While most rappers boast about their cars, jewels, and untouchable status, most will accomplish less in their entire careers than Dres and Mista Lawnge did with Black Sheep’s eternal single “The Choice is Yours.”  At some point, every one of us has gotten down to the oft-sampled chorus, “You can get with this, or you can get with that.”  And now, more than 18 years after their critically acclaimed debut, Black Sheep is back again with From The Black Pool of Genius, a collection of jams that will likely be the most successful of their post-‘90s releases.  This time around, Dres is the solo act behind the Black Sheep moniker, but he’s enlisted an impressive lineup of lyrical support throughout the album, including a Native Tongues reunion on “Birds of a Feather,” featuring Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, Dave of De La Soul, and Mike Gee of Jungle Brothers.   This accomplishment alone warrants a spin or two.

But now more so than the early ‘90s, the hip-hop genre reaches dynamic extremes.  There are the über-produced radio-friendly ringtone-of-the-week hits that rely less on actual content and more on sing-along melodies and bank account pissing contests.  And at the other end of the spectrum there’s the school of hip-hop from which Black Sheep and his fellow Native Tongue brethren graduated: the school that promotes substantial subject matter, self-reflection, and most contrastingly of all, positive messages.  Dres plays to these strengths on From The Black Pool of Genius.

But despite the handful of strong tracks, this isn’t the next A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. While singles like “Forever Luvlee,” “Party Tonight,” and “Birds of a Feather” will certainly serve their purpose at backyard barbeques and lazy joyrides, a handful of cuts on this record are evidence that Dres — while still technically proficient,– is beginning to get stale with age.  I don’t want to hear about your “knob” anymore, man. And listening to Dres tell us how controversial he is on “Born to Che” is practically laughable given the last decade of shock-rap from the likes of Eminem.  In these ways, several potential high points suffer on the album.  But with it’s five or six solid tracks, Black Sheep lives up to it’s expectation for smooth and smart rhymes laced poetically amongst jazzy beats…all with the intention of making your day just a little bit better.   Dres says it best on “Elevation”:  “Don’t underestimate the power of a positive thought.”

(Bumrush Entertainment, 7060 Hollywood Blvd # 1210, Los Angeles, CA 90028)

Verbicide Free Download: Click here to download “Forever LuvLee” by Black Sheep