Among the underground rap landscape's many charms is its state of constant flux, but over the past few years, as the genre's popularity exploded, it's undergone a major transformation, and these days, it's increasingly difficult to identify or label the style of every new low-budget collective. Fortunately, the Sound Providers (aka Soulo and Jason Skills) lay out their agenda immediately: Their debut is an aural retrospective of the mid-90s, as well as a testament to the survival of the jazz-hop format. Spiritually, it distills the magic of Digable Planets and Black Sheep into a modern, less ambitious format.
Though far from original, An Evening with the Sound Providers is notable for taking a bat to jazz-hop's dead horse while also paying its just dues. Surprisingly, this unusual production style tends to work more frequently than not, but not without its share of problems: Despite impressively consistent drumwork (a noticeable nod to DJ Premier) and functional samples, the instrumentals fail to offer much variety, and lack the necessary change-ups to command a listener's full attention. The duo also tend to lean toward a Ninja Tune-like background ambience, rather than the bolder sonics preferred by their forbears (Pete Rock, Diamond D, Prince Paul).
The few chosen MCs lack personality as well, drawing from the same pool of influences-- usually Guru, A Tribe Called Quest, and Black Thought. Collectively, they seem to play the role of an inverted Slum Village: the jazzy beats remain, but in place of the sex-obsessed, pseudo-commercial dialogue is a series of conscious, anti-commercialist rhyme patterns to balance the scale. Unfortunately, the rappers don't have much interesting to say, content to simply fill time when they appear on tracks. More capable MCs-- J-Live, maybe, or anyone from the Quannum collective-- would have been a much better match for the Sound Providers' production style.
There is, however, one untouchable bright flash, when Asheru of Unspoken Heard rises up to steal the show on "For Old Time's Sake". Barreling around playful flute loops, light xylophone, upright bass, and harsh percussion, Asheru employs his clear monotone and slightly Posdnous-influenced delivery to take to the typical anti-platinum approach typical of this kind of record. Still, his bile for MTV-friendly rappers is pretty amusing: "Emcees these days got it all fucked up/ With their incredible quest to gain mad cream/ Rocking fur with the Louis Vutton, 'nuff jewelry on/ I mean, damn, is you a pimp or drag queen?" Here, Asheru mirrors his producers: Neither are doing anything mind-blowing, but they do it well enough to entertain for at least a short time.
Of course, while the Sound Providers' production style and MCs are frequently uninteresting, the West Coast collective does scrape together some consistently solid beats, passable rhymes, and an inviting retro mentality. As a result, An Evening with the Sound Providers proves to be more than listenable, a slight glimmer in the rough of the year's hip-hop releases.
