I'd better be careful lest I drain my lexicon of superlatives gushing over this one. This is a project the Guru, of Gangstarr, says he'd been mulling for some time: a fusion of hiphop and live jazz. It was time well spent. Rather than rapping over full jazz instrumentals, ala Ice-T over metal, these are hiphop rhythms over which the guest musicians solo with the Guru laying raps over the completed track. The results sound much more like hiphop than jazz, but it's an uncommonly graceful and gorgeous strain of hiphop, to which the Guru's softer, low-key vocals are perfectly suited. This may be the best soft rap music I've ever heard. A masterpiece. (Pat Anders)