The EP has been a regular on my stereo for the last year...my favorite hip-hop album since Midnight Marauders by the Tribe. If you've listened to their EP, you know a little about their style. J5's music is a throwback to eighties hip-hop rhymes and beats, but it has production quality and samples that eighties music never had.

Although this is a california group, this music is hip-hop at its finest, so don't buy this album and expect anything hard-core or gansta'. If you haven't heard J5, the samples of the album up on the site aren't spectacular, but listen to them and the samples off the J5 EP. If you like them, the album is pretty cheap, pick it up and try it out...i'm sure you'll like it. If you have heard the EP and liked it, you'll like this album...there's a little more going on in the music, but the flow of the rappers is right on par with jayou or concrete schoolyard.

Definate Quality
I bought this on a recommendation without actually hearing any of the album, it is one of the best decisions I have ever made when purchasing music. ....J5 takes the spirit and the methods of old school rap and mixes it with current techniques that seemingly creates a whole new evolutionary line in hip hop. The four MCs (Chali 2na, Marc7, Zaakir (aka Soup) and Akil) blend perfectly, trading the mic back and forth and rhyming harmoniously in a style that hasn't been seen since the early days of purely fun hip hop. Songs such as "Improvise", and "Monkey Bars", demonstate the group's amazing throwback talents. Yet on "Contribution" the mood turns much more serious proving that J5 is more than just fun, it can be meaningful. Each song stands on its own and has some feature which helps to unveil yet another element of this group. However, no song stands out more than "Swing Set", showcasing the DJs' (Cut Chemist and DJ Nu Mark) talents by mixing up different swing era samples. It's pure virtuoso turntable work. After an entire album built around the chemistry of the MCs and how perfectly each member fits with each other, it's astonishing for all the verbal back and forth to be absent for five minutes and still be able to pack just as much into the song. Jurassic 5 has definately taken control of their music and allowed nothing but quality to come through. This is a great contribution by J5, but it is hardly enough since listening to the whole album just makes you want to hear more. Amazon was right in naming this the number 1 album of 2000.

Pretty good but not mind boggling.
I brought Power in Numbers first, and was absolutely in love with it, I purchased this one and it was alright.

Te End.

Buy it if you have nuttin better to listen to....

No quality
I heard good reviews about this album so i decided to go to the local record store and pick it up. I bought it used for about 7 dollars and i thought "wow, what a great deal". So i went home and popped it into my cd player expected great music, how wrong i was. J5 lacked vastly on lyrical inginuity and the beats were nothing to be excited about. I decided to give it another chance but it just wasnt me, ive stayed away from J5 ever since.

this is my favorite hip hop cd
Jurassic 5 is awesome. If you haven't heard j5 before, you're really missing out. Although all of their songs are great and you really can't go wrong with the purchase of any one of their cd's, this one is my personal favorite. This cd is a must own for any underground hip hop / rap fan. You might alsowant to check it out if you like the elements of old school rap.
The thrill of invention never stops on this first full-length album from Jurassic 5. Coming out of L.A.'s kinetic hip-hop underground, the multitalented combo whips up an irresistible flow of charisma and keeps the fun at a high-voltage level. J5 can pivot on a dime from one style to the next--street-corner barbershop, turntable friction, or kick-ass swing. But the constant focus is on the essentials of the art: Quality Control fuses fantastic wordplay and MC skills with a killer grab bag of beats. It's the achievement of J5 to look back in a way so fresh it shines a light ahead. --Thomas May
L.A.-based Jurassic 5 have unearthed the lost art of flow. With a style reminiscent of the Native Tongues, J5 delivers one of the most consistent rap albums in recent memory. Cuts like "The Influence" and "Great Expectations" exhibit a wonderfully organic quality that could help us all to forget the tired rap formulas of money, hoes, and gats. Comprised of four MC's and two DJs (DJ Nu-Mark and the legendary Cut Chemist), J5 is near Ellingtonian in size for a hip-hip troupe. The interplay between the members reeks of old school, the place where rap sounds honest and evolves as an art form. As well it should, because J5 aren't new to hip-hop; after all, they've been "rockin' since the '84 Fresh Fest." --Marc Calhoun