Cut Chemist – The Litmus Test (2004) (CD) (FLAC + 320 kbps)

And that’s why The Litmus Test is such a frustrating tease. The collection is a “mash-up” of his solo tracks, remixes and collaborations with Jurassic 5, all serving as a public reminder of who Cut Chemist is before McFadden drops his new album next year. Litmus better qualifies as a medley on par with those hip-hop performances at the Grammys or BET Awards that are over-focused on dance choreography and cramming all the hits into three minutes. The 28-minute record serves as a decent primer for neophytes, but Chemist frequently interrupts some of his best moments before they complete their sentences.

The Litmus Test opens not with just one, but three intro tracks. First comes “This Is”, a massage-oiled, Latin-funk flavored teaser that sets the scene with street hustler chatter that eventually morphs into the album’s actual “Intro” track. Then, McFadden turns a corner with an octopus-limbed drum break that introduces “Bunky’s Pick”, a brilliant survey of Stones Throw’s excellent 2001 garage-funk comp The Funky 16 Corners. Jurassic 5’s Cosby Kids-esque loitering anthem “Concrete Schoolyard” suddenly intervenes. Unsurprisingly, tunes from that “positive rap” group predominate The Litmus Test to the point that the record almost seems more like a J5 outtakes collection than a Cut Chemist statement. And while McFadden and fellow J5 DJ Nu-Mark’s production on their “Jayou” has aged gracefully, Cut Chemist has done enough stronger work elsewhere that its inclusion here seems superfluous.

Fortunately, there are a handful of worthy non-J5 inclusions here: Blackalicious tracks “Chemical Calisthenics” exemplifies what a perfect balance Chemist is capable of striking between experimental beatmaking and simply providing an emcee with something to spit over. On the Blazing Arrow version, he treated virtually every syllable Gift of Gab spat about the periodic table– and the Litmus version improves that feat with an awesome, spy-flick brass break that wags its finger at the swinger lying in the gutter. Sadly, “Alphabet Aerobics”, where McFadden tortured Gift of Gab’s lyrical rundown of the alphabet with a sped-up, treadmill beat, is completely missing from this record.

The hospital’s burn ward is overwhelmed: J5’s “Swing Set” is reduced to 46 seconds (halted by a bandleader asking, “Do you want to dance?”, and being answered with a wiseass “Hell no!”), their “Lesson 6″s arithmetic jingle is almost completely obliterated, and the folksy violin solo performed on Chemist’s own “S.N.T.” (possibly the single best moment off Loose Groove’s classic Funky Precedent compilation) has its plug pulled after one note. At least McFadden kept most of the levitating beats that enriched his greatest remix: Major Force’s “Re-Return of the Original Art-Form”. Now, some may say Chemist has a right to treat his own work like this, and he does. But while the hip-hop song always remains an unfinished composition, that doesn’t mean that honorable ideas– and classic tracks– should be sacrificed like this.