Peace to the fam over at Deep Concepts Media ... this is their latest cult-classic reissue, Hard 2 Obtain's "Ism & Blues." In early 1994, Hard 2 Obtain caught fire with its smash underground single “LI Groove,” a tune that affirmed through a Rakim sample that the trio represented “New York, from Long Island.” On the strength of H20’s newfound respect among Hip Hop’s cypher legions, H2O dropped “Ism and Blues” - the album has hazy funk and jazz echoes with a rapper’s delight format. MCs Taste and DL are B-Boys in the traditional sense, playing off each other nicely with call and response rhymes. “LI Groove” may be H20’s only real claim-to-fame track but “Ism and Blues” does contain a few other hidden highlights. The horn-heavy “Ghetto Diamond” is a fortified ode to beautiful women of a Hip Hop persuasion and “Heels Without Souls” fuses Hip Hop and the R&B-styled vocals of Vinia Mojica (A Tribe Called Quest) with some flair. This largely slept-on album also features a guest appearance from New Jersey underground stalwarts the Artifacts and boasts production from the Stimulated Dummies aka SD50s. The album rooted in jazz, R&B, and an old school Hip Hop aesthetic caught a ripple of popularity with the non-mainstream Hip Hop audience but, rather unfortunately, the threesome were never heard from again, that is until now. Listen...