It could be that I haven’t been paying as much attention as I should, but it’s been 12 years since Brand Nubian—as a group or as solo artists—have released anything that really caught my attention. Indeed, Brand Nubian’s 1998 group effort, The Foundation, featured a solid mix of underground heaters and a couple of singles that received moderate video and radio play. But despite subsequent independent group releases and solo efforts from Grand Puba, Lord Jamar and Sadat X—who has released five albums himself since 2000—Brand Nu has seemingly failed to capture the imagination of a fickle Rap game with an ever shrinking attention span the way they did during their hay-day of the 1990s. In other words, they have tiptoed to the precipice of obscurity and come dangerously close to becoming victims of one of Hip Hop’s deadly sins: falling off. That is until Sadat X dropped his seventh solo album, Wild Cowboy II, this past Tuesday the 23rd and pulled the Nubian brand back into musical relevance.

Packed with an all-star cast of guest features, including underground heavyweights like Shabaam Sadeeq, Ill Bill, Rhymefest and Shawn Black and Hip Hop stalwarts like DITC’s A.G., dead prez’s M1, and one half of the former Dogg Pound Kurupt, Wild Cowboy II is sure to have lyrics for everyone’s taste. Of course Puba and Jamar reunite with Sadat on the appropriately titled track “Long Years,” bringing back that classic Brand Nubian flavor over a smoothed out horn track produced by none other than Buckwild of the legendary DITC crew, with a Nas sample on the hook to boot. Pete Rock produced and features on the album’s first single “Turn It Up,” an uptempo joint with a freshly chopped fuzzy guitar loop. Diamond D, DJ Spinna, Minnesota and 9th Wonder all contribute quality boom-bap production to the project, but it’s tracks like the Grant Parks produced “Roll That,” with its double-time tempo and dubstep-ish bassline, or Dub Sonata’s flirtation with drum-n-bass drum syncopation on “Knock Me Down” that give Wild Cowboy II a unique twist that should broaden the album’s appeal beyond the usual underground crowd that comprise Sadat’s current fanbase. While Sadat’s flow isn’t quite as sharp as it was 10 or 20 years ago, musically this album is a success: fresh beats, solid lyrics and a touch of rhythmic experimentation. Worth a listen.