Babbletron

This trio from Brooklyn takes the award for the hip-hop crew that you’ve probably never heard of, but will in the next few months. With production nods from the very busy MF Doom and the ever-popular RJD2, you can’t help but take notice to what noise this crew is making within the community. Put the big names aside though because DJ Pre is taking control of this ship as he drops some very nice beats for Jaymanila and Calm Pete to flow over and succeed for the most part in grabbing your attention with some slick and polished rhymes accompanied with even better cuts. A lot of Mechanical Royalty would fit nicely with the Def Jux family as this crew sometimes take a slack approach to their lyrics and barely get the words out of their mouth. There are many highlights on this effort like the funk guitar-fuelled "One Shot” with its multi-dimensional snares, as well as "Broke Down” that incorporates some Asian strings that give a nice Eastern vibe to the mixture. Mechnical Royalty won’t blow your socks off because it’s a pretty standard-sounding release compared to some of the innovative jewels that are being dropped of late in hip-hop, but it will surely make you take notice and keep a close eye on this New York crew when they drop future efforts. RJD2 and MF Doom have already given their seal of approval, so it’s only a matter of time before these cats will climb up the ranks of the hip-hop scene.