World Premiere

One of many talented young Bay Area rap groups who have been associated with the burgeoning hyphy movement, The Team favor a darker style than many of their peers. Though their subject matter is relatively lighthearted, centering around party rocking, drinking and club going, the raspy drawl of Clyde Carson, the staccato bark of MC Main Mannish, and the leering growl of Kaz Kyzah mesh perfectly with the sort of crawling gloom laden beats that manage to evoke dread regardless of a track's subject matter. The slow rolling grind of “On One” epitomizes the groups style with its minimal beat and half whispered vocals that can function as late night mood music or, at higher volumes, as a hard knocking dancefloor filler. Indeed, Bay Area producers seem to have mastered a streamlined, 808 centric style of beat-making that makes all sounds superfluous in the face of the drum machines' fixture shaking boom. With this rock solid template in place The Team have been freed to experiment both as producers and MC’s, throwing everything from atonal organ stabs, police sirens, and ringtones into their sparse yet innovative productions. Though World Premiere suffers from the inclusion of a few weak tracks, such as the lazily conceived “Good Girl”, these lapses are redeemed by presence of classics like the old-school Oakland funk of “Summertime in the Town” and the frenzied roar of “Hyphy Juice.”