Faculty

From the record opening skit broadcast live from the fictitious MC training ground Camp Get Down, it’s pretty clear that Oxnard, CA tag team Faculty are all about making music to rock crowds. Their debut full-length, Phar From Home, doles out a healthy balance of bouncy dance floor shakers where verses simply fill the gaps between the sing-along hooks and the few cuts where the message is key. Producer Jake One provides the first heavy hitter with "A Lil Sum,” a snapper of a shoulder shaker that pairs a tough Congo/kick rhythm with funky guitar licks and random soul croons. Fellow Oxnard beatsmith Oh No switches up speeds with a jittery head nodder laced with stuttered sound snippets before Jake One returns to take things down south with a start-and-top rhythm beneath Faculty’s double-time rhymes on "Feel It.” The record wraps up with a Nate Dogg-styled, bass-heavy West coast groove in "That Pay,” closing out the Faculty’s opening school session of tight, to the point, body rocking hip-hop.