Despite all the bad reviews online about Jurassic 5’s newest offering, Feedback, it was a good CD.

People should get away from this “Rap is negative and should be made by thugs” trip. Any style of music can be positive and have an upbeat rhythm.

Everyone wants to be negative nowadays.

And now that a hip-hop group has come out and repeatedly preached a positive message, people want to cut J5 down for being what they call “cuddly.”

After listening to Power in Numbers and Quality Control religiously for the last two years, I would say I have a personal bias that tells me anything they come up with will be good.

But you can’t cut down a hip-hop group because they aren’t talking about carrying guns, rolling blunts, driving expensive cars and doing hoes. We’ve all heard that same song over and over again. A new sound with new lyrics and a new message should be refreshing.

So if you’re looking for gangster rap, don’t buy this CD.

But if you are looking for genuine good music, go out and get it.

To start with, Jurassic 5 went old school on several tracks like “In the House” and “Radio.” And on several other tracks you will find blues guitar sprinkled unsparingly.

Then you have the radio hit “Work it Out,” featuring the Dave Mathews Band, which I found rather entrancing and uplifting, though it has received much criticism for being a plea for radio play.

Other than that, “Gotta Understand” is a great track as is “Brown Girl.”

But as long as people stick to the thought process that tells them that rap and hip-hop should only reflect the negative part of society and be made by gangsters, then no one will find out what music can create.

Music can be uplifting, it can be the refuge you have been looking for. Everyone wants to play their music at its loudest and scream at the top of their lungs just to tell others how bad things are.

But J5 will tell you “There’s trial and tribulations we’ve all been through…but soul music is something we can all relate to.”

This CD is full of good-flow style with rhyme schemes far more complex and better thought-out than anything getting radio play right now.

It also has several original beats, mixed with some old-school stuff that will keep your head bobbin.’ And, to top it all off, you can tell just by the skits alone that they had a good time making this CD.

However, this isn’t Jurassic 5’s best CD. Both Quality Control and Power in Numbers have a more obvious general message and I think I like Cut Chemist as a DJ just a little better than NuMark. In the end, I wasn’t disappointed to buy this CD.

In fact I’m pretty excited to know that J5 is still around and personally can’t wait to hear what they will come up with next.