Substance Abuse Overproof

• Words: Patrick Sisson
• Label: Threshold

Listening to Los Angeles rappers Eso Tre and Subz trade rhymes is like revisiting old cassette tapes from your youth. The members of Substance Abuse kick off their first full-length with the boisterous, straight-out-of-the '80s electro beat of "Fake Contact," but for the most part, they stick with the jazzy production and occasionally dark piano lines of early '90s hip-hop. They're more into storytelling than braggadocio, stretching out songs instead of trying to cram in turns of phrase like their guest MF Doom, who fills a few bars on "Profitless Thoughts." But like most nostalgia trips, memories of this disc get hazy pretty quickly.