Sneak Peak Album Review of "The Pre-Game EP" by Statik Selektah

Many times in Hip Hop and the music industry in general there is one big problem that the industry faces and that is finding and promoting new acts so that they can become successful. The reason for this is that there is very little room for error and since the record company executives are in the game for the money they would rather invest money and time into artists that are established such as Fergie, Kanye West or Gwen Stefani (formally of No Doubt). This means that aretists that are looking to make a name for themselves usually have to rely on DJs such as Funkmaster Flex (of Hot 97.1 in New York) or DJ Green Lantern (Of XM radio). As time has progressed these DJs have stopped playing new artists are focused on material from artists that they were looking to promote and this resulted in artists like Soulja Boy having to turn to Myspace to release their music to fans looking to hear new artists. Although this method has become very popular today many DJs have attempted to fix this by going back to their routes and working with new artists.

Statik Selektah is a DJ and producer who was inspired by Funkmaster Flex to come into Hip Hop and work with new artists in terms of making songs and promotion. He has worked with Slaughterhouse, Nas, The Lox, Talib Kweli, and Consequence just to name a few. He has also contributed music to the video games Midnight Club and Grand Theft Auto IV. It is for this reason that I was very excited to preview his album, as I was able to listen to the album titled "The Pre-Game EP" by listened to it through Youtube. The album includes 9 tracks and is 26 minutes in length. The album includes features by Termanology, Joe Scudda,Bahamadia,Jon Hope, Skyzoo and Talib Kweli amongst others. The beats and mixes provided by Statik Selektah on this CD are much like DJ Premier in the 1990s. They are smooth and mellow, they lend to the voices of each artist and the production values and very solid for each track. The standout tracks are "I'm Wit It", "Jaded" and "The Best". This is a great CD if you are looking to expand music interest as Statik Selektah has become popular on the airwaves from Europe to New York. This is a sold 3.5/5 album despite the small amount of songs.