Sankofa is an emcee from Fort Wayne, Indiana who has been working at a steady pace for the better parts of two decades now. 2019 has been a particularly busy and productive year for him, with two releases already under his belt. Now he comes back with a third project, $5,000 Flashlights.

A lot of album titles are pretty straightforward, but every once in a while, you get one a little odd, and if you’re lucky, the explanation is a doozy. Such is the case with $5,000 Flashlights. You see, for this album, Sankofa is working with a producer named Agent Orange. In Sankofa’s words:

“Agent Orange’s father worked in the oil fields, as hard a worker as he was, he was equally distrustful of banks. He had a significant amount of money stashed in his house. Cameras were placed around his house, security cameras within his house, hallways leading to locked doors. In his house, there was a large safe. The door to the safe had a lining, a lining which his father removed. Where there once was a lining, it was hollowed-out, allowing there to be space for flashlights. But these weren’t normal flashlights, they didn’t have batteries. Instead of batteries, his father rolled up hundred dollar bills and placed them inside the flashlights. There was approximately $5,000 in each of the flashlights placed on the inside of the lining of the safe door. As such, the project Agent Orange and I worked on is called $5,000 Flashlights.”

That odd and fascinating explanation aside, this album is mostly what you’ve come to expect out of Sankofa at this point (not that that’s a bad thing). Agent Orange has a few beats that push him out of his usual comfort zone, such as the reggae influenced opening track, “Apple Coke Classics,” but for the majority of the album we’re working with some solid sample-based boom bap beats. This means that Sankofa is hopping on the mic to flex, maybe drop some rhymes about sneakers and food, tell some dad jokes, talk some shit, and just have fun with things. It’s not necessarily a standout album for him, but it’s incredibly solid and a fun listen from start to finish.

Sometimes you just need some comfort food, and that’s what Sankofa is serving up with $5,000 Flashlights. This is fun, old school hip hop from a coupe of veterans who know how to deliver some quality music.