The Stuyvesants - Brooklyn's Finest (2010)

Genres: Hip Hop, Instrumental, Soul

“The Stuyvesants is a collaborative effort between music producer Allan Cole (Algorythm), and record collector Darien Victor Birks (Flwrpt). Both reside in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY. The two wanted to work together on a project where they could incorporate several of their talents, related to music and design. They wanted to do this under a moniker that would pay homage to the ’70s. The collaboration allowed them to do four major things, design, beat dig, produce amazing music, and simply have fun." - The Stuyvesants

I remember coming across Flwrpt's blog over a year ago and thinking it was the best thing since sliced bread. Maybe I was longing for simplicity, or maybe I was in need of a new source that featured a balanced dosage of design and music. Whatever it was, I felt like my long nights of endlessly surfing the web had paid off, and I swiftly cashed in by devouring all of the content his website had to offer. After paying his website a few visits, I soon realized that he was more than a blogger, but a musician as well. That's when I learned about The Stuyvesants. After listening to their material, I was hooked. The Brooklyn based duo was much more than the average Hip Hop act. Their instrumentals are skillfully crafted, and pays homage to every ingredient used to create their sound. Brooklyn's Finest is a testament to everyone that had an unsureness of where Hip Hop instrumentals were heading. It serves as a breath of fresh air to the gasping individuals looking for more than producers that slap samples upon drums and title it a beat. Brooklyn's Finest is what Hip Hop should be; respectfully sampling from yesterday to create a new sound for tomorrow.

“Last summer, I was prowling random wordpress dot coms trying to figure out this whole blogging thing, when I stumbled across a beat-tape called “Brooklyn’s Finest” by a duo calling themselves The Stuyvesants. Now, I don’t typically listen to beat-tapes because they rarely ever amount to more than some kid pounding away at an MPC for forty minutes and pillaging a bunch of 9th Wonder and DJ Premier drumkits. But the shameless branding of my home-borough roped me, and I decided to give the .zip file a spin. It’s been a year, and I’m still very happy I did.” - Unknown

With the album being featured on numerous blogs, and the instrumentals rapped on by various emcees, Brooklyn's Finest successfully made it's way off of the Internet and into the everyday lives of it's listeners. Using elements of Funk and Soul, the album imaginatively takes the listener to an era of when those genres were prevalent. It also gives individuals (like myself) unfamiliar of the New York borough, a sense of Brooklyn. Furthermore, the aesthetic album art created by wordbk adds the finishing touches to the project to perfectly bring the album together.

In summary, Brooklyn's Finest is quality music waiting to be given a chance. A chance that should come easy considering it's available as a free download (click here). The full album can also be streamed in it's entirety through Sound Cloud (click here). If you're a fan of Hip Hop, this album will more than likely be up your alley; it may even be the sound you've been patiently (or impatiently) waiting for. I must admit, picking one song out of twenty-five for the sample was pretty challenging. Since I enjoy the release as a whole, I randomly picked a song for the sample. So, enjoy the random pick located below, and thank you for reading!

The Stuyvesants - Roosevelt Projects Jam Session