Hip Hop Isn't Dead

Reader Review: Elzhi - The Preface (August 12, 2008)

2009-11-22T12:00:00.002-06:00

(Today, the Reader Reviews continue with A.R. Marks and his opinion on Elzhi's The Preface. And, as usual, I'm still accepting submissions: I'm especially fond of the reviews for albums that I may not have gotten to normally. Enjoy!)

Like almost any conceivable place in the U.S. not commonly referred to as “New York,” “Cali” or “The South” (and in the latter two examples, even some spots within those designated areas), the hip-hop scene in Detroit, Michigan was almost uniformly self-contained before one breakout star managed to transcend the regional stage. Due to the sheer magnitude of a certain white rapper's popularity, Detroit suddenly became a new hot spot for hip hop talent which was actually somewhat varied in style, as it housed not only cartoonishly twisted artists such as D12 and Esham, but also aggressive "gangsta" acts such as Trick Trick and (to a much lesser extent) Royce da 5'9”, and even soulfully "conscious" (even though this has become almost a four-letter word in hip-hop, it's still applicable) artists such as One Be Lo, Black Milk and Slum Village, the latter of which is a group that includes the subject of today's review.

It transpires that Elzhi became one of the most continuously active members of Slum Village, a crew with somewhat of a revolving door when it came to members, which included the late J Dilla (I refuse to call him by his much more generic moniker, Jay Dee, seeing as (1) it's just an abbreviation for his actual nickname, and (2) there's too goddamn many “Jay” artists in hip-hop—Jay-Z, J-Live, J-Love, J-Zone, J Hood, Jay Millz, J. Period, J.R. Writer, etc.) was a founding member, but left to pursue the freedom to provide all of hip-hop with his talents; Baatin, another founding member, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and left the group as well; T3, the founding member that actually remains a part of the crew; and while he was never formally a member, SV briefly associated themselves with producer Waajeed (before realizing that fellow Detroit producer Black Milk was much more talented). It unfortunately seems as though every formal member of the group who leaves eventually dies, albeit of natural causes.

R.I.P. J. Dilla & Baatin. Moment of silence.

Moving on from that depressing tidbit, we come to the history of Elzhi, who undoubtedly became (if not started out as) the most lyrically-gifted member of the group thus far. His first major appearance, or at least the album on which I first heard him - or even Slum Village, for that matter - was on Pete Rock's Soul Survivor II, an otherwise mostly-underwhelming effort. The song, appropriately entitled “Da Villa,” first saw the light of day in 2004, showcasing the young Detroit native completely weaving lyrical circles around his SV co-star. Elzhi's debut album, The Preface, came four years later, in 2008, and even though T3 is only featured on one track, it's clear that ain't shit changed.

It should be noted beforehand that Black Milk produced almost all of The Preface, and even though it was literally made up of leftover beats the producer simply had lying around, it still sounds as cohesive than it has any reasonable right to.

1. INTRO (THE PREFACE)
Longtime, short-term, and even completely new readers of Max's blog will already know that rap album intros are utterly despised. Longtime hip-hop fans in general will know there is a good reason for this. However, while this “Intro” features a rather bland Black Milk production (relatively speaking - the beat is actually still pretty good by general standards), it pleasantly surprises you when Elzhi makes his first (though short) verse on his solo debut a specific thank-you to fans who spent their sweet time and/or spare change to sit down and listen to the album.

2. THE LEAK (FEAT AYAH)
A much more engaging Black Milk production, this song is the proper introduction to Elzhi's album, and its whole concept actively acknowledges the virtual certainty that his album would illicitly appear (read: leak) on the Internet prior to actually being released in stores. El's words are satisfyingly complex and visual, succinctly explaining his whole background and mentality up to the point of the album's release and rather accurately proclaiming that “This is everything I am, am / crammed, jammed, in two verses.”

3. GUESSING GAME
A stated theme of this album was that Elzhi would be toying around with his abilities, exploring what types of songs he could write, and “Guessing Game” is the first of several high-concept songs that are also very original in their execution. The beat is, like the last one, a catchy and nicely-rhythmic concoction by Black Milk, and sounds different enough not to feel like a retread. Elzhi's aim on the record is to end lines one way, then kick off the next line with a term that changes the meaning of the last line, which is actually conducive to some very clever wordplay. It helps that the chorus/bridge combination is a clever, concise and repeated reminder of the “rules” to this guessing game.

4. MOTOWN 25 (FEAT ROYCE DA 5'9”)
Back in 2007, Black Milk reported that Royce and Elzhi would be recording a collaborative album with beats from himself; this was before Slaughterhouse began eating up Royce's time, so this song may be the closest we ever get to that record. It's a pretty good one, featuring the theme of Milk production centered around a recurring vocal sample, but the beat frequently alternates between this and an intriguing layered horn combination to keep things fresh. Although I'm a big fan of the artist-also-known-as-Nickel Nine (and I do feel that he drops a commendable performance here) El completely - and rightfully - outshines his guest. 5'9” even takes a quick moment to apologize for “sounding lazy,” having apparently smoked a bunch of weed beforehand.

5. BRAG SWAG
Over a subtly smooth beat, Elzhi takes time out to execute the traditional braggadocio-song incredibly well, while avoiding the “nameless sucker MCs” cliché. The scratches on the chorus (by DJ Dez) are a little amateur, but the star's flow and wordplay, and the beat, more than easily make up for it.

6. COLORS
Reverting to the bouncy-catchy beat with a breakdown interval, Elzhi proceeds to pull out a GZA-esque concept execution by naming colors in his lines on the pretext of teaching kids a color scheme, with some improvised kid-voices naming each color. The chorus has a nice flow, with Elzhi breaking down colors and then again in reverse order; the end features an amusing little skit where the kids realize all they really learned was that Elzhi is “the shit.”

7. FIRE (REMIX) (FEAT BLACK MILK, GUILTY SIMPSON, FATT FATHER, DANNY BROWN, FAT RAY)
Why would you have two weed-carriers with “fat” in their names on a single track? Are they like Big Pun fat, or are rest of these guys just bulimia skinny? This is the only track where the rhymes are so-so, although the guests at least have some personality on the mic; they just serve to underscore how much more impressive Elzhi is. The beat is also quite pleasant.

8. D.E.M.O.N.S.
Prominently displaying a haunting beat with some fitting wood block percussion, this song is made more creepy by the fact that it's 1:30 AM and I just watched Paranormal Activity before writing this review. (The movie made me nauseous, thanks to the handheld camera work, but I'll co-sign on the creepy factor, as some of it is quite effective.) The second verse is also one of my favorite lyrical performances on the album (or just in general) as Elzhi effortlessly breaks down the letters of the title into several different acronyms. It's also pretty sweet that he's also spitting about social awareness. There follows a nice skit sampling one of my favorite Led Zeppelin tracks, “No Quarter,” with a creepy echo effect while Elzhi threatens the lives of his cheating woman and her lover.

9. SAVE YA (FEAT T3)
Interestingly, the next song in the sequence is this decidedly lighthearted track about the golddigger(s) he's had to deal with. One of the two tracks not done by Black Milk, this is produced by T3, effectively making it a full-on Slum Village song. T3 comes through and at least proves he's better than the guys from two tracks ago.

10. YEAH. (FEAT PHAT KAT)
I've never been much of a fan of Phat Kat, but he does hold his own here, with his delivery if nothing else. The beat is pretty standard Black Milk fare, which hasn't failed us so far, and Elzhi's lyrics are still on-point.

11. TRANSITIONAL JOINT
An even-more-lighthearted track keeps momentum up, but hearing another song which is essentially the same as “Save Ya,” except that it's about the opposite type of woman, makes me question how necessary it is. Still, my understanding is there's an audience for this sort of thing; plus, the running theme of quality music and lyrics makes it hard to hate on this song. Also the chorus is pretty catchy.

12. TALKING IN MY SLEEP
After a short, spaced-out singing interlude appended to the previous song comes the track that probably should have come after “D.E.M.O.N.S.” I remember this song along with a few others on here popping up on EuroPass, an overseas tour promotional CD, and this one really jumped out at me then; it was very wise to include this on the album. Stepping back to the haunting beat theme, this one is more dreamy, as befits the subject matter. Elzhi brings forth my other favorite lyrical performance and probably my favorite song on the CD: a very vivid description of the disorientating and disturbing nature of dreams.

13. THE SCIENCE (FEAT FES ROC)
The other non-Black-Milk-produced cut, the aforementioned DJ Dez actually provides a nice and rich beat that sounds worthy of Mobb Deep's Havoc (of olde, not the recent Hidden Files or The Kush Havoc). Fes Roc's performance, just on the intro to the track, is completely forgettable, but the rest of the song is awesome, with some more top-notch flow/wordplay from the star of the show.

14. HANDS UP
Showing some needed logical transitioning between tracks, Elzhi's lamenting of neighborhood violence leads him into more desperately aggressive territory on this cut. Over an effective marching beat that samples the phrases “hands up” and “freeze”, he lays down a blow-by-blow of an attempted store robbery-turned-hostage situation, including a thorough description of the robber's mentality and motivations. This is a track worthy of a Ghostface Killah or Slick Rick remix (or both, perhaps?), if I might say so myself.

15. WHAT I WRITE
Back on the upbeat tip, Elzhi lays out his writing process with some nice vivid examples.

16. GROWING UP (FEAT A.B.)
Utilizing what sounds like a typical rap soul sample to a more interesting, sped-up (but not overly-produced, a la Just Blaze/Kanye West) effect, Elzhi once again goes in explaining his past, mentality, environment and influences, providing a sort of bookend to the album that started with “The Leak,” plus some heartening soul crooning on the hook.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Easily a very good album and one of my personal favorites (could you guess?), the whole concept of The Preface seems to promise more solo records to come, on which there will need to be some expansion of Elzhi's sound, more cohesion between tracks and more of a focus on an overall theme. As its own album it still stands quite well on its own; it provides a nice foundation for the rapper to build on in the future and provides a detailed background check for the listening audience; I can't help but think that if Nas had put out this record, it would be hailed as the second coming of, say, It Was Written.

BUY OR BURN: By all means, buy this. El's solo album is stronger than any Slum Village record I've heard so far (no disrespect to SV fans, but this is my own perspective) and he manages to come original, not sounding like a knockoff of any of the more popular Detroit artists. Plus, some of Black Milk's best music resides on here.

BEST TRACKS: “Guessing Game,” “Colors,” “D.E.M.O.N.S.,” “Talking in My Sleep,” “The Science,” “Hands Up.”

-A.R. Marks

(Be sure to leave your comments below. And if you have something to say about one of your favorite albums, shoot an e-mail to the address on the top right.)

Reader Review: Danger Mouse & Jemini - Ghetto Pop Life (September 9, 2003)

2009-11-20T12:00:00.001-06:00

(I've been holding on to these Reader Reviews long enough. I plan on dispersing these randomly in between my sporadic updates, so stay tuned, as there are some interesting choices this time around. Today, Kid Chaos (who has his own review blog, Refuse To Come Wack, that you can visit here ) takes on Danger Mouse & Jemini's Ghetto Pop Life. Enjoy!)

Danger Mouse, who unleashed The Grey Album (the mash-up of Jay-Z's The Black Album and The White Album from The Beatles, which was an immediate critic's darling and a favorite on blogs everywhere) to the masses, has been an indie/underground stalwart for a while now, collaborating with fellow mainstream-recognition deprived artists such as The Rapture, Gorillaz, Beck, Sparklehorse, and MF DOOM (save for his one year run as Gnarls Barkley, a collaboration between him and Cee-Lo that has produced pretty much nothing since their super-mega-funky crossover hit "Crazy"). Accordingly, it only makes sense that what ended up being Danger Mouse's debut album, Ghetto Pop Life, should be a collaboration with another artist that has apparently been paying dues for roughly, I don't know...forever?

Rapper Jemini the Gifted One, of zero fame, has apparently been in the game since 1995, when he recorded an EP called Scars and Pain, which that helped him in no way to break out into the public eye. I can't say I really blame the man, though: if you consider how hard it was to break into the rap industry back in the 1990s compared to now, it's no wonder that he'd wait until 2003's Ghetto Pop Life to attempt a comeback.

One last thing I wanted to note: in staying consistent with his name (for which I applaud him), Jemini switches back and forth between a higher pitched voice and a lower pitched voice throughout the album. While this whole concept of being two different rappers is extremely played out by now, it wasn't necessarily so when he first came up with it, so don't furrow your little brow as you read along.

Onward.

1. BORN-A-MC
Grammatical errors aside, Danger Mouse & Jemini decide to bypass the mandatory hip hop intro track (at least until the next track) and give us a little taste of what is to come. Although Jemini only drops one verse, it sounds promising, even if his claim that "lyrically, musically, and spiritually this album is all you'll ever need" is a tad bit pretentious (although in somewhat of a good way - more akin to Big Daddy Kane boasting than KRS-One saying he's going to start his own religion of hip hop). Danger Mouse's production is slightly eerie but enticing in how stark the contrast is between the hard hitting drums and the rising and falling strings.

2. GHETTO POP LIFE INTRO
To put it simply, this is just ridiculous and I love it. For all the Chappelle's Show fans out there: does anyone remember the sketch where he writes down ridiculous things to say but makes them sound pious simply by having an opera singer perform them? Apparently Danger Mouse and Jemini had the idea first (maybe not so much, since Chappelle's Show made its debut in January of 2003), as hearing what sounds like a church choir singing that they "have bullets in the clip" and are "giving bitches good dick" is downright hilarious. What makes this even better is the way in which it doesn't overstay its welcome and immaculately fades into...

3. GHETTO POP LIFE
Danger Mouse crafts an instrumental that is fucking fantastic, incorporating the chorus from the last interlude, and Jemini rips shit accordingly. If you read this far expecting an indie-sounding release (he could mean so many things by that loaded statement), than this song will throw you for a loop. In fact, Jemini is at times blatantly mainstream with his performance, but still manages to tear shit up. I don't think I can tell you how pleasantly surprised I was by this; you're just gonna have to hear it for yourself.

4. OMEGA SUPREME
Although this beat is solid (nothing to write home about), Jemini takes its mother out for a nice seafood dinner, sleeps with her, and never calls her again. Included in this package is one of my favorite one-liners of all time: Jemini's claim that his problem is that he "never learned to lie for shit" and sometimes he "gets sperm in [his] eye because [he's] on [his] own dick", which is downright hilarious. The switch to what sounds like a live freestyle over a simple drum loop at the end of this track is also endearing to any hip hop head worth his mettle.

5. WHAT U SITTIN ON? (FEAT THA LIKS)
Well, I didn't say this album was perfect. It may just be me, but this beat's repetitiveness has a tendency to get grating very quickly, and Tha Alkaholiks don't do anything to right this sinking ship. (Which is uncharacteristic of them.)

6. THE ONLY ONE
Danger Mouse does his best Kanye West impression (minus the narcissism) (well, then it isn't a Kanye impression, is it?), unleashing the horns and chipmunk soul singing, and Jemini continues to rap about nothing in particular besides the fact that he is better than you at rapping, and yet, somehow, this act has not gotten old yet. In fact, this sounds awesome. Forgive me for pulling out my soapbox, but couldn't hip hop really use some more of this? It's really not that hard an adjustment to make: just start talking about why you're great and other sucka MC's are terrible instead of sounding like one of the spoiled brats on MTV's My Super Sweet 16. I once saw a video on YouTube of (DipSet's) Juelz Santana bragging about a purse he has. (It's called a satchel.) Just thought you should know.

7. TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS (FEAT J-ZONE)
Apparently no one will take my advice ever: J-Zone appears on here to brag about money and girls (which is apparently his specialty, according to Max's previous write-ups) (to be fair, most of the time he does it well, even though he claims to not have either) alongside Jemini, but given the subject matter this isn't all that bad. I will admit that the scratching helps. Now there's something you don't really hear anymore on hip hop albums, isn't it?

8. THAT BROOKLYN SHIT
I don't know if I can stress enough how awesome Danger Mouse's production on here has been. For anyone whose friends don't believe that indie hip hop can ever succeed in maintaining a balance between production and lyricism, might I suggest this album? This somehow manages to sound both aggressive and mysterious, like a hip hop V for Vendetta.

9. YOO-HOO!
While the dialogue sample here is completely ridiculous, Jemini tries his take on the female/club song, and this song struggles accordingly. Have I heard worse female/club songs? Yes. Does this hold up when compared to the rest of this album thus far? Nope. However, I am completely averse to rap songs aimed at a female audience, so I'll take this time to acknowledge my bias.

10. COPY CATS (FEAT PRINCE PO)
The hook here is fucking inane, and this is the first production on here that fails to impress. Forget waiting till Prince Po comes in: you can just skip this one almost right away.

11. DON'T DO DRUGS
While Danger Mouse's instrumental is awesomely eclectic, and Jemini's potshot at Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown in the style of Audio Two's “Top Billin'” is hilarious, this song's subject matter, which you can probably guess from the title, was ill-advised. (Especially since one would need to be under the influence of something to actually sit through this track.) Fortunately, the potshot occurs early enough for you to skip the track afterward, without damaging any brain cells.

12. MEDIEVAL (FEAT THAE PHARCYDE)
Now this is the type of song I guarantee everyone was expecting when I referred to Ghetto Pop Life as an indie rap album. Fortunately, Jemini showcases some versatility here. Danger Mouse flips a piece that is, well, medieval-sounding into a beat, and Jemini and The Pharcyde rhyme like they wrote down every connotation that comes to mind when thinking about the Dark Ages and somehow made them rhyme...in a good way.

13. BUSH BOYS
Not only does this attack on the Bush administration sound dated, it also sounds pretty shitty - kind of like your average Immortal Technique song. And yes, I did just write that. Political underground hip hop fans, suck on it. Next. (Please save your comments for the end of the review, you two.)

14. HERE WE GO AGAIN
Minus the part about the Bush administration, you can pretty much take my last comment and apply it here, except this one features such incredible glimmers of insight as "Sisters want love, brothers want sex/industrial prison complex". Nice one, Plato. Next.

15. I'M A DOOMEE (LOVE LETTER)
Please remember that I have already stated that I have a deep aversion to the female song. That said, this song sounds misogynistic in addition to boring and unnecessary. And there you have it.

16. KNUCKLE SANDWICH
It seems that the last song exists just so that it could blend perfectly into this song. Jemini finally decides to take a step back from the topical stuff he went after the last few songs (thank God), and ends with a single verse that probably would sound much more in place on the first half of this album. This was a pretty decent way to end the album.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Whether it is due to his supposed split hip hop personalities or not, Ghetto Pop Life is a true Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story. The first half is downright incredible, as Jemini converts his satire of mainstream rap into his very own take on it. When he decides to spit about topical subject matter, on the second half, however, the album suffers, and the topics he chooses are ill-advised at best.

BUY OR BURN? As good as the first half of this album is, I can't recommend a buy, as the second half of this album really does fall off that much. The eight tracks and the intro on here that do sound good, however, are phenomenal, and, as such, this deserves your time. Burn this, clear the trash, and listen to Jemini rip shit over some amazing Danger Mouse production.

BEST TRACKS: “Ghetto Pop Life”; “Omega Supreme”; “The Only One”; “The Brooklyn Shit”; “Knuckle Sandwich”

-Kid Chaos

(Questions? Comments? Concerns? Still pissed about that Immortal Technique critique? Leave your comments for Kid Chaos below.)

