Clear Soul Forces is the Detroit group consisting of Ilajide, E-Fav, Noveliss, and L.A.Z. The quartet came together ten years ago, and since then have released a string of mixtapes, EPs, and albums. However, it’s been four years since their last album, as they’ve been working on different solo projects and exploring different opportunities. They’ve come back now to release their strongest effort to date, Still.

Their last album was called Fab Five, which referenced that these four emcees were working with producer NAMELESS on the project. On Still, those production credits namely come from Ilajide, who proves himself as capable as any producer they’ve worked with in the past. There are a few moments here and there where Ilajiide gets a little more experimental with his beats, such as the minimal psychedelic track, “Still Enterlude,” or the house/trap-influenced “Pump Pump,” but for the majority of the album, Ilajide is laying down some boom bap-influenced beats that absolutely bump. Any way you slice it, it’s an album that sounds best with the volume turned way up, letting your speakers vibrate a little as you get moving to the rhythm. This leads the way for all four emcees to jump on the mic and have fun trading verses. The album is a lot of fun, with everybody talking their shit and dropping punchlines and rocking the crowd, but they also find room here and there to get a little more serious and talk about current issues or their personal lives. It’s just an incredibly solid hip hop album from four artists who clearly enjoy working together and who aren’t trying to overthink things.

Albums like Still used to happen all the time, but these days it feels more like a special occasion to have a group like Clear Soul Forces bring four artists to the table, just trading rhymes, having fun, and respecting the craft. While they should explore all the different projects they want to, it does feel good to have them regroup and just give us another solid hip hop album like this one.