instance, Shockadoom was recorded in 1998, so technically it's the followup to Inner City Griots, but the disc wasn't released until 2002. And 2001's Version 2.0 is essentially a reissue of the debut album, of which fewer than 1,000 copies were originally pressed. In 1991, the Freestyle Fellowship was on top of its game, but after 10 years, it became clear that the MCs left out the fun in their hip-hop fundamentalism. (KEMBREW MCLEOD)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide