Petestrumentals

There are two ways to approach this album. If you take it at its most literal--a collection of beats--there's a good chance that you'll find it damn snoozy. You never quite realize how monotonous and downright boring hip-hop tracks can be until you remove the lyrics and are subjected to four minutes of the same bars looping over and over. Pete Rock is a great producer, no question, but he doesn't do much to vary the pace, concocting an album's worth of mid-tempo grooves that go nowhere fast. Which, of course, is the pleasure of listening to it. This is music to stick in the background as you go about your daily routine--cruising in the car, chilling at home, weeding your garden, whatever. There's few better than Pete Rock to compose these simple sonic scores of relaxed, warm tracks that blend funk and a touch of jazz to perfection. There's hardly a flat beat anywhere to be found, and repetitive as they get, the endless, comfortable aural pleasure they give makes up the difference