Four piece collective Beats Working hail from Coffs Harbour in NSW. I for one have never heard, to my knowledge, anything out of Coffs Harbour. I also found myself not knowing jack about either Beats Working or Coffs Harbour at all! So upon further research I have found that Coffs Harbour is a touristy beachside town that looks very relaxing indeed, it has education, specialist foods and tourism as its main sources of employment and income. Therefore I assume that Beats Working are well fed teachers who operate resorts on weekends and rap in their free time, I am most likely wrong.

Beats Working consists of Three emcees (Handsome Dan, Mullut and J.B) and a percussionists/DJ known as Helmy, JB also handles production of the album. Let’s talk production, from the get go we are treated to a ‘live sound’ driven soundscape, lots of horns, building bass lines combined with a heavy set of sampling. JB does a good job of blending these to give an almost Downsyde-esque (not a word) live sound to most of the album. Production is not stock standard which is a good thing in this case however there are a few misses though; ‘One Raw Joint’ and ‘Devil’s Food’ stand out on the album as they do not have the same organic sound as the rest of the album.

Lyrics wise the emcees deliver a pretty simplistic stock standard approach. It certainly won’t wow the word hounds out there but it works as a whole. It is a laid back style that sits somewhere between a mix of early TZU and early Downsyde in vibe. The emcees cover a range of topics and also a variety of delivery styles, at time singing, doubling speed or just slowing down to talking almost. With three emcees at the helm it is easy to share duties however they each hold their own although the over use of Handsome Dan saying exactly that tends to stand out notably. If you are looking for some mind blowing wordplay and metaphors and the like it isn’t here. If you are looking for somehow who is having fun while spitting and bouncing over their beats then it is here.

Beats Working bring a pretty user friendly album, packed with harmonized hooks and a lot of fun. It has the vibe of a live crew working with a band almost. You can tell that live these fellas would be a lot of energy and hype for sure. Is it going to blow minds, no, will it fit in perfectly in the background of a bbq over a few beers, definitely.

Gareth M

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