Hearing Columbus dudes get air time around the turn of the millennium was truly amazing. It’d been the better part of a decade since Bone, Thugs ‘n Harmony did anything that folks paid attention to outside of Cleveland. And Columbus hadn’t exactly been churning out hits in the ensuing times. So, for MHz to gain a bit of momentum, RJD2 to get a record deal with a prestigious label, Copywrite head in the same direction and Camu Tao as well was all kind of inspiring. And while the expansion of the internet has been touted as giving random people the belief that their work, of whatever variety, to be heard. For me, it was this stuff. I hadn’t ever even entertained the notion of working out hip hop stuff (I still don’t), but in my life time there hadn’t ever been any sort of spotlight shined on the state I hailed from.

Along with all of this, illogic and Blueprint were kicking around. Heady times.

The proper release of a long playing MHz disc wasn’t really embraced by media outlets at the time. And while Table Scraps might sound like the time during which it was recorded, it doesn’t lessen the album’s quality.

Hailing from Ohio almost requires denizens to embrace a tongue and cheek attitude about pretty much everything. So, when Camu Tao says “Watch out Bad Boy, here we come,” on “Abosotively Posolutely” listeners can tell he’s joking. But only kinda.

The folks involved with MHz were well aware of the level of talent coalescing around the group. A few were childhood friends and others were a part of a relatively broad hip hop underground in town. But, each was able to come together in the interest of creating one of the most underrated (as a result of just not being properly distributed) rap discs from the early aughties. Table Scraps easily beats out any Atmosphere effort – from then or now. And that’s not hyperbole.

“World Premier” was the group’s first single, issued through Bobbito’s Fondle ‘Em imprint. And after hearing it stuck into the track listing here, it’s easy to hear why it was picked. There’s nothing approaching questionable on the disc, but the sparse beat serving as the track’s backing comes off as ethereal as it is aggressive when the snippet of electric guitar’s dropped in for the hook.

MHz summons everything from Mobb Deep to the Gravediggas and whatever other East Coast goodness can get tossed in there. Open your ears and hear.