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Brooklyn Academy | Bored Of Education

Gold Dust Media (2008)
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  October 8, 2008
3.0 3.0 Stars
brooklynacademyinside.jpg
The stakes are treacherous when a group wait 13 years to drop a debut album. Never mind that Block McCloud, Mr. Metaphor, and Pumpkinhead have snatched more collective battle belts and cut more incendiary singles than any other Lyricist Lounge–era crew; after sliding on and off the downtown scene for a decade without leaving fans a full-length to savor, Brooklyn Academy needed more than their trademark lingual feats and basic boom-bap foundations to stage a substantial comeback. But with help from long-time ally Jean Grae on four tracks, the trio deliver a thoughtfully scripted, show-don’t-tell quasi-theme album loosely focused on the topic they know best: Brooklyn. This isn’t all previously unreleased material; “Nothing You Can Do” — which receives a cocaine-circus remix treatment — first appeared on DJ Spinbad’s 2001 mixtape Underground Airplay, at a time when the gang were calling themselves the Skeme Team. But fresh moments such as “Black Out” with Grae show that Brooklyn Ac can reign relevant in any era. Need further proof? Sample the filthy organ loop and acrobatic tongue play on the Marco Polo–produced “The Growler.”
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  Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment , Music , Marco Polo
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