Starving Artists Crew

Ah, beautiful Detroit, Michigan, home of the Henry Ford, Marshall Mathers, Frank n Dank, and SAC, the little crew that could. Building on a meagre legacy of basement tapes, a handful of singles, and inclusion on a mediocre Hip Hop Infinity compilation in 2001, the SAC’s fresh debut full-length seems to have popped out of nowhere. Released last year in Japan, North America is finally getting a full, flavourful mouthful of what SP, Brainstorm, IQ and DJ Phizyx are capable of cooking up, and the results sure are tasty. The disc kicks in with heat, and jumps right into horn-heavy "Ill Na Na,” a smooth throwback to mid-’90s Pharcyde. "SAC Swagger” takes us further back still, with the MC trio switching off in a quick fire circa-’80s party jam. "Kick Clap” keeps the solid jazz-funk fusion flowing, and "B-Boy Buffet” is delightful, even if only for the references to Fu-Schnickens French silk pie and Suge Knight sugar cones. Clever. If they keep pumping out jams like this, they’re going to have to drop the "starving” from their name.