Brooklyn Funk Essentials - Make Them Like It

Some bands are exactly what they say they are. The Brooklyn Funk Essentials are an 11-piece outfit who hail from Brooklyn, have the funk, and, given half a chance, will definitely make you like their music. The opening track has what it takes: dynamic, bustling drum & bass, slick horns, and an uptempo, feel-good vibe. There's a celebratory mix-up of slinky Cuban and gruff Jamaican rhythms called "Mambo Con Dancehall," but the vocal tracks are where the album really kicks off. A couple of members of the Brooklyn Funk Essentials are dub and slam poets, and "Date with My Baby" and "I Got Cash" feature what are quite possibly the best lyrics of 2000. Not only are they very pointed, wickedly funny, and deadly accurate, but they're delivered over slick, boiling-point funk with more cool, suss and style than should be scientifically possible.