Ice Cube - The Predator (November 17, 1992)

2009-11-17T12:00:00.002-06:00

Seventeen years ago today (who here feels old? Join me in raising your hands. You realize I can't see you through your screen, right?), Ice Cube released his third full-length solo album, The Predator, on Priority Records. That would make this project older than some of my two readers. Then again, if you happen to fall into that category, odds are that you aren't fully aware of O'Shea Jackson's "angry" period, as all you may know him from are his family-friendly films. You can't really tell today, but back in the 1990s, Ice Cube was pretty pissed off.

Released shortly after the riots in Los Angeles, which were triggered by the acquittal of the four police officers who beat Rodney King, The Predator, ostensibly, continues walking the fine line between outlining racial tension in America and succumbing to an outright racist attitude, although, to be fair, The Predator is nowhere near the level of Cube's previous effort, Death Certificate, when it comes to courting controversy. O'Shea kept the beats mostly in-house, handling the bulk of the work on his own, with a handful of assists from the likes of DJ Muggs and DJ Pooh. He also chose to limit the guests to one track (he even completely ignored his boys in Da Lench Mob), and the overall result is an album that isn't hampered by the constant switching of styles that most hip hop albums with multiple guest shots tend to contain these days.

The Predator was Cube's most successful solo release, selling over two million copies and garnering almost consistently positive reviews in the mass media (except for a negative write-up in Billboard, which resulted in multiple potshots thrown the trade rag's way on this album). Many hip hop blogs call this the pinnacle of Cube's career, with songs that absolutely must be heard by any "true" hip hop fan, or else you're just a fraud. Because, fuck it, two million fans can't be wrong, right?

Right?

1. THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL (INTRO)
Spoiler alert: this intro has nothing to do with school. Also, it may lead you to believe that watching American Me instead of listening to this album is a good thing. Follow whichever instinct you have.

2. WHEN WILL THEY SHOOT?
Cube's own instrumental is busy but catchy. However, behind the mic, O'Shea's lyrics, while still antagonistic to a fault, have noticeably diminished a bit. This isn't a bad song by any means, but after his first two albums, I was expecting a bit more from Cube. There is so much going on with this beat that I was reminded of MC Ren's musical backing from his Kizz My Black Azz EP.

3. I'M SCARED (INSERT)
I had to double check the credits to make sure that this interlude, which probably heightened racial tension more than it simply discussed it, wasn't produced by Prince Paul, as it sounds almost exactly like much of Paul's earlier work, with the dialogue spliced together over a tightly-wound beat. Huh.

4. WICKED
This shit still sounds really good today. This blunted nightmare of a beat (provided by Cube himself and someone known as Torcha Chamba, who also produced a track off of MC Ren's aforementioned EP) is among the best O'Shea has ever rhymed to, and the guy has worked with some of the greatest behind the boards. Lyrically, this shit is a wash, mainly because our host isn't saying a goddamn thing on here, but the total package at least sounds awesome. I understand that rock group Korn has recorded a cover of this track: as I stopped caring about Jonathan Davis and friends long ago, I haven't had the misfortune of ever listening to it, so this original song remains untainted in my mind. (If you've actually listened to the remake, let me know in the comments section if it's worth everybody's time.)

5. NOW I GOTTA WET'CHA
Not surprisingly, DJ Muggs supplies a beat that sounds like something which would make for a better Cypress Hill song. Actually, I take that statement back: the beat actually sucks balls, so B-Real (and to a much lesser extent, Sen Dog) probably couldn't salvage this either. (B-Real's declaration that "Muggs made [Cube's] best songs on [his] third album", taken from Cypress Hill's never officially released "Ice Cube Killa" (over the beat from Westside Connection's "King Of The Hill"), is officially proven to be false with this track.) Cube gives it a good old college try, but everything about this abomination screams "cutting room floor".

6. THE PREDATOR
I wasn't impressed with this title track, which isn't based upon the film of the same name, but may as well be. Cube's flow, which resembles how he spits today more so than what he was capable of back in 1992, isn't bad (the actual rhymes aren't so hot, though, especially because hearing a rapper dis Johnny Carson is like hearing Spongebob Squarepants trash talk The Wanda Sykes Show: the two worlds don't fit together), even though working a potshot at Billboard into the lead-in to the "chorus" grows tired after the first successful attempt. What kills this song for me is the DJ Pooh beat, which sounds as if it couldn't decide whether it wanted to be high-energy or sinister, and instead chose to suck. Sigh.

7. IT WAS A GOOD DAY
Cube's storytelling skills hit its zenith with this Isley Brothers-sampling hit, which details what appears to be a perfect day in the life of our host. None of his friends are injured, the police leave him alone, he wins some money in games of chance, he sleeps with an unrequited love from his senior year in high school, and, as a reward for the day's excellence, the Goodyear blimp decides to validate his existence. A classic Ice Cube track. I never cared for how director F. Gary Gray (who later helmed Cube's Friday script, among other films) ended the video by having Cube surrounded by the cops: it brought too much reality into what was supposed to be a fantasy tale. But this is still a classic composition.

8. WE HAD TO TEAR THIS MOTHAFUCKA UP
The Predator sure loves it some dialogue samples, doesn't it? The Muggs beat reminded me of Cypress Hill's "Cock The Hammer", which is a good thing, since I happen to like that song. However, that means that this still comes off as O'Shea's attempt to write his own Cypress track, all while trying to retain his own identity. And I have to say, this is a much better effort than "Now I Gotta Wet'Cha".

9. FUCK 'EM (INSERT)
I have to say, I quite liked the music layered underneath this interlude. But that's where it stops.

10. DIRTY MACK
The first few bars make Cube sound as perverted as Quagmire from Family Guy. And nobody wants to hear that guy rhyme. Cube later moves on and disses Billboard again, but the damage has already been done.

11. DON'T TRUST 'EM
I always find it funny when a rapper's reference to the year is backmasked, because the album was pushed back so many times that, by the time it finally hits store shelves, the track itself is no longer relevant. (One of the few exceptions to this rule is Killah Priest's "Tai Chi". Side note: even though I haven't gotten to this yet, Cube's video for "Bop Gun (One Nation)" (from his next album, Lethal Injection) also hilariously (to me, anyway) points out that the year the song was released and the year the video was shot were two completely different things.) However, I've already used up too many words to describe what is essentially a weak-ass track, so it's time to move on.

12. GANGSTA'S FAIRYTALE 2
Producers Pockets and Ice Cube himself slow the popular-in-hip hop "Impeach The President" sample down to a crawl, while O'Shea goes back to the well for a sequel to a track from AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted. This particular fairytale leaves a lot to be desired, especially when he spits a hook that only instructs the listeners to "Jump!", which, even when taken in context, makes no sense; what, exactly, about this song makes you believe that the listener will participate in any kind of physical activity, Cube?

13. CHECK YO'SELF (FEAT DAS EFX)
Thankfully, Cube decided a remix to this Muggs-produced track for the video and radio versions, lest this song always be remembered as the Ice Cube song that sounds like Salt-N-Pepa's "Shoop". The video features Cube in jail, as it was meant to be a follow-up to the "It Was A Good Day" clip. Das EFX only supply the hook, but they still sound awkward on here: the version that jacks "The Message" wholesale is most definitely a better fit. But this is interesting as a curiosity piece.

14. WHO GOT THE CAMERA?
Meh.

15. INTEGRATION (INSERT)
...

16. SAY HI TO THE BAD GUY
The intro to the track fakes you out: instead of getting a final track that follows the same thread as Dr. Dre's "The Roach (The Chronic Outro)", we get a high-energy ending, one in which Cube apes Das EFX briefly while critics document that his lyrical skill begins to take a tumble. The overall execution of this song is a mess, though, leaving this as a disappointingly ambiguous way to end The Predator.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Listening to The Predator from start to finish is the audio equivalent of watching Ice Cube's career fall down a well. It's kind of like viewing The Glass Shield, and then following it it with the double feature of John Carpenter's Ghosts Of Mars and Are We There Yet? (Carpenter used to be a good director, by the way. What the fuck happened?) After two albums (and an EP, Kill At Will) that can best be described as "incendiary", O'Shea Jackson was bound to run out of steam, and he does so spectacularly on The Predator. With sixteen tracks (which include only twelve songs) heavily dependent on overused dialogue samples, interludes, recycled ideas, and instrumentals that are mostly not up to par, Ice Cube delivers a throwaway product that has little of the spark that made his first two albums (and his work with N.W.A.) classic material. O;Shea is far more successful when he abandons the pretense and just simply talks shit ("Wicked") or when he intricately details a day in his life in such a simple manner that it becomes damn near transcendent ("It Was A Good Day"), but when he tries to recapture past glories, he's like the college sophomore drinking alone at the high school after-prom party: you want to ask him what the fuck he's doing there.

BUY OR BURN? You two can burn this one. While his first two projects are highly recommended by HHID, this one is mostly unnecessary. Save for the tracks listed below, of course. And as always, the comments section is there for a reason, folks.

BEST TRACKS: "It Was A Good Day"; "Wicked"; "We Had To Tear This Mothafucka Up"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Other Ice Cube albums are being discussed here.

Black Rob - Life Story (March 7, 2000)

2009-11-13T12:00:00.002-06:00

Robert Ross, who goes by the awfully creative moniker Black Rob, is a rapper who was, and may still be (for all I know), signed to Puff Daddy's Bad Boy Records. He made his official debut on a remix to 112's "Come See Me" ( Puffy clearly loved commanding that all of his rappers spit a verse alongside a male R&B quartet (that could actually sing), because there is nothing more hardcore than that shit). He followed that up with appearances on CRU's Da Dirty 30, Puffy's own No Way Out, Ma$e's Harlem World, the soundtrack to Chris Tucker's Money Talks (he co-starred on a song with Puffy entitled "No Way Out", which, I'm assuming, was left over from the No Way Out recording sessions), and The Notorious B.I.G.'s posthumous Born Again. Sadly, even though Biggie himself allegedly co-signed young Robbie's talents and convinced Puffy to give him a shot, he passed away before Rob ever got the opportunity to record with the man.

After a handful of singles that were met with mild success, Black Rob hit the jackpot with the radio-friendly "Whoa!", which was custom-made for mass consumption. His debut album, Life Story, soon followed. Thanks to the media hype machine that is Puff Daddy, Life Story sold over one million copies in less than six months, a tremendous feat when you consider that Bobby wasn't as marketable as, say, Ma$e, and that his album was littered with crime stories and beats that were better suited for dramatic reenactments than for the club. But then again, Puffy helped The Lox sell well over a million units, too, although it took them much longer, as they had nothing as catchy as "Whoa!" on their album.

Some of you two may question the validity of a write-up featuring an artist in Puffy's stable. Biggie Smalls aside, Puff Daddy has essentially proven that he has a tin ear when it comes to signing rap artists. Most hip hop fanatics are prone to an automatic dismissal of any album that Bad Boy releases, because they fear that their preconceived notions of the product will ring true. And yes, that would actually happen for the majority of Bad Boy's artists, especially if you tried to actually listen to something from Yung Joc, Gorilla Zoe, Danity Kane, or Day 26 (or even Diddy himself: has anybody heard that "Angels" song where he sings (sings!) via Auto-Tune over a beat jacked from Jay-Z's "Where I'm From"?). I try not to walk into a room with preconceived notions myself, and I oftentimes fail when it comes to Puffy, but there is one reason why Black Rob deserves a second look.

You ready for it? Okay, here goes.

Dan "The Automator" Nakamura.

Six years prior to signing with Bad Boy Records, Robert Ross was a struggling artist who recorded an entire demo album with the then-unknown San Francisco-based deejay The Automator. To date, the majority of these songs have never seen the light of day. Dan leaked one himself, "Smoothness", on his mixtape Wanna Buy A Monkey?, and it's astonishing to hear how much differently Rob sounds when the beat behind him isn't as glossy as a fashion magazine. (By the way, it goes without saying that, if any of you happen to have some more of these buried treasures, please hit me up at my e-mail in the top right.) The Automator, of course, would go on to producing critical darlings such as Dr. Octagonecologyst, Deltron 3030, and the first Gorillaz album (and has become one of my favorite producers), but hearing him rave about the Black Rob songs he recorded forced me to take a second look at Life Story, an album that I didn't like much when it dropped. While Dan Nakamura had no input on Life Story itself (and, apparently, doesn't even warrant a mention in Rob's thank-you section), the fact that he believed in Robbie's abilities as an artist made me want to revisit the project, with sunglasses on so as to avoid the shiny suits that sporadically pop up.

Let's see what we have here.

1. MRS. BARRY (INTRO)
Unnecessary. Although it is possibly worth noting that Petey Pablo, a longtime associate of Robert's, holds a co-production credit on here, and this was about a year before he started spinning t-shirts over his head.

2. LIFE STORY (FEAT CHERYL PEPSI RILEY & RAQUEL)
Black Rob's lyrical delivery is the closest to the aesthetic of The Notorious B.I.G. that Puffy would ever find (at least until he signed Shyne, I suppose). Nashiem Myrick's instrumental facilitates Robbie's probably-semi-autobiographical-or-at-least-he's-a-good-listener tales, which are paired up with at least one kind-of shocking image: Rob forgiving his mother for once telling him, out of anger (I'm just guessing here), that he should have been aborted (or "flushed", as he puts it). This actually wasn't bad.

3. WHOA!
This song was overtly gimmicky at a time when gimmicks were all the rage in hip hop. Over a string-driven Buckwild beat, Black Rob punctuates his every thought with "Whoa!", not unlike how normal people may use an exclamation point to approximate excitement. This track is corny as shit, but I'll be honest: I really like this song. Always have. And it sounds as good today as it did back then (which, I admit, isn't saying a whole lot). I never cared much for the all-star remix, though, which featured every single semi-popular rapper at the time (and also an early appearance by Petey Pablo), but this original track still works for me.

4. DRIVE BY (INTERLUDE)
...

5. LOOKIN' AT US (FEAT CEE-LO)
The hook on here, which is a bit too wordy, seems to have informed a great deal of Joe Budden's style, but I won't hold that fact against either Rob of special guest star Cee-Lo. Robbie has quickly established that he is comfortable with these dramatic instrumentals, but can also alternate to radio-friendly as needed, which is, if nothing else, a very profitable quality. Cee-Lo sounds both ill-advised and fascinating, proving, yet again, why he is the Goodie Mob member with the successful solo career.

6. DOWN THE LINE JOINT (FEAT G-DEP, MA$E, MARK CURRY, & PUFF DADDY)
To the shock of absolutely nobody, Puff Daddy sounds rather fucking terrible during his lead-off verse. The man sounds barely better spitting the written word than Oprah. Black Robert could have commissioned a cameo from MC Skat Kat with better results. Yogi (the guy from the apparently defunct rap group CRU) provides an instrumental that is frustrating to listen to: the fake scratching only seems to peel a coat of paint off of your level of patience. Also, Pastor Ma$e provides an embarrassing performance on this Bad Boy posse cut. Had he still been around at the time, I'm certain that Biggie Smalls himself would have found a valid reason to not appear on this crap.

7. ESPACIO (FEAT LIL' KIM & G-DEP)
I wasn't seriously thinking that Puff Daddy would have unleashed an album on Bad Boy Records without trying to piss off the hip hop audience by including really shitty, overproduced crossover attempts, but I still had my fingers crossed. Regardless, this song is awful, but I'm sure you two had already figured that shit out when you read that Lil' Kim was one of the featured players. Alas, Robbie's half-hearted attempt to teach the listener Spanish during the chorus will never be heard, nor should it ever be.

8. YOU DON'T KNOW ME (FEAT JOE HOOKER)
I don't remember if this was the first single from Life Story, or if it was "I Dare You": for all intents and purposes, they're both the exact same song, aside from the fact that Joe Hooker's beat on here is much more cinematic in scope. Hooker, or Bad Boy president (and A&R for Life Story, and I understand he would occasionally bring in donuts, too) Harve Pierre, provides vocals that are best known for the fact that the man seems to not be able to actually sing, but the conviction in his performance cannot be denied. Black Rob should exclusively tell his crime stories over beats such as this. Fuck, Black Rob should exclusively read his grocery shopping lists over beats such as this.

9. CAN I LIVE (FEAT THE LOX)
Black Bob borrows the title from a well-known Jay-Z song for his collaboration with all three members of The Lox, who I had forgotten were still signed to Bad Boy when Life Story dropped. Over a D-Dot instrumental that sounds left over from Puffy's No Way Out, Jadakiss, Styles P., Sheek, and Robert all spit some fairly entertaining shit. Robbie is the weakest link on here, but that's only because of how good The Lox sound when they're all together. This was a pleasant surprise.

10. CHAMPIONSHIP (INTERLUDE)
...

11. PD WORLD TOUR (FEAT PUFF DADDY)
Black Rob may be an underrated rhyme spitter (at least he might have been considered as such back in the late 1990s), but he isn't good enough to warrant the unfair comparison he brings upon himself by shouting "Protect Ya Neck!" during the second chorus. Oddly, Puffy sounds like a much better rapper over this simplistic instrumental (credited to both D-Dot and Charlemagne), but that statement only draws attention to the fact that this song sucks. I mean, seriously? Puffy absolutely had to put his rap name initials in the title of the fucking song? How pretentious is that?

12. MUSCLE GAME (FEAT MARK CURRY & MARIO WINANS)
Meh.

13. COP SKIT (INTERLUDE)
...

14. B.R. (FEAT G-DEP)
Not to be outdone by his boss, Black Robbie titles a song after his own rap name initials. This track is calm enough to lull you into a false sense of security, but it's still threatening enough that you'll give up the spider hole that your man who robbed that dice game last Tuesday has been staying at, and you'll actually believe that snitching was a really good idea. It is kind of weird that another rapper appears on a song that was clearly named after our host, but it's not as if that's an unprecedented move.

15. THUG STORY
Black Rob takes a bad idea (jacking the beat and overall theme from Slick Rick's classic "Children's Story") and turns in such a pitiful performance, one which isn't consistent with the rest of Life Story, that I'm convinced this was all Puffy's idea, and I'll give the artist a pass. However, after this shit, any further missteps fall on his own shoulders.

16. JASMINE (FEAT CARL THOMAS)
This song was alright, I suppose, but it runs much longer that it has any right to, considering the fact that the track, which deliberately and methodically takes its time in establishing the mood, setting, and pace, suddenly ends midway through the chorus. Not the most memorable tale Bob has spilled, but the beat (which took three people to create, apparently: D-Dot, Nashiem Myrick, and Carlos "Six July" Brody) was peaceful, so that counts for something.

17. MAD RAPPER (INTERLUDE)
These interludes aren't funny anymore. Also, it's spelled "Madd" when referring to D-Dot's disgruntled rapper, Bad Boy marketing department. Maybe you should do a bit more research next time.

18. I LOVE YOU BABY (FEAT PUFF DADDY)
I've always felt that this was one of the best songs from Puff Daddy's No Way Out, so even though it sounds entirely out of place on Life Story (not to mention dated as hell), I still welcome this exemplary track. Proof positive that not everything Diddy touches turns into horseshit. This was always more of a Black Rob song anyway, so its inclusion kind of makes sense. This shit still sounds really good today, and it helps the listener forgive the atrocities that will take place on the very next track.

