Back in the mid-‘00s, there was a group from North Carolina called The Others, consisting of emcee Mattic and producers Johnny Madwreck and DR. After a short run, the group split, with Mattic moving to France to work with Wax Tailor and also to pursuit a solo career. Madwreck became part of the production duo Dirty Art Club, but then left that group around 2015. After a long and winding road, these two have found each other again and launched a new chapter with the name Ill Scholars, now giving us their self-titled debut album.

Listening to Ill Scholars, you’d think that these two had been working together this whole time, because the chemistry is so good between Mattic and Madwreck. They just don’t miss a beat. The point is, Ill Scholars might be a new name, but the sound, the style, and chemistry certainly aren’t new. You’ve got Madwreck throwing down some really smart and soulful boom bap beats, and Mattic is just hopping on the mic and doing lyrical gymnastics as he takes everyone to school and shows you how its done. The real key here is that while this isn’t anything that hasn’t been done before, when you’re doing it as well as these are, you really don’t care. You just care that the skill level is exceptional, that they work well together, and that the music is just really damn fun to listen to. It’s the type of album that you can sit back and rock with and just enjoy on a surface level, but if you have an inkling to listen closer, there are just tons of lyrical and production gems buried within the tracks that you can keep listening to the album over and over and discover something new each time through. On top of all this, we get a third heat from emcee YagoMeans, who comes in on four different tracks to go toe to toe with Mattic and gives you a different look on the mic so that the music never feels complacent.

Ill Scholars is exactly what you’d expect from old friends and collaborators like Mattic and Madwreck. It’s a beautiful collection of beats and rhymes that the heads will love. You can hear how their love of hip hop and attention to detail came together to make an album that is pretty airtight and just tons of fun to listen to.