When coming across rap groups on the interwebs that I’ve not been made familiar with prior, I have a proclivity to just figure that they’re just a blog based project. That concept, though, again and again has been proven incorrect. But I guess even if the Good People were a two dimensional ensemble, they’d still be pretty good. Comprised of New York area performers, the duo (DJ Emskee, the group’s emcee and Saint, its producer) have been occupied creating true school hip hop gymnastics since about 2005. The Good People haven’t met with the widest batch of appreciation as of yet, but considering the pervasive renown that Home Coming has thus far received, it seems that their lot is set to change.

In reading the scant reviews of the Good People that are more than difficult to hunt down, a reoccurring theme of mentioning soul music becomes rather apparent immediately. And while any seasoned producer should possess the ability to work in any kinda music into a beat, it seems that the soul and RnB proclivities of Saint have been overstated a bit. “Just Rise,” which features the vocals of Honey La Rochell, is an overt use of the genre – and one that works pretty well. But the most recognizable influence on this boom bap is good music, not just soul music. It might not even matter when “Gotta Thing For You” doesn’t work with its soul hook corrupting the track – the remainder of the beat’s still enough to get it over.

And while the Saint’s production throughout Home Coming  is more that satisfying and at best completely headnodic, Emskee’s flow and it’s content would work in even the  most inadequate musical setting. “I’m all about peace and fairness/And livin’ together/And cultural awareness,” the emcee begins “Any Rapper.” It turns into a critique of modern emcees and how each chooses to interact with the greater culture. It’s assumed that the Good People are some elevated folks – perhaps in more than one sense of the term – and in this musical criticism, the song still is able to function as entertainment while dispatching some heavy handed concepts.

A personal favorite in the realm of beat making is the incorporation of Jamaican sounds. It isn’t always the easiest sound for an emcee to deal with – adapt to the behind the beat style of the one drop drums, but the most adept rapper has no problem. And Emskee handles “Do Right” with its Burning Spear sample with aplomb. That stylistic derivation outta the way, Saint endeavors to work in some salsa on “Bump That” a few tracks later. Dependent upon one’s interest in the genre, the track works to varying effect. It is worth noting, though, that even when this producer attempts to change up sounds represented here, the results are always well conceived if not necessarily pleasing to every listener’s personal tastes.

Home Coming  might be an assemblage of tracks that the Good People haven’t placed elsewhere, but it kinda doesn’t sound that way. It just sounds like an hour of quality raptastics.