19. SPANISH FLY (FEAT JENNIFER LOPEZ)
If I were Madonna, I would beat the shit out of J-Lo for blatantly swiping her "La Isla Bonita" hook, a vastly superior track, for the hook. I realize that radio-friendly piffle is Puffy's bread and butter (that, and sampling songs from the 1980s, and usually not the good ones), and Selena's Jennifer Lopez only appears because she was contractually obligated to as Puffy's girlfriend of the moment (obviously, this was recorded prior to the club shootout that got Shyne locked in the bing), but I've already used too many words to make the following statement: what the fuck is this shit?

20. RISE UP (INTERLUDE)
...

21. I DARE YOU (FEAT JOE HOOKER)
I first heard this song on the soundtrack to Slam, and I have a feeling that its inclusion on Life Story is that of an unofficial bonus track, but this is still very similar in feel to "You Don't Know Me", right down to Joe Hooker's vocals. Younglord's beat (which uses a sample that was also used for the original version of Big Punisher's "The Dream Shatterer") paces Black Bobby's congratulatory run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (although he's a New York-based artist). And with that, Life Story is now closed.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Life Story is surprisingly consistent today, and I only use the word "surprisingly" because I didn't care much for it upon its original release. Puff Daddy smartly constructs the project around the street tales of Black Rob, an affable storyteller who is up to the challenge. The many dramatic turns Life Story takes serve to make the radio-friendly attempts all the more obvious, but unlike other Bad Boy Records projects, you're more apt to look past the bad to embrace the hood. Black Rob's career didn't pan out beyond this album (there are more, but nobody ever bought them), but this album is still something he can proudly bar his children from listening to, thanks to all of the adult situations, language, nudity, violence, and pervasive drug use.

BUY OR BURN? I want to make this very clear: I recommend a purchase, but I do not feel that you should pay a lot for that muffler. So don't jump online and give up the full retail price. Should you come across this in a used CD store, don't hesitate to throw a couple of bucks Black Rob's way, though. He'll appreciate it, at least, and you'll find something to enjoy on here.

BEST TRACKS: "I Love You Baby"; "Whoa!"; "Can I Live"; "You Don't Know Me"; "I Dare You"; "B.R."; "Lookin' At Us"

-Max

EPMD - Business As Usual (1990)

2009-11-07T12:00:00.002-06:00

In 1989, Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith, performing under the group name EPMD, released their sophomore effort, Unfinished Business. While it moved a good number of units, the majority of the album was described as not living up to the gold standard set by the duo's debut album, Strictly Business. So with Business As Usual, their third album, Erick and Parrish aimed to start things over fresh.

They were aided in their quest by the unlikeliest of frenemies: their record label, Fresh/Sleeping Bag Records, allowed Def Jam Records to buy out the duo's contract, so Business As Usual ended up being their second debut album. They reintroduced their formula, which hadn't been tinkered with since 1988: funky samples all mashed together to create a coherent musical environment for Erick and Parrish to destroy with their aggressive braggadocio. Which probably would have worked, had it not been for those meddling kids.

I'm speaking specifically of one Reggie Noble, better known as Redman. Before becoming one of the best and most consistently entertaining emcees in the game, he had to start off somewhere, and he made his debut alongside his mentors Erick and Parrish on "Hardcore". Because of this bit of trivia, Business As Usual is typically referred to as the album that featured the birth of Reggie, and with his one verse, the man manages to overshadow all of the lyrical contributions of his hosts. I'm also speaking specifically of one James Todd Smith, better known as LL Cool J: after drinking the Def Jam Kool-Aid, EPMD found themselves sharing a label with Ladies Love and invited the man to spit a verse on "Rampage", an offer I'm sure they wish he had refused, since nobody gave a damn about Parrish's comically anti-aggressive verse.

Business As Usual was seen (at the time) as a return to form for Erick and Parrish, abandoning the bullshit posturing of Unfinished Business and getting back on the horse. The Source even named it one of the top one hundred rap albums ever released. Time is the ultimate judge, however (with me as a close second), so let's see how well Business As Usual (a) stacks up to its obvious competition, Strictly Business, and (b) held up over the past twenty years.

1. I'M MAD
With that particular title, I can only assume that, like myself, Erick and Parrish were also mad at how Unfinished Business turned out, and deliberately attempted to make actual good music their third time around the track. The high-energy instrumental simulates EPMD being chased down (by cops, bill collectors, religious zealots, Jane, aggressive Girl Scouts, whatever fits), and it works like a motherfucker. This was a nice way to kick things off, and as an added bonus, E and PMD, never the greatest rappers behind the mic, sound rejuvenated. Too bad that effect wears off relatively soon.

2. HARDCORE (FEAT REDMAN)
This song is considered to be a huge fucking deal because it features the very first official recorded appearance from Reggie Noble. And he sounds pretty impressive, especially if you love his debut, Whut?! Thee Album, more than the rest of the man's catalog. But truth be told, other than "Hardcore"'s historical significance, this track sucks balls. Both Erick and Parrish sould as if they don't know what to do with themselves (PMD even resorts to using a familiar gay slur for no real reason). Oh well, at least the beat was kind of cool.

3. RAMPAGE (FEAT LL COOL J)
No surprise here: EPMD opens their door to a collaboration with an artist outside of their camp, and they both get fucking trounced. Ladies Love wipes the floor with E and PMD without even really trying, although Parrish tries to get noticed by submitting a homophobic and violent opening verse. (As these attacks seem to come out of nowhere, I have to believe that Parrish Smith may have had a problem with the gay community back in 1990. Yep, I'm starting that rumor, too.) Still, I like this track, because the beat is awesome in the way that it still informs hip hop music to this very day.

4. MANSLAUGHTER
This sounded alright while it was playing, especially since portions of the beat were reused on the breakthrough Destiny's Child hit "No No No Part 2" (featuring Wyclef Jean), back when Beyonce wasn't a media juggernaut, just a cute girl with a big ass and aspirations of kicking everyone else out of the group. Then I re-read the title and found that it isn't called "Man's Laughter", and instantly forgot how this shit sounded. Yep, it's that memorable.

5. JANE 3
This is the worst chapter in the "Jane" series thus far. What does it say about Parrish that, as soon as he realizes that his new friend Jay was really Jane, he fucks the shit out of her (after brutally attacking him/her, mind you)? Seriously, what the hell were you two going for on here?

6. FOR MY PEOPLE
Meh.

7. MR. BOZACK
Am I supposed to really believe that Erick and Parrish would discuss their bathing habits with one another? Nobody needs to know that you need to hit the shower so that you can "wash your butt". However, this song (whose namesake also, apparently, warrants a co-production credit on Business As Usual, although I'm fairly certain he's just a figment of my imagination) features the most cursing from Erick Sermon that I can recall on any previous EPMD effort, so although I don't require explicit lyrics in my rap songs, kids do need a way to piss their parents off somehow. This track was kind of a mess. I'm sure Mr. Bozack won't be sending HHID a Christmas card anytime soon, either. Because he's Jewish, you see.

8. GOLD DIGGER
It's songs such as this one that make me feel that Business As Usual is more Unfinished Business and less Strictly Business. It sounds technically proficient, but you can be the best fry cook at McDonald's: you're still the fucking fry cook.

9. GIVE THE PEOPLE
I would expect that what EMPD should be giving the people is entertaining music. But with shit like this, I'd rather go hand out with that giant douche Jon Gosselin and listen to his eight kids cry while they're being neglected by two of the most selfish parents in the entire fucking universe. Sorry, bit of a tangent, I know. But you all know I'm right.

10. RAP IS OUTTA CONTROL
I don't love this song, but it's still enjoyable enough. Sadly, the sentiment expressed in the title still holds true today (and not just because EPMD would later release a sequel, creatively titled "Rap Is Still Outta Control", on their 1999 album Out Of Business). Both E and PMD seem to step their respective lyrical games up, possibly in an attempt to be a part of the solution and not the problem. The song fades out at the end in the middle of a verse, though: you don't have to be Max to be annoyed by that kind of shit.

11. BROTHERS ON MY JOCK (FEAT REDMAN)
"Nautilus" is truly a part of every hip hop song ever made. Not that I'm complaining: Bob James did create a very compelling composition. And considering that EPMD traffic heavily in samples to make up their beats, it would have been a travesty if they fucked this track up. Thankfully, the music sounds good, even if I couldn't remember any of the verses if you laid out the lyrics in front of me while handing over a daily recommended dosage of gingko biloba. (Yes, sadly, this includes Reggie's contribution.)

12. UNDERGROUND
The problem I have with "Underground" isn't the mildly funky beat or the lyrics from Erick and Parrish that instantly turn into vapor. No, my beef is with the hook: EPMD are successful recording artists, and Business As Usual is their third album, so who in their fucking right mind will truly believe that either man is "coming straight from the underground"?

13. HIT SQUAD HEIST
This song illustrates one of the most poorly planned heists in rap music history. The execution would have been more believable if it were concerning snatching a lollipop (one of those oversized novelty joints) out of a little boy's hands. The music, which reminds me of a loose reenactment of the Average White Band's "Picking Up The Pieces" (minus the bullshit sample from The Steve Miller Band's "Fly Like An Eagle", of course), also doesn't come across as the score to any sort of criminal activity. Some critics would label this as a study in contrasts: I call it irreparable.

14. FUNKY PIANO
While I appreciate the fact that the middle portion of this song is transformed into a showcase for the third component of EPMD, DJ Scratch (and both E and P pay homage to him within their verses), this track is dull as extremely boring dishwater. And on top of all that, the "piano" (sample) that is prevalent on this track isn't even funky! How the fuck can you possibly end an album like this? EPMD surely found a way.

FINAL THOUGHTS: After a promising start with "I'm Mad", Business As Usual fucking tanks. If Strictly Business was The Matrix (a revolutionary piece of work) and Unfinished Business was The Matrix Reloaded (a horrible sequel that even featured an anti-drinking public service announcement, which to me is just as corny as the cave dance sequence that reminded everybody of Ewoks), EPMD's third effort is, predictably, The Matrix Revolutions, the film that tries its best to bring the funk back to the franchise (see: The Architect), but ultimately fails. (I'm not sure where that places the other albums in EPMD's catalog: this isn't a perfect metaphor.) Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith (along with DJ Scratch) attempt to replicate what made Strictly Business strictly bananas, but this time around, the chosen samples sound forced together unnaturally, like peanut butter and Jell-O, or Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson. There are a couple of good songs on here, and the debut performance from future star Reggie Noble has to count for something, but Business As Usual is just, as its title suggests, more of the fucking same, and that formula hasn't worked for a couple of albums now.

BUY OR BURN? Burn this one. Erick and Parrish have done better work, so the lack of effort shown on here is thisclose to appalling. And I'm sure the "purists" will challenge this review, but so be it: it is what it is, and this album doesn't hold up.

BEST TRACKS: "Rampage"; "I'm Mad"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Read up on the other EPMD albums by clicking here.

Max Comments On Selections From Billboard's Hot 100 Chart (Week Ending October 31, 2009)

2009-10-29T12:00:00.002-05:00

That picture has nothing to do with Billboard or billboards, but it makes sense to me.

Over the past few months, I received more than one request to bring back my commentary on the Billboard charts, which showcase what songs are hot at the moment. (Okay, so I received one such request.) I realize that reviewing such a list is fleeting at best, since all Billboard truly measures is the idea of temporary popularity, which is why most songs drop off of the chart after about roughly two months, and anything that particular periodical writes about tends to be entirely irrelevant in about half that time, but in case you haven't noticed, Hip Hop Isn't Dead tends to traffic in lists, and besides, I figured this would at least be slightly entertaining.

Actually reviewing all one hundred songs on the chart would take up too much of my valuable time, and I haven't actually heard of most of these tracks regardless, since I try not to listen to the radio very often, but depending on the response to this post, I may consider sitting down to discuss it in its entirety in the future.

Anyway.

94. "MONEY TO BLOW" - BIRDMAN FEAT. LIL' WAYNE & DRAKE
This was originally a Drake song, but apparently Baby (which is one of the wackest rap names ever - it makes 'Birdman' sound damn near civilized) felt that he could only add positive ideas to the overall concept of the song, which is about, from what I understand, having money to blow. (I wasn't aware that Degrassi: The Next Generation paid that well, Aubrey.) As weird as this sounds coming from me, all three men have released better songs. (I'm almost embarrassed to write this, but I don't hate "Always Strapped", by Birdman and Wayne. It's okay, you can make fun of me in the comments if you want: there's something about that beat that makes driving pretty fucking dramatic.)

91. "I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS" - MARIAH CAREY
It's not her first cover, but it's strange that Mrs. Nick Cannon has fallen this far. Oh wait, no it isn't: I just referred to her as Mrs. Nick Cannon. Without even really trying, Marshall Mathers has won this battle. There is no need for this song to exist when Foreigner is still touring as a band.

90. "WHEELS" - FOO FIGHTERS
It's hard for me to believe that these are the same guys who brought us the masterful "Everlong". This actually sounds like Dave Grohl wrote this shit for Nickelback and decided at the last minute to keep the shit to himself. Kurt Cobain must be spinning in his grave.

89. "YOU'RE A JERK" - NEW BOYZ
Well, fuck you, too.

88. "KINGS AND QUEENS" - 30 SECONDS TO MARS
Every time I see Jared Leto performing, my mind hearkens back to Jordan Catalano on My So-Called Life (which I still believe is one of the most overrated shows in the history of television). He couldn't even fucking read! Even James Franco's character from Freaks and Geeks (a far superior show) wasn't this fucking stupid. And Angela Chase apparently equated illiteracy with depth, when we all know that, even if they did end up together, there would be no way in the real world (beyond high school, if he ever graduated) that he would ever be able to support her financially. But I digress: I like one of this band's songs. Just not this one.

75. "NUMBER ONE" - R. KELLY FEAT. KERI HILSON
"Number One"? Really? Now Kells is just making fun of that underage chick that he pissed on in that video. Which is in incredibly poor taste, but that's still not as bad as the fact that he pissed on an underage chick, caught it on video, and still wasn't found guilty. What the fuck, America?

74. "I'M GOING IN" - DRAKE FEAT. LIL' WAYNE & YOUNG JEEZY
I believe this appears on the EP release for So Far Gone and not the free mixtape that Aubrey unleashed a year of two ago. Weezy's borderline crying on the hook, which consists of, literally, "I'm going in! / And I'mma go hard!". No wonder pop culture constantly questions the sexuality of every single rapper in existence. The beat is okay, though.

69. "LOL :-)" - TREY SONGZ FEAT. GUCCI MANE & SOULJA BOY TELL'EM
One of the most retarded R&B songs I have ever had the displeasure of listening to. And I seem to have missed the memo that named Gucci Mane as the most popular rapper of 2009. When the fuck did that shit happen? Has anybody ever actually listened to a Gucci Mane song? Shit like this makes me want to give up on music. I realize that this is just a 2009 update to the concept of a song about a booty call, but that doesn't mean it insults the audience any less.

62. "BODY LANGUAGE" - JESSE MCCARTNEY FEAT. T-PAIN
Proof positive that Thelonius Pain has seeped into the public consciousness. Well, it's this,"I'm On A Boat", and his iPhone app.

59. "HEY, SOUL SISTER" - TRAIN
Train is still recording music? Hey, good for them.

58. "SMILE" - UNCLE KRACKER
Uncle Kracker is still recording music? Hey, what the hell? How the fuck does this guy still have fans? What the fuck, America?

54. "I'M ALIVE" - KENNY CHESNEY FEAT. DAVE MATTHEWS
I can think of one very important reason why I will never want to listen to this song, even if I was a fan of the former Mr. Renee Zellweger.

52. "ONE LESS LONELY GIRL" - JUSTIN BIEBER
I caught the video for this on MTV earlier this week (you see, if you're up much earlier than you should be, you're rewarded with actual music videos on what is supposed to be Music Television), and I thought this guy was the kid who plays Shane Botwin on Weeds. True fact. Still not convinced that I'm wrong.

45. "I KNOW YOU WANT ME (CALLE OCHO)" - PITBULL
I will say that I can only appreciate how Pitbull creates music that is only designed to get the girls on the dance floor. All of his beats seem to have been ripped off from older European rave anthems, but I give him a pass, as his songs don't generally suck.

36. "SUCCESSFUL" - DRAKE FEAT. TREY SONGZ & LIL' WAYNE
It would appear that Drake is physically incapable of appearing on a song if his Young Money boss, Lil' Weezy, isn't by his side. Considering the fact that his "Best I Ever Had" is also on this list (I just chose to gloss over it, as I am kind of sick of that shit), I realize this isn't true, but young Aubrey really needs to find a better collaborator. I do like this song, though: the beat is atypically haunting for what you would believe to be a motivational tool, and the fact that it totally isn't one makes it even better. Trey Songz almost redeems himself in my eyes with his hook, but then he jumps back down the shitter with his version of the song, on which he performs his own verse that sets popular music back at least one thousand years. The way Drake pronounces the word "progress" also makes me giggle for no good reason.

32. "SHE WOLF" - SHAKIRA
I like Shakira (for the obvious reasons...what, some of her songs, especially the Spanish ones, are really good: what did you think I was talking about?), but this song is fucking ridiculous. The video is even goofier: her "dancing" (the quotation marks are intentional) is half sexy and half interpretative, and neither style works for her. And yet, strangely, just like most of the woman's catalog, even this track sounds better in her native language. Funny, that.

29. "HOTEL ROOM SERVICE" - PITBULL
Has anybody ever paid attention to how graphic Pitbull's lyrics get on this radio-friendly trifle? And yet, he gets the key to the city of Miami. You know, Trina hasn't ever received any kind of award from her home state. Neither has Luther Campbell.

27. "I CAN TRANSFORM YA" - CHRIS BROWN FEAT. LIL' WAYNE & SWIZZ BEATS
Since this is a brand new song, I feel it's pretty obvious that Wayne and Swizzy both hate Rihanna and have placed their trust in Chris Brown's woman-beating hands. And yet, Shawn Carter will continue to work with both of the guests. Hey, musicians continued to work with Ike Turner, too.

20. "ALREADY GONE" - KELLY CLARKSON
This is the song that Kelly Clarkson didn't want her label to release, since it sounds just like Beyonce's "Halo". And you know what? She was exactly fucking right.

18. "BREAK UP" - MARIO FEAT. GUCCI MANE & SEAN GARRETT
So this is what passes for R&B these days? Ripping off Lil' Wayne's "A Milli" staccato and throwing rap's apparent go-to guy, Gucci Mane, on it for a half-assed verse? I realize I sound like an old, embittered man by writing this, but how is this music? (And yes, I realize that argument could be levied at most of the stuff that I actually review.)

16. "OBSESSED" - MARIAH CAREY FEAT. GUCCI MANE
I posed this question on Twitter, but I'll repeat it for the folks at home: why the fuck is Mariah singing through Auto-Tune on here? She has an actual good singing voice. That fact hasn't actually mattered ever since she divorced Tommy Motolla, though, "We Belong Together" notwithstanding. And after seeing the video, Eminem must be rolling in his grave.

