Various

Hip-hop has always been about the collective. The Family Files follows this routine with the likes of Wale Oyejide, MF Doom and a bunch of other underground cats to dropping in to contribute a beat or verse. Most songs don't stretch much past two and a half minutes and it all blends into a mix of organic hip-hop, edging into R&B/soul territory on songs like "Ooh Aah" or "Do You." Emanon contributes a nice verse on the underwater bubble type beat of "Get Down," and samples kid's voices for the playful spirit of "And Ya Don't Stop." This album sounds like rap's version of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, but the anti-war, Bush-bashing rhetoric is nothing we haven't heard before. That said, some of these songs can whittle their way into your head.