Jazz dilettantes need not apply

My favorite jazz-rap album, Tribe Called Quest's The Low-End Theory, gets down to business from the opening bars of "Excursions." Q-Tip and Phife were so leery of ostentation that you barely notice the shout-out to bass great Ron Carter in "Verses from the Abstract." Digable Planets' Reachin' deserves similar praise – and the beats are much harder.

De La Soul's Buhloone Mindstate, 1993's other jazz-rap touchstone, is a curious listen. Instead of bolstering the insouciance that's always been their greatest asset, the jazz touches reenforce the impression that a crew of excited dilettantes have commandeered the studio; the album is in its first third so generous about sharing its space with the likes of Maceo Parker that De La's identity is diluted. It does recover, and whatever else, it's their best post-De La Soul is Dead album -- a selfless epitaph to the first part of the career of one of the most consistent acts in pop music.

Anyway, here's my review.