15. "FOREVER" - DRAKE FEAT. KANYE WEST, LIL' WAYNE, & EMINEM
Other than the expected Lil' Wayne cameo (which only furthers my argument - seriously, Drake should maybe leave his house and meet some new people), this is easily the most bizarre posse cut of 2009. And while the most exciting aspect of this track is seeing Slaughterhouse posted up behind Marshall while he performs his verse in the video clip (while I believe signing the machine to Interscope (only a rumor at this stage) would be a mistake, how fucking cool would it be to hear Royce and Em rhyming together again?), this is actually not bad. Oddly, the weak link on here is Mr. West, but even he sounds pretty good.

13. "USE SOMEBODY" - KINDS OF LEON
This song is played entirely too often on the radio. Which is good for Kings of Leon (it helps them make tons of money in royalties), but bad for the rest of the general population.

12. "EMPIRE STATE OF MIND" - JAY-Z FEAT. ALICIA KEYS
I officially withdraw the statement I made during my Gut Reaction post on The Blueprint 3: Alicia Keys does, in fact, make this song. I had changed my mind after hearing her sing her ass of at the MTV Video Music Awards, while Hova sounded hoarse and Lil' Mama was debating just when, exactly, she should interrupt the performance, Kanye-style.

11. "SWEET DREAMS" - BEYONCE
This sounds like the aural equivalent of a Jackson Pollack painting. A technique which doesn't translate well in the world of music, mind you. In other words, this is a motherfucking mess. It's funny how all of Bey's solo songs (save for "Halo", which is now stuck in my head, making me realize that it isn't all bad) have gone downhill in quality ever since Dangerously In Love dropped. Some call it "artistic growth": I see it as a singer who has no concept of what actually sounds good anymore.

10. "YOU BELONG WITH ME" - TAYLOR SWIFT
As far as I'm concerned, Kanye West did young Taylor a favor: thanks to his drunken antics, she became the first artist to ever receive a second chance to deliver an acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards, and her song now receives even more spins on the radio than it did before. And it was played a fucking lot. I found it hilarious that the media tried to take 'Ye to task for his actions, but the hip hop world had little to no comment: that was because nobody gave a fuck. This is just what Kanye West does. He's done it his entire career. It won't stop anybody from buying the man's next album.

8. "I GOTTA FEELING" - THE BLACK EYED PEAS
These jackasses hold both the number eight and nine slots on the chart ("Meet Me Halfway" is the other song, and even their insipid "Boom Boom Pow" occupies a space in the top fifty). I just hope that these assholes are saving all of the money they've earned for selling the fuck out, as their hip hop credibility falls by the wayside, since they're going to fall (it's almost predictable). I have some other shit to say about the Black Eyed Peas, but I'll save that for the day if/when I choose to write about their actual albums. So stay tuned.

7. "FIREFLIES" - OWL CITY
This is what The Postal Service would sound like if Ben Gibbard was more of a pussy.

6. "PAPARAZZI" - LADY GAGA
The video clip is all sorts of creepy (it's implied that Gaga murders someone by hanging them, and yet, this video gets regular airplay on VH-1), but damn if it isn't catchy. As far as pop music goes, you can do a lot worse than liking Lady Gaga. Like, for instance, if you were a fan of bullshit Owl City.

4. "RUN THIS TOWN" - JAY-Z FEAT. RIHANNA & KANYE WEST
Hova utters the phrase "Whassup?" at least eighteen times during this track; it seems that nobody took my "drinking game" comment from the original review for The Blueprint 3 seriously. And even with that new piece of information, thanks to endless radio play I've decided that I was wrong about this Jay-Z song, as well: Kanye does not murder his mentor on his own shit. Shawn's verses actually fit the beat better, albeit nonsensically. The video still sucks, though.

3. "PARTY IN THE U.S.A." - MILEY CYRUS
Sorry, Jay, but you just can't control the kind of folks who will listen to and relate to your music.

2. "WHATCHA SAY" - JASON DERULO
I wonder how many fans of this song moved on to its source material, Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek". I'm betting not very many. I suppose fans of The O.C. probably aren't happy that they now have to share the track with the rest of the world, though. As for Jason, I hope his next hit single samples from The Shins, Iron & Wine, and whoever else appeared on the soundtrack to Garden State.

1. "DOWN" - JAY SEAN FEAT. LIL' WAYNE
Well, at least Drake doesn't appear on here.

See you in a few.

-Max

A Tribe Called Quest - The Love Movement (September 29, 1998)

2009-10-27T12:00:00.002-05:00

Being a world-famous hip hop blogger has its obvious perks. With the use of only a handful of words, I can make or break newer artists trying to break into the limelight. I can mold the taste of the general public as if I were an artist with his child's Play-Doh. And with a wink of my eye (usually the right one: using th eleft one has unforeseen consequences), young women who do absolutely nothing but read my blog and drool over my recommendations peel off their tops (usually in public places, such as bookstores, clubs, and at your mom's house) with a quickness typically reserved for being on fire. Yep, the power I wield with my bare hands is mesmerizing.

But the one thing I have been unable to do is convince A Tribe Called Quest to get back together.

It's not for a lack of trying. After they announced the demise of the crew in 1998, shortly before their final album, The Love Movement, was released, Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad were hot commodities who all embarked on solo careers, but their paths continued to cross: they even recorded a reunion track of sorts, "I.C.U. (Doin' It)", with Erykah Badu, for an unreleased compilation album. But today, it's almost as if these three have no knowledge of the existence of each other. Q-Tip has had the most successful solo career, if success can be measured by the fact that he recorded three separate sophomore albums before he could finally convince a label that he might make them some money (although it's awesome, I'm fairly certain that The Renaissance hasn't sold many copies). Phife Dawg released a solo album as well, but has been sidetracked from hip hop due to both health concerns and his side business as a sports agent, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad has seen limited success both by himself and as a part of the group Lucy Pearl, but hasn't been heard from in quite a while.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The Love Movement, which was not intended to be the group's final album, became just that due to ongoing issues with their label, Jive Records (record company rule #4080: "Record company people are shaaaaaady..."). Coming off of the criticism they garnered for their fourth effort, Beats, Rhymes & Life, A Tribe Called Quest made a valiant attempt to appeal to the hip hop fans they feared they had lost, all while sticking to their positive intentions. The production collective The Ummah (Tip, Ali Shaheed, and the late J. Dilla) again provided the bulk of the album's musical backing, but this time around, they scaled back on the smooth jazz-lite from their previous work and simplified their sound, making The Love Movement sound like the most expensive underground album ever produced.

The Love Movement had the disadvantage of being released on September 29, 1998, the same day that saw numerous other hip hop albums hit the shelves, among them the more critically acclaimed Aquemini (from Outkast), the reunion album from Brand Nubian (Foundation), and one especially important disc that I will mention later on in this write-up. Reviews were generally positive, but the album didn't sell as well as I'm sure Jive was hoping, so A Tribe Called Quest ended up going out with a whimper. I don't even personally know anybody who actually owns The Love Movement, but everybody seems to agree on The Low End Theory and (especially) Midnight Marauders, which are among the best one-two punches in hip hop history.

So, is this review worth the long wait? (I'm doing much better now, thanks.)

1. START IT UP
Takes its sweet time to get things actually started, but once it does, Kamaal immediately launches into a verse that sounds much more aggressive than anything from Beats, Rhymes & Life. The Ummah's instrumental fits this introductory track well, and although Phife Dawg is nowhere to be found (not that this is the biggest deal on A Tribe Called Quest's albums, I know), this was still quite enjoyable. Still, this is light years behind The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders.

2. FIND A WAY
The first single, and the only track from The Love Movement that Tribe shot a video for (as far as I know). Q-Tip's reference to Gina teasing Martin sounds a bit unsettling when one remembers that the actress who played Gina on Martin, Tisha Campbell-Martin (weird coincidence, I know), quit the show during its final season after allegedly being sexually harassed by star Martin Lawrence, but that's just a minor quibble. Tribe has always had a way with the love rap (see: "Electric Relaxation", still one of my favorite songs of all time), but this track (produced solely by J. Dilla) has always left me feeling indifferent.

3. DA BOOTY
I never cared for this track. The Ummah's beat isn't a good fit for either Kamaal or Phife Dawg, and they both appear to be uncomfortable behind the mic, which is never a good characteristic for a rap group who is five albums deep into their career.

4. STEPPIN' IT UP (FEAT BUSTA RHYMES & REDMAN)
Funnier than either version of "Scenario" and more enjoyable than "Show Business" by a hair, for two very important reasons: (1) Busta Rhymes, a longtime associate of Q-Tip and company, wishes that he had an extra dick, not so he could fuck two groupies at once or double-penetrate all in a single bound (like a normal person), but simply so that he can hold onto one of them while the other is doing its own thing, up to and including passing some Courvoisier, to help best facilitate the next DUI charge, and (2) Reggie Noble's line "best believe I went through more trees than Sonny [Bono]", which is both goofy and mean-spirited, and I would expect nothing less from Redman. Q-Tip and Phife Dawg are both overshadowed, which is a shame, but they don't seem to mind one bit, as they appear to be enjoying this track as much as any Tribe fan would (and will). And hey, how many times will I use the phrase "double-penetrate" when writing about A Tribe Called Quest?

5. LIKE IT LIKE THAT
The second single. At least, I'm fairly certain it was: there was never a video shot, and I never heard this song on the radio around my way, but I possess a promo-only CD single for this track that contains both a radio edit and an instrumental. I've always liked the smooth sound of this song, as it is a much better attempt at a love rap than "Find A Way". The hook is a bit too simple, but the song is catchy. If you never cared for "Like It Like That" before, I urge you to give it another spin. Go ahead, I can wait.

6. COMMON GROUND (GET IT GOIN' ON)
This is some jazzy shit right here. Tip and Phife pose questions and provide their own responses in lieu of waiting for the studio audience, and they do so over The Ummah's instrumental work, which bobs and weaves throughout the conversation like a prizefighter. This could be seen as a precursor to Q-Tip's awesome solo song "You", except with much more of a positive tone. Overall, I liked it.

7. 4 MOMS (FEAT SPANKY)
Tribe gets the late Chalmers "Spanky" Alford, a well-reknowned jazz guitarist, to provide an instrumental interlude, albeit one which becomes more than a little bit tiresome before its one-minute-and-forty-eight-seconds is complete.

8. HIS NAME IS MUTTY RANKS
Phife Dawg's solo shot, which, as per usual, proves that Q-Tip isn't the only formidable emcee in A Tribe Called Quest. His playful verses have always acted as a perfect counterpoint to Kamaal's abstract poetic rhetoric. It ends far too soon, though.

9. GIVE ME (FEAT NOREAGA)
This song sucks motherfucking koala balls. And koalas are all tainted with syphilis (true fact), so you should take that mental image to its natural conclusion. The beat is bland, Q-Tip's hook is uncharacteristically ridiculous (for a Tribe song, anyway), and, probably most offensively, Noreaga appears on this shit. Now Nore and Tribe hail from the same general vicinity, so it isn't unfathomable for them to work together, but you know what? There are many other rappers from Queens that they could have used to fill that slot.

10. PAD & PEN
This was the type of song that I believed The Love Movement would be filled with when it was first announced. Instead, "Pad & Pen" ended up being the only track of its kind on the album. Regardless, this is enjoyable enough, as it is a throwback to a simpler time in Tribe's career. Also, Phife's line about "emcees sounding moist like vagina juice" is funny, and Kamaal's mention of slipping in a smile every now and then is telling for the kind of rap group A Tribe Called Quest has always been.

11. BUSTA'S LAMENT
I have to admit, working a Busta Rhymes vocal sample into the actual beat is pretty clever, and putting the man's name int the title is brilliant. The only thing that could have made this track better is if Tribe had included Busta himself on the song. But maybe that's just me.

12. HOT 4 U
A Tribe Called Quest has never shied away from the sex rap (especially since sex would, ostensibly, be one of the more positive outcomes from a love rap). I liked this track back in the day, but for some reason, even with the peaceful Ummah beat and the more-than-credible verses from Phife and Tip, today the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts.

13. AGAINST THE WORLD
Meh.

14. THE LOVE
I've always liked this song, although it is a bit depressing to hear Q-Tip rhyme about making music because he loves to do it, and then know that his next project would end up being his overly-commercial solo debut Amplified. But the track still works, somehow. Phife is missed on here, though.

15. ROCK ROCK Y'ALL (FEAT PUNCHLINE, WORDSWORTH, JANE DOE, & MOS DEF)
Because both albums were released on the same day, I've always felt that this song had a spiritual connection to "Twice Inna Lifetime" off of Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, and not simply because that was also the last song on that album: it helps that both songs feature many of the same players (Talib Kweli is replaced by Q-Tip on here). I don't know if the end of Tribe was looming when this track was recorded, but this Lyricist Lounge update of "Scenario" serves as the perfect passing of the torch to a new generation of rappers, and Tip, Phife (who fails to appear on the last original song on the final A Tribe Called Quest album), and Ali Shaheed gracefully bow out.

The Love Movement's first pressing is (supposedly) the only one to include six bonus tracks following the original program.

16. SCENARIO (REMIX) (FEAT KID HOOD & LEADERS OF THE NEW SCHOOL)
Finally, the remix to the classic posse cut "Scenario" makes its way to compact disc. The late Kid Hood, who passed away shortly after recording his verse (hence Busta's reference to one of the participants being of a "spiritual essence" in his intro), unleashes an electrifying opening verse, and both Tribe and the Leaders provide all new verses over a catchy instrumental from the original song. Possibly one of the best hip hop remixes ever fucking made. Period.

17. MONEY MAKER
For me, anyway, A Tribe Called Quest is as known for their music that wasn't officially released as they are for their actual albums. A handful of their singles feature a crew called Know Naim, which I'm about eighty-five percent sure is just Tribe in disguise (they're also referenced on The Love Movement, and one of its members supposedly co-produced "Busta's Lament"), and Q-Tip also (allegedly) recorded some solo tracks using the name The Lone Ranger, none of which I have found, save for this one (obviously). The fact that Kamaal references Puff Daddy on this solo track places this song in a more recent timeframe than Midnight Marauders, which confounds me even more as to whether this Lone Ranger rumor is actually true, but fuck it: this song rocks. Yes, it's a precursor to the blingy "Vivrant Thing" that Q-Tip would later record, but the man isn't aiming for the rafters here: this song is for Tribe fans, and I, for one, appreciate it.

18. HOT SEX
If you're a Tribe fan that lives outside of the United States, then "Hot Sex" isn't much of a bonus track, since it was tacked on to the end of international pressings of Midnight Marauders. It's also one of the most maligned songs in A Tribe Called Quest's entire catalog. But I still like it: the beat is catchy, and the lyrics are entertaining, although I will concede that the hook is really fucking stupid.

19. OH MY GOD (REMIX)
Tribe applies some fine sandpaper to the original "Oh My God" and, possibly inadvertently, erases the Busta Rhymes sample that gave the song its title. I prefer the original (from Midnight Marauders), but this version is alright. For some reason, this time around I paif more attention to Phife's admission that he "used to have a crush on Dawn from En Vogue": that just makes the fact that Ali Shaheed Muhammad formed Lucy Pearl (after Tribe disbanded) with Raphael Saadiq and Dawn from En Vogue even funnier.

20. JAZZ (WE'VE GOT) (RE-RECORDING RADIO)
For this track, the qualifier "re-recording" apparently means "brand new song", as this sounds absoluetly nothing like the original (from The Low End Theory). (This song also appeared on the technically-unreleased-in-the-United-States Revised Quest For The Seasoned Traveler, a remix compilation.) It's still pretty entertaining, though, even with the more aggressive lyrics from Phife and (especially) Q-Tip. This version can definitely score a hyper house party, high on coke, in a pinch, unlike the first recording, which is good smoking music.

21. ONE TWO SHIT (FEAT BUSTA RHYMES)
I already had this song (it's a B-side from the single for "Oh My God"), so its inclusion was disappointing for me, but I'm a collector and most folks aren't, so there you go. I always felt that this track was one of the lesser ones in Tribe's catalog: it sounds like a throwaway song that Tip and Phife may have recorded for a Busta Rhymes solo album that never existed. Ends The Love Movement on a down note, but then again, the actual album ended six songs ago.

FINAL THOUGHTS: The Love Movement was supposed to be A Tribe Called Quest's celebration of love in all of its incarnations, but it ended up showing Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad in love with the idea of love (and, oddly, Noreaga, for seemingly no reason). It wasn't intended as a swan song, but it is impossible to listen to it without thinking about the breakup of Tribe, and based on that connection, The Love Movement is actually better than most critics give it credit for. (Sadly, we will never know how this album would have been received had the crew stuck to their guns and continued to create music together.) The Ummah's production has been toned down severely from their Beats, Rhymes & Life contributions (this is meant in a good way), and Q-Tip and Phife rhyme as well as they always have, ensuring their legacy and effectively asking all of their fans to seek out other like-minded acts to fill the void left in the genre. Also, the fact that Tribe threw in some bonus goodies for the diehards always sits well with me: the "Scenario" remix is worth the price of admission all by its fucking self.

BUY OR BURN? I recommend a purchase, but you have to make sure you pick up the version with the six bonus songs (to be honest, I've never seen a pressing without the extras, so this may be an easy feat). When combined with the actual album, the total package offers an undeniably entertaining listening experience, for Tribe fans and hip hop fanatics from a bygone era. Also, because nobody else seems to actively admit to liking this CD, you'll probably get a really good deal on it, so there.

BEST TRACKS: "Scenario (Remix)"; "Like It Like That"; "Steppin' It Up"; "Rock Rock Y'all"; "Money Maker"; "Jazz (We've Got) (Re-Recording Radio)"; "Pad & Pen"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Read up on the rest of A Tribe Called Quest's albums by clicking here.

Diversionary Tactics: Zzzzzzzz........

2009-10-01T12:00:00.003-05:00

That's probably the graphic that you two expected at the beginning of the month.

Anyway, I learned something over the past sixty-one days: two months is waaaaay too long to stunt blog. When all of the music starts sounding the same, and you don't look forward to throwing another CD into the stereo, you have a problem, especially if you write a hip hop-themed blog that is all about listening to stuff and then writing about it.

I'm not quitting or anything, but it's time for a rest. So that's exactly what I'm going to do, and hopefully during my vacay, I will be able to gather some different albums that may inspire me much more than, say, fucking Rapper Noyd.

And now, a question from the audience:

Why the hell didn't you write about either Q-Tip or Ghostface Killah's new albums?

The answer is simple: major labels don't send me advance copies (yet), so any Gut Reaction pieces that appear are representative of my actual purchase of the album (unless I specifically mention otherwise). Unfortunately, to my chagrin, other shit kept getting in the way in September, so while I was able to swing Raekwon and Hova, everything else was put on the backburner. (Considering how good the Raekwon joint was, I feel I made the right choice.) I was considering reviewing the older version of Kamaal The Abstract that leaked to the Interweb almost a decade ago, but I figured that would be doing a disservice to Q-Tip, who finally convinced a label to release his jazz project. As for Ghostface, I can't say that I'm one hundred percent thrilled to listen to what is supposed to be his 'R&B' album, but as a Wu stan, it's a given that I will get to it soon.

