The sophomore slump hit Urban Dance Squad rather hard, or maybe it just seemed that way based on the consistently high quality of their debut. Life 'n Perspective of a Genuine Crossover sounds aimless where its predecessor came off as shrewdly eclectic. It's not that there aren't great moments: "Careless" is nice mid-tempo hip-hop with a blues base, and the strangely named "(Thru) the Gates of the Big Fruit" showcases some great turntable work from DJ DNA as well as country-ish slide   [ read more ]

CD $15.18

The Urban Dance Squad's penultimate album was also its most heavily metal-influenced. "Demagogue," the album's opener and centerpiece, is an utterly bracing concoction of raw-throated rap and spare, bright metal guitar, all underlaid with minimalist funk drums. That formula remains basically unaltered throughout the rest of the album -- "Good Grief," "(Some) Chitchat" and "Selfstyled" all step to the same stripped-down hip-hop beat. It starts sounding pretty samey by the end, of course, but t   [ read more ]

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For those who think of rap-metal fusion as something invented by bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit, Urban Dance Squad is back to remind you that they've been doing it for ten years now -- and from a home base in Holland. Led by a cheerful shouter named Rudeboy, this band has been shaking people's fillings loose with roaring guitar and funky drumming since Fred Durst was in junior high. Now, after an extended hiatus that saw the band's previous albums remastered and reissued as well as {$Rudeboy   [ read more ]

CD $16.13

The most recent Urban Dance Squad album is reissued here in a deluxe two-fer that also includes a live recording from New York in 1997. Kudos to Triple X for the fine packaging and for having the good taste to give these Dutch metal/hip-hop-heads another shot at the U.S. market that ignored them, so inexplicably, during their seven-year career. It's not that Americans don't like the idea of rock/hip-hop fusion -- witness the popularity of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But for some reason, the {$Urban    [ read more ]

CD $15.18