Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: GITD003CD
© 2004 Glow-In-The-Dark
Los Angeles via Washington D.C. trio Time Machine's debut album opens with "Time's Fly," a dreamy bit of down-tempo hip-hop based on clavinet and vibraphone samples that recall the acid jazz moment and a goofy but positive lyrical message that smacks hard of De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising. Elsewhere, bits of A Tribe Called Quest ("Reststop Sweetheart"), Arrested Development ("A Cold Day in Hell"), Digital Underground ("Let's Not Be Real," which also starts and ends with a great West Coast piano jazz sample that sounds like Vince Guaraldi's work on the Peanuts specials), and the rest of the pre-gangsta golden age get their due. Even commercial happy-rap folks like DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince or Kid 'N Play come to mind on overtly silly tracks like "Spelling Bee." Slow Your Roll adds little that's new to the hip-hop lexicon, but its evocation of the past is done with such obvious affection and knowledge of the style that it's close to impossible not to find it endearing.
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tags: time machine, slow your roll, 2004, flac,