Thanks for sticking around for the past two months. Drop me a line if you enjoyed the stunt and want to see something similar happen in the future (nothing before 2010, though: this shit took a lot out of me), or if you have any other suggestions for albums or artists that I should cover.

In the meantime, here's a link to the September posts, in case you missed any. And for completion's sake, here's the link to the August posts, as well. Tell your friends, and be sure to leave some comments.

I'll be back in a bit.

Love,

Max

PS. If you have a submission for the next Reader Review series, you can still send them to the e-mail address in the top right. Truth be told, when I pick this back up, I'll probably be running those with more regularity until I get back up to speed, so...

Big Noyd - Only The Strong (September 23, 2003)

2009-09-30T12:00:00.003-05:00

I've decided to finish off the two-month stunt blogging experiment with the sophomore effort from Mobb Deep affiliate Tajuan Perry, also known as Big Noyd (or Rapper Noyd, or Noyd, or sometimes Tito). Some of you two may find this choice puzzling, but this has been sitting in my pile of CDs for two years now, and now is as good a time to get rid of it as any. Also, I've been told that if I write about at least four Mobb Deep-related albums during a stunt, Prodigy will personally attack me in one of his many blogs that he writes from prison. So, that's thrilling.

I'm on record as liking Big Noyd's debut album, the Episodes Of A Hustla EP. It ended up only being an EP release on Tommy Boy Records because of Noyd's prison sentence (so he didn't have time to record any more tracks), but what it lacked in marketing and promotion it gained in entertainment value: almost entirely produced by Havoc of Mobb Deep, it was really fucking good, and it was short enough to know when to end before Noyd's presence became overly annoying.

Rapper Noyd obviously lost his space on the Tommy Boy roster after his time sevred, but to be fair, Tommy Boy doesn't exactly know what to do with their rap artists anymore anyway. He signed a deal with Landspeed Records and quickly recorded his first full-length project, Only The Strong. Production was mainly handled by Havoc, The Alchemist (who had also manned the boards behind the other Mobb Deep affiliate album, the Infamous Mobb's Special Edition), and Emile, with Noyd occasionally sharing mic duties with his boys in the main Mobb duo.

Only The Strong was highly anticipated, mainly by people who seemed to forget that a little bit of Rapper Noyd went a long way, and was met with an inordinate amount of praise. He didn't sell many copies, but he did well enough to be tricked into believing that he could have a good run as a solo performer, instead of simply becoming the fourth member of the Infamous Mobb. Leaving the rest of us hip hop fans to suffer violently.

Sigh.

1. ONLY THE STRONG INTRO
This rap album intro is actually weaker than most. Which means that it sounds really really awful.

2. WATCH OUT
Havoc's beat is annoyingly peppy, which is ridiculous within the context of Mobb Deep and their cohorts. Rapper Noyd's skills behind the mic, which weren't that strong to begin with but were still enjoyable enough on Mobb Deep's The Infamous and on Noyd's own Episodes Of A Hustla, seem to have taken a long walk off of a short pier, and his gangsta threats are neither gangsta nor threatening. This can't be a good sign.

3. SHOOT 'EM UP (BANG BANG) (PART 1)
The Alchemist provides an interesting backdrop for Noyd to attempt to ruin with his inane gun talk (and before you say anything, yes, I'm fully aware that gun talk is what one should expect when a song is called fucking “Shoot 'Em Up (Bang Bang) (Part 1)”). One is left wondering what Havoc and, well, even Prodigy could have done with this monster of an instrumental. Still, Big Noyd manages to come off as decent on here.

4. SOMETHING FOR ALL THAT (FEAT PRODIGY)
I don't know what I hate more about this bullshit song: the weak beat, which doesn't appear to be sure of what party it's currently attending; Prodigy's awkwardly-paced “hook” that sucks on an elephant's right testicle as a mid-afternoon snack on any given Tuesday; or the back-and-forth between Noyd and Cellblock P, whom appear to have never rhymed ever in their respective lives. This shit is awful.

5. WE GANGSTA
I found myself not completely hating this one, clichéd title aside. I think it's because of Havoc's instrumental, which seems to be reaching for an audience which is entirely different than who Noyd himself is trying to appease. The contrast here is at least a little bit interesting to hear, although not more than the once.

6. BEING ON POINT (PRELUDE)
…

7. ALL 4 THE LUV OF THE DOUGH (FEAT PRODIGY)
Havoc's beat sounds like something fellow Queensbridge native Nas would have briefly considered, but ultimately decided against, for Nastradamus. Accordingly, Big Noyd attempts a more serious persona on the mic, and he sounds alright enough, but Prodigy's chorus immediately pulls the rug out from beneath you.

8. INVINCIBLE (FEAT INFAMOUS MOBB)
With very few exceptions, there is never a good reason to include a female vocalist on a song by either Mobb Deep or their golf caddies, whether they're properly credited on the back of the album or not. This posse cut (a contest created to determine who gets to hold Havoc's weed on even-numbered days) is relatively ineffective. Kind of a waste of everybody's time, really, especially my own.

9. WILDIN' ON THE TOUR BUS (SKIT)
Skits were never really Mobb Deep's strong suit.

10. NOYD HOLDIN' IT DOWN (FEAT HAVOC)
Noyd tries to get into the club alongside Havoc, but instead comes dangerously close to getting laughed right out of the industry. Was he really trying to get some radio airplay? Who the fuck advised him that this shit was the way to get there? At least Hav quickly drops his verse and moves on to greener pastures at the bar.

11. SHOOT 'EM UP (BANG BANG) (PART 2) (FEAT MOBB DEEP)
Cornier than its predecessor, but also catchier, and ultimately, better. Hav and P take a while to adapt to the new climate, but once they catch on, the entertainment value increases tenfold. Leaves you feeling hungry after an hour, though.

12. AIR IT OUT (FEAT HAVOC)
The Alchemist beat that both Curtis Jackson and Jadakiss (from The Lox) swiped to battle each other was first utilized by Rapper Noyd on here. Al's beat is undeniably hot, but Noyd sounds the same as he always does, making him an awkward fit. Not that Curtis sounded any better, mind you, but it is what it is.

13. HIGHER (FEAT SHAKIM)
Emile's instrumental walks that fine line between possibly interesting if I was high and as annoying as being high around someone who insists on being a Debbie Downer. And that's all I care to write, since all of the rhymes sucked balls.

14. GOIN' RIGHT AT 'EM (FEAT PMD)
Probably the strangest guest spot I've written about in a while, but various members of Mobb Deep and EPMD have worked together in the past, much to Keith Murray's dismay. Sebb's beat is alright, and Parrish Smith evokes just the right amount of nostalgia, but overall, this isn't very memorable.

15. THAT FIRE (FEAT V12)
Meh.

16. THE KID IS NICE
What the fuck is this shit?

17. N.O.Y.D.
A weak way to end an album. Thus ending the trifecta of terror that Only The Strong hangs its cap on at night.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I was a huge supporter of the Episodes Of A Hustla EP. That project was short and sweet, with almost every track connecting with the audience because, well, they had to. However, Only The Strong is a showcase of excess, with too many bloated songs recorded by Big Noyd, apparently for no other reason that because he could. Noyd can shine when his contributions are aided (read: limited) by his Mobb Deep brethren, but when by himself, his deficiencies (in both his lyrics and his ear for beats) shine brighter than the glare coming from the back of the CD as I threw it into an open field for my dog to retrieve. Only The Strong contains a couple of decent tracks, but those tracks are surrounded by an inordinate number of bricks which sink the project. As I stated before, a little bit of Noyd goes a long way.

BUY OR BURN? Mobb Deep fanatics that let this slip past them may want to burn this, but everyone else can walk on by. The man's limited appeal has narrowed his fanbase down to four people, none of whom read this blog anyway.

BEST TRACKS: “Shoot 'Em Up (Bang Bang) (Part 2)”; “Shoot 'Em Up (Bang Bang) (Part 1)”

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Big Noyd – Episodes Of A Hustla

Tha Alkaholiks - Firewater (January 24, 2006)

2009-09-29T12:00:00.004-05:00

Firewater was touted as the fifth and final album by West Coast party kings Tha Alkaholiks. It was released almost thirteen years after their first disc, 21 & Over, and it was a promise that the group has kept, at least as of this writing: other than a few solo albums from Tash and J-Ro, there hasn't been a reunion, and there doesn't appear to be one in the works, either, although the group broke up amicably.

Firewater was the last effort by Tha Liks to provide the hip hop landscape with feel-good music, promoting a lifestyle that most other rappers had seemingly moved away from (weed still appears to be the vice of choice for hip hop). No longer a part of the Loud Records family (as that label had gone under), J-Ro, Tash, and E-Swift signed a one-off deal with Waxploitation Records, distributed by the Koch graveyard, and announced in 2004 that this was their last album.

This didn't really surprise me. The genre had changed in the five years since their last album, and their break may have been a little too long for Tha Liks to catch up. Focusing on the subject matter of drinking somewhat irresponsibly has always been a bit of a gamble for record labels to sell to a mainstream audience: when was the last time there were multiple deaths on the highway because someone had smoked too much pot? While the crew was able to offset their words (which, to be fair, usually included some cautionary tales) with hot beats that appealed to hip hop heads, their fourth effort, X.O. Experience, found the group saddled with the task of getting the club audience to care, so outside help like Rockwilder and The Neptunes were brought in: while their efforts were fruitful, the labels forgot to take into account that people are already drunk when at the club: they don't need to have someone extolling the virtues of beer goggles.

Still, I enjoyed their music, so I was sad to see them go. It's never the acts that you can't stand that retire, you know. (The lone exception: Master P. But did you ever really consider that guy to be a rapper?)

1. INTRO
Unnecessary.

2. TURN IT UP
Um, Tha Liks seem to be aiming for a mainstream audience, and their attempts are damn near condescending. Tash sounds good, and J-Ro is okay, but the inane hook and the beat's unquestionable bid for radio airplay both fall flat. It's not as if drinking is a subject that should be limited to underground artists or anything, but this song takes all of the fun out of getting drunk. Tha Liks shouldn't have to try this hard to bump in the clubs: they should just be themselves. I know, I know: easier said than done when it comes to the music industry.

3. THE FLUTE SONG (LALALA)
The female vocals on the “hook” sound like a reference track for the instrumental, and probably should have been deleted. Other than that misstep, this song was alright, as it manages the impossible: it recalls fond memories of older Alkaholiks content while sounding absolutely nothing like anything in their back catalog.

4. POPULAR DEMAND
I hated this shit. That's all I got.

5. THE GET DOWN
I happen to believe that Tash can rhyme to almost any beat and sound good, but E-Swift's instrumental puts that theory underneath a microscope for closer examination. This shit was boring as hell. I'm starting to remember why I stopped listening to Firewater.

6. GET INTO IT
If partying with Tha Liks really comes with an all-inclusive package of drinks, then I can forgive this otherwise trite song with a dull instrumental from The Rural (a terrible name for a production unit, by the way). If they just made that shit up just to make the chorus rhyme, then I am not having it.

7. FADED
I didn't find this skit funny the first time I heard it.

8. CHAOS
The crazy drums on here define the Danger Mouse beat, giving “Chaos” its first shot of energy and a much funkier sound than anything else on Firewater so far. (I'm surprised, too, especially since I'm not the biggest Danger Mouse fan.) Tash and J-Ro also seem refreshed behind the mic. This could have made more of an impact had it been sequenced immediately after the intro, but I digress.

9. HANGOVER (FEAT STYLIZTIK JONES & BISHOP LAMONT)
I found it weird that Tha Liks didn't already have a song with this title in their catalog, especially given their typical subject matter and their fucking group name. E-Swift's shuffling beat is okay, and Styliztik's line “if this is The Matrix, I'm the glitch” was of funny, but Tash is the shining star of this set. Tacking on probable Aftermath escapee Bishop Lamont at the end also added nothing to the proceedings.

10. PARTY YA ASS OFF
No thanks. After hearing this shit, I'd rather stay in and read some Grisham.

11. HANDLE IT
Meh.

12. ON THE FLOOR
The dialogue sample, commanding listeners to “get your ass on the floor”, is too disturbing and jarring to justify dancing in a club setting (or in the privacy of your living room, for that matter: you're too afraid that the owner of the authoritative voice will jump out of the speakers and shake the shit out of you). Which is too bad, as the song sounded pretty good without that shit.

13. POVERTY'S PARADISE (FEAT POOH)
There's hardly any rapping on here at all: Pooh's vocals sound alright in an “absolute definition of the term 'studio musician'” kind of way. I don't buy albums by Tha Alkaholiks to hear about society's ills, though: you drink to forget that shit. So, yeah, this didn't work for me.

14. DRINK WIT US
E-Swift's beat is much more dramatic than it needs to be, but I enjoyed J-Ro's BDP-inspired hook listing their friends within the industry, especially when he name-dropped the Deftones and Fishbone alongside the usual suspects Wu-Tang, King T, and Lootpack. They also shout out Xzibit, confirming that their brief feud had ended. The end of the track turns into a dedication to fellow artists who have passed on, making this the most touching song Tha Alkaholks have ever recorded, and it's still about drinking.

15. DO IT
The Rural's beat throws in an unexpected sample from “Ready Or Not, Here I Come (Can't Hide From Love)” (by The Delfonics), which I hadn't heard since Missy Elliott's Timbaland-produced “Sock It 2 Me”. There is nothing remotely West Coast about this instrumental, but I actually liked this track a lot.

16. OVER HERE (FEAT KING TEE)
This is how Tha Liks decided to end their final album? My wife had to wake me up to let me know that the CD stopped playing.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Firewater capped off the career of Tha Alkaholiks, who immediately (and amicably) disbanded after this disc was mastered (although they all still continue to work). This album contains a handful of tracks that deserve their place in their catalog, but it mostly proves that maybe Tha Liks should have called it a day after X.O. Experience. J-Ro and Tash sound like grizzled veterans who are still capable of bringing the noise when called upon, but they come off as weary, as if they noticed life (and, more importantly, hip hop) passing them by at a speed which they couldn't catch up with. This left Firewater sounding dated, even when it was a brand new album. That said, “Drink Wit Us” simultaneously pays homage to some of the fallen greats in hip hop while acting as historical evidence that Tha Alkaholiks have played a large role in the hip hop genre, making it a perfect final act for Tash, J-Ro, and E-Swift. It's just too bad that Firewater actually ended with fucking “Over Here”.

BUY OR BURN? I would like to tell you two to buy this, but most of the songs on here suck balls, to tell you the truth. Just burn the songs listed below and add them to an all-Liks playlist that you can create using their first four albums (and Tash's solo debut) as a basis. Or, at the very least, listen to “Drink Wit Us” and pour out some liquor for Tha Alkaholiks.

BEST TRACKS: “Drink Wit Us”; “Do It”; “Chaos”

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Tha Alkaholiks and their catalog are being discussed here. Make your opinions heard!

Dreddy Krueger Presents...Think Differently Music: Wu-Tang Meets The Indie Culture (October 18, 2005)

2009-09-28T12:00:00.003-05:00

Here's my theory as to how this project came to exist. Dreddy Krueger, who was a rapper in the Wu-Tang Clan affiliated Royal Fam in a past life, started up his own vanity record label, and called it Think Differently, a name inspired by a series of Apple advertisements back in the day (hence the album cover logo, which rips off a certain high-powered corporation who is doing their best to brainwash everybody in America into inserting those little white earbuds into their brains). The label was originally started up as an official outlet for unreleased Wu-Tang Clan material: its first releases were all mixtapes filled with rare songs and remixes. But Dreddy soon felt the need to branch out, signing actual artists to the label while securing a distribution deal of its own, with Babygrande. The label itself doesn't seem to exist anymore, and its artists were all absorbed into the Babygrande fold, but in its short lifespan, it released one especially interesting project, entitled Dreddy Krueger Presents...Think Differently Music: Wu-Tang Meets The Indie Culture (which I will shorten to Wu-Tang Meets The Indie Culture for the remainder of this write-up).

Dreddy Krueger envisioned an album made up of the distinctive beats that the WU-Tang Clan were known for, mixed with the abstract lyricism that only the underground's elite could provide. Dreddy embraced the do-it-yourself indie culture with open arms, and sought out only the best artists and producers all by himself. Given his work ethic, he soon obtained contact with the likes of Cannibal Ox, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Aesop Rock, R.A. The Rugged Man, and more, and found his beats with the help of Wu-Tang affiliate Bronze Nazareth, Preservation, and the kingpin himself, The Rza. He also signed on a number of Wu and Wu b-team members to participate, including The Rza himself, Gza/Genius, U-God, and others.

Wu-Tang Meets The Indie Culture was highly anticipated ever since it was first announced, mainly because it featured a collaboration between The Rza and MF Doom, but also because the idea was something that the Wu fans that remained could get behind: listening to their favorite artists in an entirely new chamber, watching them adapt to the styles and behaviors of those outside of their inner circle. It was an admirable effort, even if Dreddy Krueger failed to get behind the mic himself (which is too bad, since I quite enjoy his work).

1. INTRODUCTION
After stealing the intro that HBO uses to distinguish their own original programming from the movies that they show, Wu-Tang Meets The Indie Culture begins with an all-instrumental interlude. I would go so far as to call it theme music, had the theme been carried throughout the disc as a whole.

2. LYRICAL SWORDS (GZA/GENIUS & RAS KASS)
A pretty good way to start things off. Nice to know that Ras Kass can play nice with someone from the Wu that isn't The Rza or Killah Priest. Rassy kind of takes over the track when his verse kicks in, and the Bronze Nazareth instrumental runs for much longer than it needs to (was there supposed to be a third rapper jumping on at some point, Bronzey?), but this was still pretty nice.

3. SLOW BLUES (VAST AIRE, TIMBO KING, PRODIGAL SUNN, & BYATA)
If this was your only frame of reference for Cannibal Ox's Vast Aire, then you would probably think that the man sucked behind the mic. Those of you fortunate enough to already be familiar with The Cold Vein will fins that Vast sounds a bit challenged by Bronze's instrumental, but he adapts quickly enough, ensuring that this song fucking rocks, even with Timbo King (of Royal Fam) contributing a verse. Nice use of the harmonica, as well.

4. STILL GRIMEY (U-GOD, SEAN PRICE, PRODIGAL SUNN, & C-RAYZ WALZ)
U-God (him? Really?) doesn't ruin Preservation's beat, but I still didn't care for his verse or his hook. Sean Price, however, furthers my need for an all Wu-Tang/Boot Camp Clik collaborative album ASAP. This track was alright, but I will say that it isn't on the same level as the two which preceded it, so we've hit a speed bump of sorts.

5. SKIT
Dialogue taken from Enter The Dragon. Not as obscure as I would like in my Wu-Tang kung fu samples, but whatever.

6. THINK DIFFERENTLY (CASUAL, ROCK MARCIANO, VORDUL MEGA, & TRAGEDY KHADAFI)
This was always one of my favorite songs on the disc. Both Casual and Rock Marcy decimate Bronzey's knocking beat. Tragedy's final verse brings the energy down a bit, but this shit fucking rocks regardless. You're left wondering how this would have sounded had Bronze Nazareth given this beat to the actual Wu-Tang Clan, though.

