Slump, especially when practiced by Tha Slumplordz, refers to a style of hip-hop music marked by heavy baselines and fronted by medium paced emceeing. It's music that goes well with dimly lit areas, like the backseat of a black car rolling through alleys at three o'clock in the morning. It's music you can listen to with people, but only if their faces are hidden by darkness, like the characters on the front of "Tha Yakuza In Don't Worry About The Kaliber", the new, extraordinary offering from Tha Slumplordz.

Tha Slumplordz are a collective of emcees and producers coming out of the Oakland/Bay Area. Held together mainly by producer Hard Rard, the group has come with an original piece of work that defies classification. "Slump" is probably the closest you can get to any type of definition.

The Lordz master tracks like "slump[lordz]," " hardest," "dopefien," "to tha face" and "lace'em". Not that these are the only songs worth listening to. In fact, this is one of the rare hip-hop CD's that demands to be listened to from start to finish. This alone is a huge accomplishment, given the amount of single-driven hip-hop records available today.

There are also no skits, no pointless vignettes about visiting the "weed spot" or the liquor store. As one song bumps to a close another one slams open from the beginning of the record to the bonus track. Each song fits well in its place. You can tell that there was at least some sort of idea concerning the overall flow of the album when it came time to place the tracks.

This is a CD most hip-hop fans will enjoy. The album is original, raw and features talent with great potential. Just hope that they don't stay as well hidden as the characters on the front of their CD.