Now to DJ Format, a producer and DJ who hails from Southampton, England. Format makes no secret of his dislike of currrent hip-hop, and Music for the Mature B-boy is as un-Ja Rule as is possible, without even the presence of the ubiquitous 'Parental Advisory' tag, so thankfully we are spared the 'bitches, hoes and Hennessy' rhymes of modern 'urban' music.

For the most part, Format's beats and scratches are exemplary, and some of the vocalists are really excellent including Akil and Chali 2Na from Jurassic 5. The rather unfortunately named Abdominal steals the show on a number of tracks, however, and is somebody I'd like to hear more from.

On a track called 'The Hit Song', he had me laughing out loud when in the outro he says "More hits than Germans surfing fetish websites, more hits than playing blackjack with a deck of twos, more hits than a workaholic mafia trigger man, more hits than Roy jones Jr. in a bare fisted cage match versus a sleep deprived Richard Simmons....." and it goes on.

The only tracks which let this album down are two of the instrumentals (there are four in total) which are a bit irritating, but this is a minor complaint.

So to sum up, Music for the Mature B-boy is a breath of fresh air for hip-hop fans, reminiscent in places of ATCQ or De la Soul, and full of originality. At eleven tracks and 45 minutes, there can be no complaints of lack of quality control here (ahem), just good old school beats and rhymes. One of the instrumentals, 'Little Bit of Soul' is so good I wish I could rap just to do it justice. 8/10

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