7. INFOMERCIAL #1 (JIM JARMUSCH)
Jim Jarmusch, indie film director (among other things, he's best known for Stranger Than Paradise, Coffee & Cigarettes, and Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai, which was scored by The Rza), was ostensibly chosen to provide interludes for this project due to his status as an independent entertainment king. Also, because he's friends with The Rza, Gza/Genius, and Dreddy Krueger. An inspired choice, regardless.

8. BIOCHEMICAL EQUATION (THE RZA & MF DOOM)
A collaboration between production weirdos Prince Rakeem and MF Doom should have made my head explode. Instead, when I first heard this song, I was bored to death. Instead of filthy drums or Hanna-Barbera cartoon samples, we get Rza's digital orchestra, which doesn't seem to suit either rapper's rhymes. I wonder if Doom has a remixed version of this track, one which features his own beat versus The Rza's, locked up in a vault somewhere.

9. O.D.B. TRIBUTE (DJ NOIZE)
Borrows the eulogy used in the funeral sequence of Four Weddings & A Funeral to pay homage to the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. Nothing more to say: the title is fairly self-explanatory.

10. FRAGMENTS (DEL THA FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN)
Kind of awkward, and not everybody will appreciate Del's flow. As the title suggests, Del's verses all sound a bit incomplete, as if the audience has been deliberately deprived of the information needed to piece this puzzle together. Bronze's beat isn't bad, but this song is more than a little bit frustrating.

11. INTERMISSION
A brief instrumental-slash-potty break.

12. STREET CORNERS (BRONZE NAZARETH, SOLOMON CHILDS, & BYATA)
This wasn't bad at all. With a title like that, one may expect a high-energy description of life on the corner, but Bronzey's own beat invites more of a quiet reflection than bombast, and all three emcees, including the producer himself (who, surprisingly, hadn't shown up behind the mic at all until this point) follow through effectively.

13. LISTEN (LITTLES, KHALID, & PLANET ASIA)
Complements the previous track very well, although this one will get more heads nodding. Former Mobb Deep associate Littles goes the metaphor route, while the other two clearly do not, but this shit still bangs.

14. INFOMERCIAL #2 (JIM JARMUSCH)
...

15. VERSES (SCARAMANGA SHALLAH, LA THE DARKMAN, RAS KASS, & GZA/GENIUS)
That has got to be one of the most literal titles in all of hip hop. All four artists rip shit over this DJ Noize production, which is so smooth it could be used as an alternate score for On Golden Pond. The standout is Rassy Kassy, though: that guy should just align himself with the Wu, since he fits their beats much more than he does his own. He should also record an entire joint record with the Gza, as this is the second song on this project that they both appear on, and they're both pretty good. Just putting that out there.

16. PRESERVATION (AESOP ROCK & DEL THA FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN)
Aesop Rock and Del (again) rock the same sample that Dr. Dre twisted into a mild radio hit for Eminem ("Crack A Bottle", if you're like me and have already pushed that crappy track out of your subconscious). I will admit, those of you who didn't hear this track prior to Marshall's take will be too distracted to pay it any mind, but for what it's worth, it's alright. Nothing special (Aesop and Del perform admirably over producer Preservation's beat...hey, wait a minute), but nothing great, either.

17. CARS ON THE INTERSTATE (C.C.F. DIVISION)
Allah Mathematics brings a beat that is suitably Wu-Tang, but this song sucked balls. There's no reason for these Wu-Tang Clan c-teamers to have appeared on this project. Maybe Dreddy was blackmailed?

18. GIVE IT UP (R.A. THE RUGGED MAN & J-LIVE)
Preservation's beat should have been much better, but the two emcees salvage it, especially The Rugged Man's constant amazement that he's sharing the song with a schoolteacher. Both men hold a lyrical clinic that will allow you to overlook the weak musical backing.

19. BLACK DAWN (BRONZE NAZARETH)
Considering that he provided many of the beats, it's no real surprise that Bronze Nazareth gets his own solo track on here, although it is a bit inappropriate. (Then again, one could argue that, since nobody really knows who he is, be symbolizes both the "Wu-Tang" and the "Indie" classifications in one package.) Regardless, this song is boring anyway, so the project ends on a down note.

The vinyl version of Wu-Tang Meets The Indie Culture ends with the following bonus track.

20. O (JIM JARMUSCH)
Over music, Jim Jarmusch reads out loud an essay, penned by Gza/Genius, about the importance of the round shape of the letter "o". It's interesting, but also ridiculous at the same time. Kind of like a lot of Wu-Tang Clan ideas, if you really think about it. Fans without the ability to play vinyl aren't missing much, but completists can find this online if their hearts desire.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Wu-Tang Meets The Indie Culture is an experiment that actually works. Combining the Wu-Tang Clan's style and beats with those of some of underground hip hop's finest proves that the Wu have a lot in common with indie rap, especially since neither camp sells many records these days. Not every track works, and I was left wishing that more of the Wu came out to play (Method Man is too commercial to fit in on here, but everybody else could have made it work), but Wu-Tang Meets The Indie Culture is an entertaining diversion, one which demands a sequel, so somebody better get to work.

BUY OR BURN? I think you should actually buy this shit. Wu-Tang Clan fanatics and lovers of the genre will both find something to like on here. As I mentioned above, not every song works, but there are more hits than misses. And, hell, just how often can one recommend a rap album featuring Jim Jarmusch?

BEST TRACKS: "Think DIfferently"; "Slow Blues"; "Verses"; "Listen"; "Street Corners"; "Lyrical Swords"

-Max

Cam'Ron - Confessions Of Fire (July 21, 1998)

2009-09-27T12:00:00.003-05:00

How exactly that album cover was supposed to pull in anything but a loyal female audience I'll never understand.

The story goes that Harlem rapper Cameron Giles, known as Killa Cam, was a part of a crew called the Children Of The Corn, alongside Murda Mase, Big L, and his cousin Bloodshed. After Bloodshed passed away from injuries sustained in a car accident, the group disbanded, and the three remaining rappers went on to find solo success. Two of those three hit the jackpot first, though: Big L, thriving from his outside affiliation with the Diggin' In The Crates crew, released a couple of albums and became a lyrical monster prior to his own passing in 1999. (Cameron made a cameo appearance on Big L's first album, but Murda Mase, curiously, did not, although Cam's future boss Jay-Z somehow found the time to show up to the studio.) Mason Betha, of course, won the lottery, signing with Puff Daddy's Bad Boy Records and selling the fuck out, rechristening himself Ma$e and rhyming about the joys in the excesses of life, all before finding God and becoming a pastor.

Cameron took a little bit longer to find his outlet: it wasn't until Ma$e convinced his labelmate, The Notorious B.I.G., to give him a listen that his career moved at all. Biggie introduced Cameron to his manager, Lance "Un" Rivera, and the newly-named Cam'Ron soon found himself signed to Un's label, Undeas Entertainment, alongside Biggie's mistress Charli Baltimore, who, to be fair, was also a part of Biggie supergroup The Commission (alongside himself and Hova) that never got a chance to record a single song due to Biggie's untimely passing.

Cam'Ron's debut album, Confessions Of Fire, was released in 1998 with a mild buzz created by its first three singles: "357", a violent street tale, "Horse & Carriage", the radio-friendly piffle, and "Pull It", a tunnel banger featuring DMX that failed to make the final cut of Confessions Of Fire due to sample clearance issues, but can easily be found on the Interweb if you're interested. Its production was primarily handled by Un and Darrell "Digga" Branch, with the likes of Swizz Beats and the Trackmasters also holding court. Although he garnered nary a play on MTV (I think they may have shown the "Horse & Carriage" video once or twice, but never during the day), Cam'Ron managed to sell over five hundred thousand records in his first time up to bat: Charli Baltimore, in contrast, never got to see her debut album on a record store shelf, but I'll get to that story soon enough.

Undeas Entertainment soon folded, due to financial concerns (and the fact that Jay-Z allegedly stabbed Un for bootlegging his album Vol. 3...The Life & Times Of S. Carter). I'm not entirely sure what Un has been up to since, but Cam'Ron has successfully moved on, releasing albums of increasing popularity and boosting the stock of his weed carriers, who used to refer to themselves as the Diplomats (or DipSet) until they all decided that they liked money more than Killa Cam.

But we'll get to all that shit later.

1. INTRO
This shit was super long with no real payoff. All sorts of ridiculous.

2. GLORY (FEAT NOREAGA)
Swizz Beats was, inexplicably, the shit during the latter part of the 1990s, so getting him to provide a beat or two for Cam's debut was a gimme. On here, the man spits a couple of lengthy verses in a cadence better suited for a conversation, which is entertaining, and a couple of the jokes he cracks made me laugh. However, Noreaga's presence on the hook was unnecessary, and there's hardly any substance to to dull instrumental.

3. 357
The first single and video. This song samples, of all things, the theme song from fucking Magnum P.I.: you would have thought Ma$e and Cam would have been wearing fake Tom Selleck mustaches while they were running from the feds in the corny video. (At least, I would have thought that to be funny.) Some of this rapid-fire threat set to music is spoken for mere shock value (especially when he says that he'll force your brother to eat your mother out), but at least most of this is delivered with confidence.

4. ROCKIN' AND ROLLIN'
This shit is weak, reaching out for a radio audience that didn't yet exist, thanks to Jermaine Dupri's co-production work. Cam's gibberish rapping also becomes annoying for the first time in the man's career on this song. Bleh.

5. WRONG ONES
Killa Cam tried his damnedest to appeal to the female half of the audience with this love rap, which shakes up the status quo of Confessions Of Fire so abruptly that you'll be tempted to double check the disc just to make sure that your evil twin, who is a railroad tycoon prone to tying his opponents to train tracks while twirling his mustache, hasn't switched albums on you. Moving on...

6. DEATH
DMX has his song-length conversations with the devil, but Cam'ron goes the more existential route, playing chess with Death himself. Some of this is interesting, especially when Cam reveals that he's still kind of dealing with the loss of Bloodshed and does not want to die himself, kind of like Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, but the beat is much too peppy for the subject matter: "Suicidal Thoughts" this is not, although Digga and Un try to trick you into thinking that "Death" is on that brilliant song's level by utilizing a Biggie vocal sample throughout.

7. HORSE & CARRIAGE (FEAT MA$E)
Killa Cam's first foray into the radio-friendly mainstream features his old running buddy Murda Mase riding shotgun on the chorus to this Trackmasters-produced song. This shit is admittedly ridiculous, especially Ma$e's crooning on the hook, but I'd be lying if I didn't cop to liking this crappy song back in the day (you can thank Bad Boy's influence on the genre at the time, as this falls into the same category: if the women like it, then...). It doesn't work so well for me now, though. Side note: I always thought it was hilarious that the video for "357" leads directly into this piffle, since this is essentially the polar opposite of that track.

8. ME, MY MOMS, & JIMMY (FEAT KENNY GREENE, JIMMY JONES, & FREDERICKA)
Sampling the Tom Tom Club's "Genius Of Love"? Who are you, Mariah Carey? This shit is just weird, especially when Fredericka (I'm still not sure if this was supposed to be Cam's actual mother) spits some bars. As far as I care to research, this is the first recorded appearance of Jimmy Jones, better known now as Jim Jones, a hip hop jackass who has nevertheless managed to carve out a niche of the genre for himself, and is now technically much more popular that Cam. Sad, that.

9. PROPHECY (FEAT KELLY PRICE)
Kelly Price's chorus doesn't fit in with Cam'Ron's overall theme on this track. Not that it truly matters, as this shit is so boring that you'll probably cut it off midway through anyway.

10. WE GOT IT (FEAT MA$E)
Cam and Murda rhyme over the same sample Nas rocked for his "Dr. Knockboots". This sounds like the type of shit that would have been the first single, had Cam signed with Puffy instead of Un. And this would be Puffy's idea of a "street" single.

11. D RUGS (FEAT BROTHA)
Cam starts things off promisingly, dedicating the song to those whose parents chose their boyfriend or girlfriend over them, and then switches shit into a metaphor (a blatant one, by the way) for a parent addicted to drugs. The hook, sung by Brotha in a manner as to remind listeners of Curtis Mayfield's "Pusherman", is stupid, but Killa Cam's lyrics are actually not bad.

12. FEELS GOOD (FEAT USHER)
Wikipedia claims that this was a hit single, but I don't remember it ever getting any burn on the radio or on BET. I'm not the biggest fan of Usher (I have it on good authority that the guy is a douchebag in real life), but the man has some good performances under his belt ("You Make Me Wanna..." is still my shit); this is not one of them. This shit was poor.

13. PHONE INTERLUDE
...

14. A PIMP'S A PIMP (FEAT JERMAINE DUPRI)
What the fuck is this shit?

15. CONFESSIONS (FEAT JACOB YORK)
This is just goofy. Cam'Ron gets his Slim Shady on and spits some of the most fucked up shit that came to his mind at the time. Ultimately, his brain goes completely "banoodles", and we listeners receive a track that could have been an audio tour of a mental breakdown, but instead turns into a track that exists simply for shock value, much like Marilyn Manson's more recent releases. Some of the imagery conjured up is fairly disturbing, though, so I have to give the man some credit.

16. FUCK YOU (FEAT MA$E)
More of an interlude passing as a song. Murda Mase kicks things off with an angry tirade, and then Killa Cam calls out the folks who refused to support him while he was coming up: one could look at this as an anti-dedication. The singing at the end is pretty fucking hilarious, I have to say.

17. ME & MY BOO (FEAT CHARLI BALTIMORE)
This C&C music factory created an entire song exploring the concept of having platonic friends, all while claiming that they have never hooked up with each other. Which is probably true, but I've found that if one is overly zealous in denying something, then there's probably more truth to the story. I found it curious that Charli disappears entirely during Cam's final verse, in which he appears to lose the theme of the track like a set of keys.

18. SHANGHAI
This Swizz beat is offensive to Asians, and Cam'ron may as well be rhyming about mystical thousand-year-old dragons in Tienanmen Square, as the instrumental is so fucking distracting that you won't care anyway.

19. WHO'S NICE
After a long-ass intro, Cam'Ron finally spits a verse, some of which is curiously censored. He sounded okay, and the Digga/Un instrumental is alright, but this is too little, too late.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Confessions Of Fire is a fucking mess. Cameron Giles does have an interesting way with his words, and his flow is entertaining at times, but the beats that he is matched up with all seem to be aiming for the wrong audience: while Cam is clearly trying to appeal to the streets the majority of the time, his producers are steering him toward radio stations, which makes the project sound schizophrenic. There isn't anything appealing on Confessions Of FIre at all: I wouldn't recommend a single track on here.

BUY OR BURN? I don't find a need to do either, but fans of the DipSet movement may be curious to hear how Cam'Ron's mainstream career started. This was so annoying that I plan on never listening to it again, though.

BEST TRACKS: None.

-Max

Goodie Mob - World Party (December 21, 1999)

2009-09-26T12:00:00.003-05:00

Once upon a time, there was a rap crew out of Atlanta, Georgia, that was known for two things: their affiliation with a duo named Outkast, and their socially conscious lyrics that made one think about the world we are living in. That rap crew was called the Goodie Mob, and it consisted of four members, Khujo, T-Mo, Big Gipp, and Cee-Lo, their de facto leader.

Their first two albums, Soul Food and Still Standing, earned them record industry plaques to hang on their label office walls, and they garnered a small but loyal fan base who would hang on to their every word. And the group did not disappoint: those first two albums, combined with their sporadic guest appearances on Outkast albums and other outside projects, all proudly carried the Goodie legacy.

So when it came time for album number three, an obvious query was made: what if, instead of writing more socially conscious songs, the four men try to appeal to the mainstream with songs deliberately recorded for the radio and the clubs? While it is unknown who exactly decided that was the direction to go (my chips are on the record label), the Goodie Mob's World Party was created to appeal to an audience that, at this point, didn't even know they existed. To do this, outside producers were sought out to provide more mainstream musical backing for the crew, although the usual players (Organized Noize, Mr. DJ, the Goodie themselves) were able to fight for scraps.

Clearly the group wasn't too happy about the new direction, or at least one member wasn't: Cee-Lo, long considered to be the breakout star, performs on the project to the best of his ability, but abruptly left the group to pursue a solo career, and did so during the recording process, which may help explain why World Party only consists of fourteen tracks, only twelve of which are actual songs, making this their shortest album yet.

World Party was released in 1999, one year after Still Standing, to mediocre reviews, poor sales, and, curiously, mild radio spins, so that aspect of the project did actually work as they had intended. However, down to three members, the Goodie Mob continued to push through, electing to record a fourth disc without one of their key members, and Cee-Lo moved on to a solo career that, thus far, seems to have been capped off by his work with Gnarls Barkley.

A good postscript to that tale is that Cee-Lo and the Goodie Mob have since reunited this year, and are planning at least one reunion concert and, hopefully, another album.

But this post is about the crappy World Party. (Fuck, I gave the ending away!)

1. INVITATION TO THE WORLD PARTY
La La, the former radio deejay and MTV veejay who is now best known as Carmello Anthony's baby's mother and one of the players on VH-1's Charm School (which just makes me sad), provides a bilingual intro that guaran-fucking-tees that World Party will not meet your high level of expectations at all.

2. WORLD PARTY
The hook borrows liberally from Lionel Richie's "All Night Long", which I fucking love, I shit you not, but that fact alone should inform you two that "World Party" explores different terrain than the previous two Goodie Mob projects. The Organized Noize production is repetitive and appears to be aiming for a club atmosphere, but the lyrics are all vintage Goodie. Save for the hook, of course.

3. CHAIN SWANG
The beat, which is credited to Coptic, Derrick Trotman, and D-Dot (one of Bad Boy's Hitmen and the the guy who also portrayed The Madd Rapper for that label's 1990s projects), provides a dark environment for the brothers Goodie to establish their habitat, and it sounds really goddamn good, if a bit repetitive. However, due to that repetitive nature, one is left with the feeling, for the first time, that the beat was not specifically crafted for the group: they merely purchased the instrumental for their own sordid purposes. As such, this song is good, but nowhere near great.

4. GET RICH TO THIS / PARKING LOT (BREAK) (FEAT BACKBONE & BIG BOI)
Before today's listening experience to prep for the post, the last time I heard this track was while I was perusing a crappy gift shop on the Las Vegas Strip. (No, not the one that claims to be the world's largest.) True fact: the cashier was blasting this from his iPod speakers, and I remember thinking, "Of all the Goodie Mob songs, this is the one you like?" However stupid this shit is (and it is really ignorant, almost offensively so), this still ends up being catchy as hell, so although the Goodie themselves may not be the biggest fans of it, the song is a mild success. Also, is there a better theme song to have stuck in your head while walking through the hotels on the Strip? Special guest star Big Boi (from Outkast) is accustomed to this kind of subject matter, so he sounds just fine, but Cee-Lo sounds befuddled and his verse comes off as entirely unnatural. Not much of a call for social change on here, you see, but it's still kind of entertaining.

5. THE DIP
I couldn't get into this one at all. The vocals all seem to blend in with the beat, which usually isn't a good thing for what is ostensibly a rap song.

6. ALL A'S (FEAT BACKBONE)
Mr. DJ's upbeat instrumental brings back the high energy of "Get Rich To This", but this song is much worse. Backbone's first verse, especially, is awful, Cee-Lo's is almost comically violent, and Khujo throws in some good old-fashioned homophobia for no good reason. Cee-Lo also seems to sound embarrassed to be performing on the hook.

