:: Word Lab 2 – The Next Chapter

Various Artists

Here is a thirteen-track compilation album, featuring Hip Hop and R&B artists with varying styles and techniques. The album uses its first few tracks to ease the listener into it before really taking off, getting better with each song progressing. An African/urban feel is a reoccurring element across the album, however the style does differ from track to track with the inclusion of percussion and strong beats creating a nice diversity. Quirky intros and interludes add a unique and uplifting feel to this compilation. Taskforce’s “It’s Us We’re Back” is somewhat of a standout compared to other tracks, where an English accent is rapped over an old style jazz beat, straying a little from the CD’s general norm, but producing a strong and individual song all round. Female rapper Estelle contributes a nice urban rap to this album; a nice diversion from the other male vocals. The “All Stylz Anthem” is different too, with its tidy sounded scratching. The overall diversity of each track contributes to a great all round album.