Yeti Beats will not be unknown to Kool Keith fans. In 2009 he collaborated with Kool Keith and Denis Deft on the disappointing Bikinis N Thongs. Fast forward to twenty eleven and a lot has changed. The eighteen track album is only five bucks, full of surprises and is anything but disappointing.

Of the eighteen tracks, you get various genres including hip-hop, country, punk and a dance hall full of reggae. In that genre list country sticks out like a saw thumb. Thankfully, we are not talking Keith Urban country and instead we are talking Kool Keith's take on country which is mostly just Keith putting on a fake country accent ... oh wait, maybe it isn't so different from Keith Urban. I am not a fan of reggae and the abundance on this album is a tad overwhelming. While I am not completely opposed to the odd Major Lazer-esque dancehall track I found the seven reggae/dancehall tracks on This Is Not A Hotel to be too much. However, I will admit that the Yeti beats on the dancehall tracks are very, very good, but they had me wishing that Kool Keith or Fatlip were rapping over them. I specifically mentioned Major Lazer as the track "Make It Work" would appear to at least nod to Major Lazer with its laser and siren blasts.

A number of familiar names in the hip-hop community also appear on the track list: Aceyalone, Bushwick Bill, Fatlip, Junior Reid, Kurupt and of course Kool Keith. The three Kool Keith tracks are some of the best of recent memory, with the bizarre dietary details of the "Bushman" being the pick of the album. Fatlip has four tracks, with the pop-ish fake-accent (bad British?) single "LA Girl" receiving a humorous video. He also has a completely out-of-place but not-that-bad punk track "Greed". One track that hit me out of now where was "Flash a Smile" by High Society. The dirty electro-pop song about two "real ass bitches" boasting about getting what they want in life using their looks is funny, fascinating and frightening.

There is enough variety on this album to find something you like. The flip slide is of course that there's bound to be something you don't like, and in this case it would be the seven reggae flavoured tracks, especially the auto-tuned "Live as One". Given the amount of this genre on the album, this may be Yeti Beats' personal favourite and he is just testing the waters before going in the Major Lazer direction. Even after saying all of this, I can still highly recommend it to like-minded others, the production quality and freshness provided by its sheer variety more than makes up for any overloading. Fingers are crossed for the possibility of Kool Keith, Fatlip & Yeti Beats - Bikinis N Thongs 2.

7.0 /10

Track Listing

1. Worldwide Construction feat. Kool Keith, Aceyalone, & Fatlip

2. Summertime LA feat. The Lady Tigra

3. Chronic feat. Jr. Reid, Ya Boy, Sizzla, Mr. Maaly, & Kurupt

4. LA Girl feat. Fatlip

5. The World feat. David Cash

6. Book by the Cover feat. Rebelution & Lutan Fiyah

7. Ur Mine feat. Barbie Hatch

8. The Word feat. Kool Keith

9. Live as One feat. Ras Congo & Kelli Love

10. Find Your Way feat. Kelli Love

11. Gunman feat. Tippa Irie

12. Make it Work feat. Junior Reid & Spragga Benz

13. Flash s Smile feat. High Society

14. What Time is it?! feat. Fatlip, Slimkid Tre, & Aceyalone

15. Bushman feat. Kool Keith

16. Forgiven feat. Bushwick Bill

17. Greed feat. Fatlip and Pat Kim

18. Don't Forget Me feat. Sizzla