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Members:
Zak Young (DJ Mentos)
Brad Lanier (Furious MC)
Jeff Osborn (Gest)

For the listener tired of the oversaturated stagnation in much of today’s hip-hop comes the Bash Brothers’ debut release, The Axiom, a 12-song collection of musical and lyrical innovation that manages not to stray too far from the elements that got people to fall in love with hip-hop in the first place: That boom-bap, MCs with both something to say and a commanding microphone presence and a DJ that actually knows how to get nice on the 1s and 2s. 

Fueled by drum-heavy jazz- and funk-influenced production and captivating MC’ing, The Axiom is music that provokes thought as well as head-nodding. On the album’s star track, Breath of Fresh Air, Gest details the difficulties in following a dream while still working. “Times change, I went from skipping school to play video games, to working 10-hour days, busting my ass for no raise,” he raps over his own bass and guitar-fueled track. Another shining moment, Life Shouldn’t Be So Rough, features Furious painting a chilling picture while flowing from a homeless Vietnam Veteran’s point of view. Mentos, on his own ode-to-the-DJ Track The Freshmaker, digs in the crates to weave ill scratches over humorous and hardcore samples. 

The Bash Brothers, Gest, Furious.MC and DJ Mentos, each have ties to the Washington, D.C. area and formed in 2003 through college and workplace connections. After each had made their initial foray into the hip-hop arena, the making of The Axiom revealed a common feeling among the group’s three members: Hip-hop needed an album that advanced the art form while rediscovering its soul. The results speak for themselves, as The Axiom pulls no punches in addressing weaknesses in the hip-hop game, without weighing the album down. 

Unlike many slapped-together hip-hop albums of the era, The Axiom lacks a weak moment. From the funky bassline of the intro through the crowd-rousing Oh Yeah and the horn-heavy Armed with my Thoughts, the album eliminates the need for a fast-forward button. 

While the group truly doesn’t sound like anything else in the marketplace, each member brings individual strengths. Gest, who handles the sample-based production on 11 songs, shines as a beat-maker unafraid to use horns, guitars and cymbals over old-school boom-bap.  Furious mixes an old-school, southern-fried flow with serious command of the mic, often piecing together permutations no one would think to write. Mentos exhibits his scratch skills and oddball record tastes on almost every song, nearly carrying Two of the Illest from start to finish with his turntable display. 

The Monster House is a studio in MD run by Mike Bridgett.

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