Better Than the Super-Friends? Not So Much

Various Artists
"The Hall of Justus: Soldiers of Fortune"
(HOJ/ABB)

I believe that based on the fanbase of Little Brother, the Hall of Justus crew (LB, Joe Scudda, Chaundon and assorted other grass handlers with awful names) fancy themselves to be the new Boot Camp Clik. Thing is, the BCC had major label money (Priority R.I.P.) and air time on MTV, BET, and the Box. Little Brother is no longer with Atlantic and I'm more than certain that MTV still isn't playing music videos. So how does their crew compilation stack up?

The real strength of this release lies in the production. 9th Wonder only pops up on a few songs and they're not even that great. Khrysis's Rawkus-for-the-new-year steez is pretty satisfying for the backpacker, or the backpacking thug. Jams like "Grind Season" and "I Want to Know" are the bangers on this. Buckwild shows up to lace Big Pooh and Phonte with a grimy D.I.T.C. joint and it's probably the best Little Brother song I've ever heard.

As expected, the rhyme aren't all that. In fact, I would venture to call them generic. In a nutshell, this is the kind of crap you'd expect from Phonte and crew: thug rhymes wrapped around some decent beats. As far as crews go, The Hall of Justus is pretty meh, but these days, heads will probably take what they can get.