After their minor hit with "My Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style," The Dream Warriors, who formed in 1988 in Toronto, pretty much disappeared. They managed to release two more largely ignored records, but they were to be forever stuck in Canadian one-hit wonder-land, a dismal place to be caught in, to say the least. Though ignored after their 1991 debut, "And Now The Legacy Begins," The Dream Warriors dropped one of the last great jazz-heavy hip-hop albums, "Subliminal Simulation." The hip-hop world was moving well past this when it dropped in 1995, having pretty much exhausted any decent jazz break left, well, at least until Madlib came along, but it sure didn't discourage the four-piece from laying some seriously blissed-out jazz samples. The group also gets a helping hand from some of the grandmasters of that sound, namely DJ Premier and Ishmael Butler of Digable Planets. If the elementary and cheesy sound of their debut left a bad taste in anyone's mouth, Dream Warriors surely made up for it with this much more concentrated and grown-up effort. If it had been released earlier in the era alongside Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets or Gangstarr albums, I doubt this would have been severely overlooked as as it was. However, being Canadian was, and still is, a hindrance on any hip-hop group looking to break out of the Great White North.
Excellent review of "Subliminal Simulation" found here.
"Day n Day Out"
"It's A Project Thing"
"California Dreamin'" video
Download "Subliminal Simulation" here.
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