7. WHAT IT AIN'T (GHETTO ENUFF) (FEAT TLC)
Even though both acts called LaFace Records their label home, I always thought this this collaboration was not organic at all (unlike the earlier work TLC did with Outkast). Just who exactly were the brothers Goodie trying to impress with this duet of sorts? It also doesn't help much that this comes off as more of a TLC song featuring the Goodie Mob than the other way around. The only rapper that sounds decent over this faux-futuristic beat is Left Eye (R.I.P.).

8. I.C.U. (FEAT SLEEPY BROWN)
The Organized Noize beat isn't bad, and the Goodie sound a hell of a lot more comfortable on here than they did on the last song. However, nothing here sticks to your bones like a "Cell Therapy" or a "Dirty South".

9. REBUILDING
The instrumental is credited to both D-Dot and his apprentice, a young Kanye West, but I have it on good authority that 'Ye handled the beat all by himself and The Madd Rapper added his name to help the sale, not unlike what Dr. Dre and Timbaland do. This is actually really fucking good: this is the closest World Party has come to sounding like uncompromising Dungeon Family music. And they had to turn to a guy who President Barack Obama would later call a jackass to get to that sound. Weird.

10. JUST DO IT / POOCHIE (BREAK)
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me.

11. STREET CORNER (FEAT BACKBONE & JOI)
Meh.

12. CUTTY BUDDY (FEAT SLEEPY BROWN)
Of all the topics I never wanted to hear the Goodie rhyme about, the concept of a friend with benefits (or a fuck-buddy) was close to the top of the list, especially since Mike Jones later mastered this subject matter in the new millennium. (Ah, sarcasm.) The crew are entitled to have a little fun with their music, and they can certainly have their sexual healing, but I don't ever need to hear them talk about it, especially when Cee-Lo sounds as if he had to down eighteen shots of Patron in order to spit his verse out. This is just weird.

13. FIE FIE DELISH
Easy Mo Bee (three days in a row!) provides the beat: that guy sure gets around, doesn't he? It's always interesting when the Goodie Mob journeys out of their comfort zone (such as when they work with DJ Muggs), but they all seem to be overwhelmed by the instrumental, especially Cee-Lo, who, surprisingly, turns in one of his worst performances to date. It's entirely possible that he had already checked out of the group mentally at this point, but still.

14. GO BACK (BREAK)
This is just a rap album outro, and a relatively forgettable one at that.

FINAL THOUGHTS: While not as bad as most critics claimed it to be a decade ago, the Goodie Mob's World Party still sucks camel dicks. The balloons aren't properly inflated and they're all bunched up in one corner, the drinks are all watered down, the food selection is lacking, the male-to-female ratio isn't favorable at all, and T-Mo, Khujo, Big Gipp, and Cee-Lo all sound as if they're trying too hard. There's nothing inherently wrong with wanting to look past society's ills once in a while so that one could try and have a decent time, but the paradigm shift between Still Standing and World Party is so jarring that most of the crew's fans probably found themselves falling off of a fucking cliff. People look to the Goodie Mob to not hear songs about getting money and promiscuous sex, a fact that the group chose to brazenly ignore. On the plus side, a lot of the instrumentals were interesting, at least, but this World Party should have been cancelled due to inclement weather.

BUY OR BURN? Burn this if you absolutely must. Loyal Goodie Mob enthusiasts will find at least one song to like on here, but liking one song off of a CD with fourteen tracks isn't economically feasible right now.

BEST TRACKS: "Rebuilding"; "Chain Swang"; "Get Rich To This"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Other Goodie Mob releases are being discussed here.

Afu-Ra - Life Force Radio (May 21, 2002)

2009-09-25T12:00:00.003-05:00

In the year 2000, rapper Afu-Ra, an apprentice of Jeru The Damaja who appeared on his The Sun Rises In The East and Wrath of The Math, released his solo debut Body Of The Life Force. While decidedly free of any Damaja-laced tirades, Afu managed to finagle production and cameo spots from the likes of DJ Premier, the Cocoa Brovaz, Gza/Genius, Masta Killa, DJ Muggs, and Da Beatminerz. It gained a small cult following, and Afu-ra was encouraged to swing for the fences a second time.

So when Koch Records announced Life Force Radio, Afu-Ra's follow-up, expectations rose exponentially. However, both its guest list and its production seemed to downgrade from the debut, and the concept of a radio station called "Life Force Radio", one which seems to play nothing but Afu-Ra's shit, was a pure example of what suspension of disbelief was all about.

Life Force Radio ended up not doing as well as the man's debut. Undeterred, Afu-Ra elected to continue to not work with Jeru The Damaja and, instead, stuck by his own weed carriers while they all attempted to figure out just who, exactly, was the carrier of said weed in that relationship.

1. ASUN / THE MESSAGE (FEAT ASUN THE BLACK SUN)
No comment.

2. SCAT MAN
I didn't like the beat, but I appreciated Afu-Ra's rhymes on here. He sounds about the same as he did on Body Of The Life Force, but that style still works when paired up with the right instrumental. I like the fact that the rhymes are fast and furious, but then the "hook" is sing-songy. But, yeah, not liking the beat kind of ruined shit for me.

3. STICK UP (FEAT BIG DADDY KANE)
Afu-Ra and Big Daddy Kane don't make for the most natural pairing, but they both sound alright over this dull Curt Cazal instrumental. I was left wishing that this collaboration took place over a more majestic beat. Unlike some of Kane's other recent cameos, though, this one didn't feature any bars that stood out, making this simply a serviceable song.

4. HIP HOP (FEAT RESPECT)
Easy Mo Bee's loud, crashing beat sounds like a perfect fit for M.O.P. However, that duo showed up at the studio on the wrong day, and ended up on an entirely different track, leaving Afu all by his lonesome. He doesn't sound bad on here at all, although the speed-rapping was a bit much, but we're all ignoring the bigger story: I just wrote about producer Easy Mo Bee on two consecutive days. How cool is that? Somebody give that guy a deal to release a CD of popular rappers rhyming to his distinctive beats: the genre could certainly use it.

5. CROSSFIRE (FEAT M.O.P.)
Billy Danze gets slightly political on here, threatening to invade Kuwait and shoot [Osama Bin Laden] in the face" for causing the collapse of the Twin Towers. He usually sounds animated anyway, but on here, he's fucking pissed off. Sadly, that ends up being the only truly memorable thing about this track.

6. OPEN (FEAT TEENA MARIE)
This was corny as hell. Afu's "uniquely argyle" wardrobe choices for Wednesday was a funny description, but I cannot believe that Afu-Ra's handlers were so concerned with getting the man a wider audience that they committed to a radio friendly single (one which never got any burn on the airwaves). And I was left feeling worse for Teena "Square Biz" Marie than I did when I found out that she signed with Cash Money Records. Groan.

7. LYRICAL MONSTER
Not the greatest Primo beat, but it sounds alright underneath Afu-Ra's spittle. Unlike Primo's work with Afu's mentor Jeru The Damaja, though, this sounds like DJ Premier made a beat for the highest bidder, instead of crafting the track with the artist's involvement: The Sun Rises In The East is as much a Primo masterpiece as it is Jeru's.

8. MISS YOU (FEAT ALANA DA FONSECA)
Meh.

9. PERVERTED MONKS (FEAT A-SUN, CA-SEE, & RESPECT)
Easy Mo Bee's beat was actually pretty damn good, and Afu fit it like a glove. Unfortunately, his weed carriers (who also make up most of Afu-Ra's crew, the Perverted Monks, who later managed to release one album) also appear on here, and each time the mic is passed, the transition is jarring.

10. GHETTO CITY STREETS (SKIT)
Even though there is singing featured on this skit, this still ended up being a spoken word interlude. Pass.

11. READJUSTMENT (FEAT Q)
Uses the same David Axelrod sample (from "Smile") that Pete Rock used on "Strange Fruit" and Lord FInesse rocked over "Actual Facts". However, while those two beatmasters made incredible beats off of six seconds of an Axelrod track, for some reason Easy Mo Bee can't do the same. I didn't really like this at all.

12. 1,2,3
Curt Cazal's beat is almost too old-school: it sounds like it's scoring the era of Prohibition. Afu's chorus is also really weird. ("Who loves you better: your mother, wife, or daughter?" The fuck?) Those were the main reasons I couldn't get into this song. Well, those, and the final verse, which just clinches it.

13. THINK BEFORE YOU... (FEAT JAHDAN)
Sounds like a poor man's version of Body Of The Life Force's "D&D Soundclash". Guest star Jahdan comes off as an alternate universe Busta Rhymes, one who prefers singing to rapping. Other than that, this song wasn't all that bad, but I'm missing Afu-Ra's debut more and more now.

14. AURAL FIXATION (FEAT THE HUMAN ORCHESTRA)
Hearing Afu-Ra rhyming over the accompaniment of a human beatbox sounds like the essence of true hip hop. In reality, it was probably cheaper to get someone to make the music with their mouth than it would be to hire musicians: someone had to somehow pay for both The Rza and Big Daddy Kane to appear on the same album, after all.

15. DANGEROUS LANGUAGE (FEAT RZA (AS BOBBY DIGITAL))
I'm sure Afu was also disappointed that his guest star didn't also handle the beat. However, fellow Wu-Element True Master does a great job with it, and the two men sound as if they had been rhyming together for years. Even though The Rza is in full-on Bobby Digital bullshit hip hop superhero mode, his verse is less cryptic than usual, making this song that much more enjoyable.

16. SACRED WARS (FEAT DON PARMAZHANE & THE BLOB)
I'll be honest: when I first heard this track, I thought it was a gag: the rhymes of the guests are so far off the mark that I thought this was a skit. Alas, I was wrong: Don Parmazhane is a rapper who also appeared on Guru's Baldhead Slick & Da Click album. So he seems to be well liked in the Gang Starr Foundation. As such, everybody was dead serious on here.

17. BLVD. (FEAT GURU)
Afu actually uses the phrase "she sells seashells by the seashore". No, seriously, he really does. His lyrics do get better, but that corny misstep ruins the song for me. Well, that, and the experimental, mostlky bland DJ Premier beat. Well, those, and the fact that Guru only appears on the hook. At least I can finally shut this Life Force Radio off.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Life Force Radio only works if you buy into the concept if an entire of Afu-Ra tracks playing back-to-back on an actual station, which is a feat that the man is simply not capable of. This album is wildly inconsistent, with Afu's street tales and quasi-religious mathematic psychobabble alternating with...songs for the ladies? The hell? The production has also taken a step backward from Body Of The Life Force, leaving many of Afu's lyrics buried in horrific instrumentals. The man just cannot carry an entire album by himself. Well, maybe he could, if he got DJ Premier to produce the whole sucker, but even Primo's beats on here sound bargain-basement. A disappointment.

BUY OR BURN? Burn this if you must. Afu-Ra has followed his mentor into the fire of horrible production values, and there may or may not be any sort of an escape to hope for.

BEST TRACKS: "Dangerous Language"; "Lyrical Monster"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Afu-Fa - Body Of The Life Force

Slick Rick - Behind Bars (November 22, 1994)

2009-09-24T12:00:00.004-05:00

Master storyteller Slick Rick recorded his third album, Behind Bars, while on a work release furlough from being, well, behind bars. He was still serving a sentence for the second degree murder charge he caught (after shooting his cousin, who admitted later that he was trying to set Rick up, and an innocent bystander), combined with the immigration hassles he was dealing with, which would eventually result in the man coming thisclose to deportation before getting pardoned by the New York governor David Patterson, presumably for his positive contributions to hip hop.

Behind Bars is actually the second album MC Ricky D released while in the slammer. Prior to beginning his prison sentence, Def Jam Records locked the man in a studio with producer Vance Wright, and the two knocked out The Ruler's Back, the follow-up to his well-received debut The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, in a matter of days. The label set the tracks free in 1991, and critics all across the land were confused at how Ricky's skilled wordplay could possibly be paired up with mostly ridiculous sounding house beats, thereby nearly derailing the man's career, all while he couldn't do anything to fight it.

This time around, Vance Wright was allowed to stick around in the studio, but Def Jam trumped him at nearly every turn, hiring on names such as Prince Paul, Pete Rock, Easy Mo Bee, Large Professor, and, in what seems like an odd turn but it's not so weird when you realize that he was one of the label's biggest stars in 1994, Warren G.

Behind Bars wasn't very well received commercially, but it helped win some of Ricky's fans back, as it was considered a sort-of return to form, one which could have only been made better if the man himself was able to promote the project.

Anyway.

1. BEHIND BARS
Prince Paul (and The Epitome of Scratch) provides the instrumental for Ricky's fictional exploits in prison, ironic given the context of Ricky's life at the time. Paul's beat isn't as goofy as he is characteristically known for, in fitting with the theme, and Ricky's attention to detail is impressive. Sadly, this version of the song was not the one Def Jam commissioned a video for.

2. ALL ALONE (NO ONE TO BE WITH)
This is depressing as shit. Much more serious than Ricky's typical material, here he takes on the subject of loneliness and how it specifically impacts the main character of his story. Proof that he can weave a compelling tale even without the aid of humor. Vance Wright's beat, unfortunately, diffuses the track, as the moody melody is frequently interrupted by a Slick Rick vocal sample, but you can't have it all, I suppose.

3. SITTIN' IN MY CAR (FEAT DOUG E. FRESH)
The version I'm more familiar with, unfortunately, is the Jermaine Dupri remix, which was released to both radio and BET. And I actually like that remix, which is a rarity for me, considering the guy who was behind it. But Vance's original production is good, too, and Doug E. Fresh's beatboxing, which reunited him with his old rhyme partner, is a nice touch. Ricky's monologue seems to work regardless of the musical backing, which is both weird and impressive. I remember the video for this featured Doug E. sittin' in the titular car while a silhouette of someone who was supposed to be Slick Rick performed for the cameras. I always thought that was interesting.

4. A LOVE THAT'S TRUE, PT. 1
Ricky provides his own beat, which works very well for the aggressive content. The man shares his adventures in searching for the love of his life, and as of yet, he seems to only come across "bitches" with herpes (clearly he needs to expand his search parameters). This is nowhere near Rick's classic storytelling, but this wasn't at all bad.

5. CUZ IT'S WRONG
Easy Mo Bee's beat was pleasant, and Ricky flows over it like water rushing over a riverbed. Nice!

6. LET'S ALL GET DOWN (FEAT NICE & SMOOTH)
Greg Nice's shouting at the very beginning is annoying as fuck: I almost wanted to throw this CD off of a high-rise. His verse is pretty lacking, as is Smooth B.'s, but Ricky's calm demeanor provides a hilarious contrast to the very excitable guests and the beat they brought with them, so this doesn't end up being a complete waste of your time.

7. I'M CAPTIVE
Slick Rick spins a yarn from the point of view of a slave, easily making this the most controversial song on Behind Bars (especially when the main character starts sleeping with his master's wife). Pete Rock inserts his trademark horns into the proceedings, helping make this shit sound as jazzy and anachronistic as possible.

8. GET A JOB
This sounds as if Slick Rick borrowed one of Pete Rock's discarded instrumentals from The Main Ingredient. I liked this beat more so than the one from "I'm Captive", but chastising those who are too lazy to find work doesn't typically make for a good rap song, so this was a bust.

9. A LOVE THAT'S TRUE, PT. 2
Slick Rick hijacks the same instrumental from the first installment and, surprisingly, provides listeners with a reggae song. He doesn't sound half bad, but it's not what listeners would expect, so it is what it is.

10. IT'S A BOY (REMIX)
The original version was featured on The Ruler's Back, but this remix has Large Professor behind the boards. Extra P gives this track the gravitas it originally deserved, and your mind will automatically delete any memory of the original song.

11. BEHIND BARS (DUM DITTY DUM DUM MIX) (FEAT WARREN G.)
It's not very often that this sentence gets the opportunity to be read, so here goes: Warren G. remixes the original Prince Paul-produced track. Fuck it, that was so weird that I'll write it again: Warren G. remixes the original Prince Paul-produced track. This is much more radio friendly, owing to the G-Funk sound that was still winning fans in the West, which pisses me off, as that means that Paul Huston was cheated out of having a radio hit of his own. However, looking past Warren G.'s ill-conceived vocal contributions, this was still some pretty good stuff. Not a bad way to end things, either.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Behind Bars still suffers from the lack of follow-through from its star attraction, as Slick Rick was still a prisoner in the system when this was mastered and released, but Def Jam learned from the mistakes they made during The Ruler's Back, and surrounded the man with name-brand producers this time around. The songs don't span as many topics as either of Ricky's previous efforts, but the execution of this is much more polished, as he is paired up with master beat crafters who seem to all understand Slick Rick's place in the hip hop genre. As such, Behind Bars is actually a hidden gem in the man's back catalog. It isn't as good as his debut, but it's miles ahead of The Ruler's Back, which counts for a lot.

BUY OR BURN? I would actually recommend a purchase. This shit was surprisingly good (even though Def Jam could have just bitten the bullet and includes the "Sittin' In My Car" remix as the final track, but whatever), and hip hop heads will all find something to enjoy.

BEST TRACKS: "Sittin' In My Car"; "Behind Bars"; "It's A Boy (Remix)"; "Cuz It's Wrong"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Other Slick Rick projects are being discussed here.

Jurassic 5 - Power In Numbers (October 8, 2002)

2009-09-23T12:00:00.003-05:00

That's not the cover of my version of this album, but we'll run with it anyway. (For the record, I own the blue one.)

Power In Numbers is the third album from six-man collective Jurassic 5, and their second for Interscope Records. The team of Chali 2na, Akil, Zaakir, Mark 7even, and their deejays Nu-Mark and Cut Chemist, were riding high off of the surprising success of their mainstream debut, Quality Control, which somehow managed to please both critics and the folks that bought the damn thing.

Power In Numbers is akin to a movie sequel that begins right after the events of the preceding film, as its introductory track uses the same music that ended Quality Control. While it is generally seen as a successful continuation of the fun music that they mastered, I look at Power In Numbers as a more aggressive project, one which is much darker in tone. The album cover appears to be promoting a revolution of some sort, and the J5 respond in kind, as if they're trying to prove to their audience that they are capable of more that the affable passing back-and-forth of the mic.

Chali 2na remains the lead voice of the crew, not by choice but by mere distinction, as he has the voice that you could pick out of a lineup, but Akil, Zaakir, and Marc 7even all step up a bit, so as not to get lost in the shuffle. This time around, they sprinkle storytelling, self-esteem, and atypical (for them) hip hop bombast into their tracks, while Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark work around them to provide organic beats that were made from composted remains of other beats. Although these two produced Quality Control in its entirety, they cede production duties on three occasions to outside influences, allowing the J5 to show the world their skills at adaptation.

And so.

1. THIS IS
Even though this intro is a direct continuation of the last track that we heard off of Quality Control, it already comes off as darker than that previous project. So, in that respect, "This Is" sets the tone effectively, I suppose.

2. FREEDOM
I found this song, which focuses on the concept of freedom, what it actually means, and those who fight for it on a regular basis (although, I have to say, today's armed forces aren't mentioned at all - does this mean Jurassic 5 are against the war?), faulty in its execution, but its heart is in the right place. DJ Nu-Mark's beat isn't a call to arms or anything especially revolutionary: it just is, and the rappers all do what they can.

