- Californian MC Lateef The Truthspeakers' first proper solo studio release has been a long time coming. The Oakland native first appeared on the scene in the glorious year of 96, dropping his first single, underground banger The Quickening, reasonably quickly followed by an expanded EP and then self-titled release as one half of duo Latyrx. The first of many collaborations he hooked up with Quannum label mate, friend and all-round-good guy, Lyrics Born - another Cali native and a partner who would continue to hook up with Lateef on his own solo records in the future. Time passed and Lateef kept busy, dropping guest verses, releasing a string of differing collabs (including individual projects with both members of Blackalicious) and ended the run with a strangely compelling, Japan-only release of odds-n-ends that appeared sometime in 2007 with DJ Z-Trip helming the wheels of steel for it. Saying he's been a bit off-the-map of recent is probably an understatement, with Lateef briefly appearing on the last Lyrics Born record and then kind of fading into the Cali sunshine. I guess he's been riding the wave of positive vibes and keeping life pretty chill, delving into and expanding his musical palette just building up ammo for something exciting in the future. After listening to this record, I'd say that's just about on the money. It's a genre-bending journey that sees the MC continue to experiment with his sound, aiming far outside of the regular (self-imposed) boundaries of hip-hop. The record starts off in a (relatively) throwback style, with Blackalicious beat-maker Chief Xcel supplying two of the the first five beats: a tried and tested partnership that still clicks. These beats sandwich themselves around little nugget, Oakland, a track that sounds like both an ode to his hometown and a subversive warning to everyone else, a feeling enforced by an appearance from legendary MC Del The Funky Homosapien. The sequencing on Firewire bears a strange resemblance to Lateefs' own career arc, transforming from conscious MC, to party-rocker, to thoughtful crooner, coming together with veteran producers Dan The Automator & DJ Shadow who provide two of the most "rocky" and organic sounding tracks. Lateef, by that point, nearly drops rapping altogether, turning on his - relatively inoffensive - singing voice instead. Somewhere, about half way through Firewire, the track Heckuvit shows up, which is probably the only track which Lateef truly embraces his inner beast, confidently and enthusiastically tearing through the track. As much as I enjoyed Firewire, it could've used a couple more moments like this. It's still a pretty banging' ride though - a worthy and ridiculously long-time coming debut.

- Jay Edwards.