Album a Day (Digital Edition): Emergency Pizza Party - Shine Avenue

As a general rule I'm very particular when it comes to nerdcore because Nerdcore usually means comedy and comedy in music is often just bad. Its not that music can't be funny its just that its either lazy or if you looked at a Venn diagram of musicians and comedians you would not find a lot of crossover (now who's nerdy?). By the way, if the term nerdcore is confusing then let's have a short lesson: Nerdcore is a sub-genre of hip-hop about self-proclaimed "nerd" topics (if you don't know what those include then there's a revenge movie from the 80's I can highly recommend). What's particularly interesting about these solo artists and groups is that, just like the earlier days of hip hop, everything is pretty much DIY and the vast majority of the music comes from sampling. In theory all of this sounds great but in my experience a lot of Nerdcore bands just lack any sort of real talent so please don't take it lightly when I say that Emergency Pizza Party is a great fucking group and this Junior release from the Orlando-natives proves it. I first saw Emergency Pizza Party several years ago when my friends Zombies! Organize!! took me along for a convention both bands played at in the greater Fort Lauderdale area. I though EPP did a great job and an even better one while playing a show with Z!O!! not long after at the legendary Respectable Street (or Respecs for any South Floridian) in West Palm Beach. To me though, Shine Avenue is their most musically mature album really covering a variety of hip hop styles and showcasing the different talents of the band. I think what sets EPP aside from many of the other acts and puts them in the elite of their genre (amongst those like MC Lars and MC Chris) is the level of seriousness they put in to the music. This isn't to say they take themselves too seriously as a lot of fun is had on this album, but rather there's a certain level of thought put in. This comes across the in great flow of the album with a really cool intro track like "Now Hiring" featuring Kabuto The Python, ending the music part of the album (there's a sort of joke track at the end) with a smooth track like "The Easy Way" and paying homage to some of the great hip hop albums by having a cool little comedy track in the middle where all the group members are trying to one up another on disses while one guy just doesn't get it. My favorite parts of the album tend to come from MC Wreckshin who also has some great solo work that is worth checking out as I would equate to the Method Man of the group and Betty Rebel who probably has the tightest rhymes and is featured on my favorite track of the album, "Kiss Kaboom". There's some nice guest appearances on here from Kabuto The Python, Rappy McRapperson, Chaotic Logic, KZA, and one of the more notable Nerdcore Rappers in the form of ZeaLouS1. My only complain with the album is that I could do without the homophobic moments, though if Nerdcore is really a hip hop sub-genre then perhaps its somewhat fitting but I really wouldn't miss it if it was gone. But this is really a small complaint as this is overall a really tight album from a band to watch out for as they may be one of the ones to break through the Nerdcore-genre if they keep this up. Favorite Tracks: Now Hiring (feat. Kabuto The Python), Reppin, Punch-Out!!!, Kiss Kaboom, Never Make The Airwaves (feat. KZA), and The Easy Way