Pulse notes:3 out of 4

From the very start, “Astronaut” off of G. Love’s newest album in three years, “The Hustle,” serves as the quintessential sound Love and his group, Special Sauce, have become widely recognized for. That is to say that although the lyrics aren’t necessarily the most profound in the world, he’s able to produce a sound that transcends various musical genres while maintaining the over-all penchant for producing music almost everyone can have a good time to.

With “The Hustle,” G. Love (also known as Garrett Dutton) is sticking to his roots of blues and funk music, while captivating the listener’s attention with a livelier hip-hop related beat. In a sense, G. Love is mixing the best elements of the old and the new, and presenting it through his trademark blend which serves the key purpose of getting the crowd moving.

The album’s press release claims “The Hustle” is the “ultimate album to play while enjoying a cold beverage and kicking it with your homies.” Granted, this is a strong claim to make, and somewhat dated considering how old and worn out the term “homies” is, the album is still perfectly enjoyable from the more hip-hop influenced “Love” to the more funkified “Booty Call,” which playfully addresses one of the leading college pastimes.

G. Love even uses reggae and calypso rhythms as well as R&B, contemporary rock and folk to really turn “The Hustle” into what it’s meant to be, which is a sonic cornucopia that speaks or plays to just about everyone.

The whole concept behind G. Love in the first place to simply have a good time, and “The Hustle” serves as the ideal soundtrack to a day, weekend or even a semester of fun.

To try and categorize “The Hustle” would be like trying to categorize G. Love into a single category of singer/songwriters, which is to say it’s nearly impossible. In all seriousness, “The Hustle” is something that must be heard to be believed.