3. IF YOU ONLY KNEW
This was fairly dull, as it sounded like one of the most boring J5 songs off of their debut EP/LP. The fact that this was produced by Juju, of The Beatnuts, shows more promise for Juju than anything else, as he proves that he can adapt to any artist's style. But still, yeah, this sucked.

4. BREAK
Ah, now that's more like it. Cut Chemist's beat features hard-hitting drums, which wrap themselves around both the melody and your subconscious, and Chali, Akil, Zaakir, and Marc 7even all rip shit as if their internal alarm clocks buzzed them out of a good dream and they're all pissed about it. Sure, it sounds like an outtake from Quality Control, but a lot of Quality Control rocked, so that comparison isn't detrimental at all.

5. REACT
A deejay interlude featuring music, sampled dialogue, and absolutely no rhyming. Interesting the first time around, but you're forgiven if you never want to hear it again.

6. A DAY AT THE RACES (FEAT BIG DADDY KANE & PERCEE P)
The Jurassic 5 rhyme over what could double as the score to an unnamed blaxploitation flick, and its hurried pace is matched evenly with each verse. To my knowledge, this is the first real Jurassic 5 song that featured actual name-brand guest stars, but strangely, the weakest link on here is Big Daddy Kane himself, as he simply sounds overwhelmed, and yet he still sounds alright, which is a testament to how well crafted this song actually is. Percee P fits right in to the proceedings, which was nice.

7. REMEMBER HIS NAME
The false start is kind of hilarious, as if the song itself was interrupted during the recording process, but this track is anything but funny. Everybody tries to recall the identity of a murder victim and, at the same time, we're taken through their thought processes as they attempt to rationalize the death. Pretty interesting.

8. WHAT'S GOLDEN
I remember this song being used in a Sprite commercial around the time Power In Numbers was released. This first single deviated from the sound of Quality Control, but the rhymes are as playful as ever. I have to say that the hook sounds forced, as though it was an imposition from the label. Even so, this still sounds pretty good today.

9. THIN LINE (FEAT NELLY FURTADO)
Jurassic 5 were, apparently, aiming for radio airplay with their love song, even enlisting Nelly Furtado to sing on it. While she does a good job, pre-Timbaland makeover, Interscope Records apparently thought otherwise, replacing her with Mya for the radio edit, as if Mya would somehow sell more records. They're both cute, but they're not interchangeable, people! Anyway, given the former's recent success and the latter's inadvertent slide into obscurity, I'm sure the label was kicking themselves for that stupid move, as the original track was good as is.

10. AFTER SCHOOL SPECIAL
Meh.

11. HIGH FIDELITY
Brings Power In Numbers back on track, with its steady drums, dialogue samples, and the playful interchange between Marc 7even and Zaakir, who handle the track all by themselves.

12. SUM OF US
The other two rappers, Akil and Chali 2na, get their own track to balance out the universe. Chali, unsurprisingly, rips the shit out of Nu-Mark's banging production, leaving Akil to sweep up the debris. The hook is a bit too wordy, but it relays a good message, so I'll let it slide.

13. DDT (FEAT KOOL KEITH)
A weird interlude featuring Kool Keith (and nobody else) spitting an acapella verse with his trademark bizarre imagery (as you may have expected, he starts rhyming about bugs at one point). To this day, I still have no idea why Jurassic 5 included an interlude from a guy who wasn't even in the group, but it's an interesting diversion, and hey, Kool Keith doesn't make many appearances on major label projects, so there you go.

14. ONE OF THEM (FEAT JUJU)
Darker and grimier (slightly, anyway) than any other J5 track to date, thanks to Juju's second of two production efforts and his lyrical contribution, of which some of the bars are pretty funny. The crew step up to the task, though, and even if they aren't the most convincing, they turn in respectable performances.

15. HEY (FEAT BOY WONDER)
This was a failed experiment, but it was a noble effort. Unfortunately, "Hey" sounds like the J5 entrusted their producer, the Sa-Ra Creative Partners, to thrust them into the crowded adult-contemporary-hip hop ring populated by the likes of Mojoe, the Nappy Roots, the regular Roots Crew, and a handful of Outkast's songs, and the shit simply doesn't fucking work.

16. I AM SOMEBODY
I didn't care for this song. Positive messages are nice, but so is entertaining music.

17. ACETATE PROPHETS
A deejay cut sequenced as the (incredibly long) outro, not unlike how they did in Quality Control. It was nice, but I probably won't need to hear it ever again.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Power In Numbers plays like how Quality Control would have sounded, had the Jurassic 5 been a little bit bitter about their place in the hip hop genre, and their aggression was shaped into the presented lyrics and themes. The music, mostly provided by group members DJ Nu-Mark and Cut Chemist, is almost consistently entertaining, but the crew slips up a bit whenever an outside factor is introduced (with the exception of "One Of Them" and Percee P's verse on "A Day At The Races"). Chali 2na extends the distance between himself and the rest of the crew (lyrically, at least), but Akil, Zaafir, and Marc 7even all manage to shine in their own way, or at least much more so than they ever did previously. Power In Numbers is a worthy addition to your library, especially if you're one of the few who already bought Quality Control and are looking for a bookend.

BUY OR BURN? If you enjoyed Quality Control, you should purchase this one immediately. If you've never listened to any J5 music, this probably isn't the best introduction to the crew, but you'll be entertained, so fuck it, you should also buy it.

BEST TRACKS: "Sum Of Us"; "One Of Them"; "What's Golden"; "Thin Line"; "Break"; "High Fidelity"; "Remember His Name"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Other Jurassic 5 projects can be discussed here.

King Tee - Act A Fool (November 15, 1988)

2009-09-22T12:00:00.003-05:00

The city of Compton, California, is probably best known today for supplying the hip hop world with the likes of Dr. Dre. Newer fans may also claim The Game as the city's mascot. But just as important to the genre is Roger McBride, also known as King Tee.

McBride is seen as one of the West Coast's pioneers, solidifying a gangsta image while cutting it with equal doses of humor and frivolousness. He is wholly responsible for introducing Tha Alkaholiks into the mainstream: that's the main reason why Tee always ends up on Liks albums. But that happens later in his story.

King Tee's debut album, Act A Fool, dropped in 1988 on Capitol Records. It managed to sell over half a million copies, even though it failed to find a large audience: this speaks to the importance of word-of-mouth advertising. Tee performs by himself for almost the entire length of the album (he's joined by guests for only one track), and handles production exclusively alongside DJ Pooh, another West Coast stalwart (who has also worked with, among other, Ice Cube, both in music and in the art of screenwriting).

The production on Act A Fool is almost entirely built out of samples from other genres, not unlike what was coming from the greater New York area at the time. In fact, Act A Fool could be seen not as a response to the East, but as a companion piece, as something that could be enjoyed by any fan of the art form.

That said, I'm not really sure I could convince anybody to listen to Act A Fool today, especially if your frame of reference exists solely around the output from the new millennium, but let's give it the old college try.

1. ACT A FOOL
The fact that Tee uses the phrase “Disco sucks!” will tell you just how dated this shit sounds. I can see this song making a slight comeback, though: it sounds like something that you would score a car ride with in a lower-budget teen comedy. You will also notice that King Tee sounds completely different on here than he does on his more recent output. Time (and puberty, and weed smoke) will do that to you.

2. KO ROCK STUFF
This song is all over the fucking place, which is kind of the point. His boasts are appropriately old school, but newer listeners will be nonplussed by the overly simple drum pattern on here.

3. THA COOLEST
Some may be downright insulted as to how easily King Tee flows over this DJ Pooh production, which sounds more like a New York creation than anything from the Golden State. And thankfully, there isn't really a chorus on “Tha Coolest”, which is the coolest fucking shit ever.

4. FLIRT
Remember when rap songs sounded more like this than what is currently playing on your radio? I don't actually like this track, but I prefer it to any random Soulja Boy track any day of the motherfucking week.

5. BAGGIN' ON MOMS
Well before The Pharcyde did essentially the same thing, this interlude features approximately eight hundred and fifty-seven “yo' mama” snaps. Just the mere fact that I used the term “snaps” should give you two an idea of what this skit is all about. The fact that the last joke is accidentally fucked up upon delivers is amusing, though: was there a fix?

6. BASS (REMIX)
Probably due to the fact that this song is technically a remix (the original appeared on a 12-inch single), this track has a sound that's more complete than the rest of Act A Fool thus far. Tee's rhymes are still on the simple side of things, but his flow hints at what is to come later. However, I don't care for this track that much because of the remixed Pooh instrumental, which is too busy for my tastes. Oh well.

7. LET'S DANCE
Sounds like King Tee's take on an Eric B. & Rakim-style song, minus the hook, which one can barely hear without turning the volume all the way to eleven. Look past the corny title and subject matter, and you'll discover an entertaining-as-hell song.

8. GUITAR PLAYIN'
There isn't much guitar playin' on here, but this still isn't bad. Tee waxes lyrically (as much as rappers tended to back in the late 1980s, anyway), with a fantastic end result. I wish there was a bit more to the beat, and there's no real reason for this song to last more than five minutes, but whatever.

9. PAYBACK'S A MUTHA
If “Let's Dance” was Tee's Eric B. & Rakim tribute, then “Payback's A Mutha” honors the work of EPMD, mainly because he layers his boasts over James Brown samples, but also because of the swagger he confidently holds while on the mic, not unlike a certain Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith. This shit is nice.

10. JUST CLOWNING (FEAT BREEZE & MIXMASTER SPADE)
This just sounds fun, as well it should, with a title like that. Don't come tardy to this party looking for lyrical substance, though, and you'll be much better off. It's interesting to hear rappers performing over a beat when they're not trying to one-up each other: that's relatively rare in hip hop today.

11. I GOT A COLD
A corny way to end your album. Also, kind of disgusting.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Act A Fool is one of those albums that has actually aged a little bit better with time. King Tee's rhymes, combined with DJ Pooh's production work (and his own), have grown into a combination that exemplifies what's missing from hip hop these days: this shit is what rappers do to avoid real jobs, so it's supposed to be fucking fun. It's just music, people! The songs presented on here also help bridge the gap musical gap between the East and West Coasts. Act A Fool won't appeal to all tastes, and some of it does sound incredibly dated, but it retains its entertainment value and is a worthy addition to any musical library.

BUY OR BURN? If you stumble across this in the record shoppe, you should pick it up. It should be very inexpensive, and you will enjoy it.

BEST TRACKS: “Payback's A Mutha”; “Tha Coolest”; “Let's Dance”; “Guitar Playin'”; “Just Clownin'”

-Max

Kool Keith - Sex Style (February 3, 1997)

2009-09-21T12:00:00.003-05:00

In 1995, "Kool" Keith Thornton was upset with the direction his career was going. His crew, the Ultramagnetic MC's, had released several albums at this point, each of which lost more fans than the previous one, and Keith was growing impatient. As the breakout force in the crew, he consistently eyeballed a solo career: during the recording sessions for The Four Horsemen, the crew's third effort, Keith was recording tracks for a solo project that ultimately turned into something else entirely: a collaboration with Godfather Don called The Cenobites LP.

Eventually, Keith grew tired of waiting, and after a sort-of falling out with the rest of his crew (over trivial things such as "money", "royalties", and "payment": they later kissed and made up), he moved out west, looking to jump-start his solo career. He quickly connected with Kutmasta Kurt, a producer who would mold Keith's career through the present day, and Dan Nakamura, better known as The Automator: together, these three set the stage for Keith to take on the hip hop genre by storm in the mid-to-late nineties.

Keith actually worked on multiple projects at the same time: the man's work ethic is pretty impressive, even if the songs themselves are always of varying quality. To complicate things, he performed under several different aliases: Big Willie Smith, Dr. Octagon, one-half of the duo Ultra (alongside Tim Dog, Keith took on multiple aliases, including Reverend Tom), Mr. Gerbik, The Phantom, and many others. (It helps that most of these aliases all sounded exactly the same, theme-wise.) Aiding and abetting behind the boards, Kutmasta Kurt and The Automator (who only mixed down the projects in his studio, The Glue Factory in San Francisco, except for Dr. Octagonecologyst, on which he took the reins and co-created a master's piece, production-wise) provided backing tracks, and the occasional guest star (Motion Man, Sir Menelik, Tim Dog) would appear to give the man a chance to breathe, but these projects were pure unadulterated Keith, none more so than the lone one (at the time) that was released under the moniker Kool Keith.

Sex Style, "Kool Keith"'s solo debut, is notable for acknowledging Keith's obsession with pornography and crafting an album around stream-of-consciousness thoughts and masturbatory fantasies, and also some other stuff. (I also seem to remember this album originally being titled Erotic Man, but I could be entirely wrong, and that may just be the title of his autobiography or something.) Kurt produced the bulk of the project, with three songs handled by Keith's former Ultramagnetic MC's bandmate T.R. Love. The subject matter is already enough to make any church-goer blush, but Keith wouldn't be Keith if he didn't speak from his heart.

Or from his dick.

1. INTRO
Not much of a rap album intro (this is simply dialogue swiped from a movie), but at least it's short.

2. SEX STYLE
Almost every Kool Keith solo song features a reference to either bestiality of pissing on somebody: this title track features both. Kutmasta Kurt's beat is appropriately dark and seedy, and one fears that the label had to hire a jizz mopper to clean up the mess after Keith and his entourage left that evening. With this track, Keith ushers in an entirely new sub-genre: pornocore. Fans of the Dr. Octagon persona will actually transition into Sex Style fairly easily: those who prefer Dr. Dooom may have a tougher time connecting the dots, and those of you who only know of Kool Keith because he supplied the theme song for the Adam Sandler-produced flick Grandma's Boy will have their minds break in half. Or not, I don't know.

3. DON'T CRUSH IT
I always thought this song was pretty boring. Good to know that my initial reaction still holds true today.

4. MAKE UP YOUR MIND
The chorus is utterly stupid, but you can't help but get hyped to T.R. Love's bouncy instrumental. Keith himself also wakes up to the challenge, although this song can hardly be considered "pornocore" until the hook kicks in.

5. SLY WE FLY (FEAT NOGGIN NODDERS)
Kool Keith and one of Motion Man's earlier pseudonyms prove, once again, that they work very well together. My favorite line by far is Motion's "We look out windows and stare": his delivery manages to make that shit sound both hilariously esoteric and scary, although the latter interpretation is probably more of a reaction to Kurt's damp dramatic score. To be honest, this comes off as something that might have better fit on a Dr. Dooom project, but this shit is still really good.

6. PLASTIC WORLD
This really has nothing to do with Sex Style's overall theme, but staying on topic has never been Keith's strong suit. Instead, this is more in keeping with Keith's overall disgust with both the New York hip hop scene and the Ultramagnetic MC's fans who don't want to hear him branch out (in typically contradictory style, Keith mimics a supposed fan's argument during the song's intro: "Kool Keith should keep it real/he should rap about space and Mars"). It also justifies why Keith defected to the West Coast (and linked up with Kurt and The Automator). These lyrics were set to a different beat and released under an alternate name on the Interweb: I prefer the music from the retooling to Kurt's instrumental on here.

7. STUCK ON PUSSY DRIVE
Interlude...

8. REGULAR GIRL
Not many rappers would even thing to rhyme the phrases "balls", "Niagara Falls", and "Lou Rawls", but that's just how Keith's demented mind tends to operate. I liked his nonsensical attempt to construct an erotic rap, but Kurt's beat, with its instrumental burps and generic-sounding drums, didn't really work for me.

9. THE MACK IS BACK (FEAT SIR MENELIK)
T.R. Love relies on a distorted dialogue sample to fill out the chorus, making this the second track in a row that does so, which is frustrating. Keith clearly has delusions of grandeur, as evidenced by the intro to this song, but while this song is okay, it won't win him any fans. Sir Menelik, a now-former Kool Keith associate (probably better known today as Scaramanga), is introduced to the audience in a slightly condescending manner, which may help explain why there is hardly a mention of his cameo appearance online, although he is clearly the other rapper on here. This isn't a better collaboration than the one with Motion Man earlier, but Keith and Menelik used to also bounce ideas off of each other effectively.

10. WHAT'S HE LIKE?
Interlude...

11. STILL THE BEST
Keith brings out his Willie Biggs persona (he used to call it his Big Willie Smith character, but he changed it for obvious reasons) for a relatively uneventful stroll down the corners of his mind. Not bad, but not all that good, either. I'm beginning to question exactly why I like Kool Keith so goddamn much. (The answer is as follows: Dr. Octagon.)

12. IN YOUR FACE
The hook is insipid, as moth of Kool Keith's hooks tend to be. T.R. Love's beat is also missing all of the elements it would take to make me give a fuck. Keith drops the "pornocore" in favor of his other favorite pastime: dissing other rappers in an obtuse fashion. Which is to say, the fucker doesn't drop any names, but why should he? Kool Keith apparently hates everybody.

13. LICK MY ASS
Can't have an album titled Sex Style without an interlude featuring some chick having an orgasm. That is all.

14. KEEP IT REAL...REPRESENT
Those of you two who remember (or care about) the write-up for Keith's Ultra project Big Time will recall that I already reviewed this song, albeit in its "original" form. I still don't know what compelled Keith to use the exact same beat for two different tirades: it isn't as if Keith had a major label's censors breathing down his back at that point. This take (which first appeared on the Big Willie Smith EP, released in 1995 on Kurt's Funky Ass Records) is more sexually explicit than Big Time's (Keith brags about jerking off to the mere sound of Foxy Brown's voice - I'm sure she's honored by that sentiment), but it's still only alright.

15. LITTLE GIRLS
The hook is at a pedophile-level of creepiness: maybe Keith wanted to bust listeners out of their comfort zones, but it would help if he had actually made this into a good song. It isn't unheard of: Keith actually has a ton of good songs in his catalog. Almost none of which seem to appear on Sex Style, now that I think about it.

16. AFTER THE CLUB
Interlude...

17. LOVELY LADY
I actually love this goofy-ass song. Kurt used the overused-to-death drum break from "Impeach The President" (by The Honeydrippers) to back Keith's outrageous praise of his unnamed lady friend ("She's got me open like two big scoops of Raisin Bran" - what does that even mean?). I find this to be entertaining as fuck.

Immediately following "Lovely Lady" on the same audio track is a hidden song, one which goes by one of two titles, both of which I'll list below.

CAN I SEE YOUR PANTIES? or, TAKE OFF YOUR PANTIES (PHOTO SESSION)
Writing both of those titles in that manner reminded me of early episodes of The Bullwinkle Show. On this bonus track, Kool Keith jacks EPMD's "Ur Only A Customer" to ill effect. Had Sex Style ended with "Lovely Lady", this would have been a much better album, but Keith has never known how to leave well enough alone. It was kind of weird that he mentioned R. Kelly and pissing on somebody in the same sentence, though: in some circles, Keith Thornton would be considered a prophet.

Reissues of Sex Style have also tacked on an additional bonus track, "Get Off My Elevator", which originally popped up on the soundtrack to Office Space, of all things, as well as enhanced video content. I don't have the reissue, so I can't tell you anything about the video, but "Get Off My Elevator" is decent enough, if not very memorable.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Like most of Kool Keith's early solo work, Sex Style has more than a few flashes of brilliance, but these flashes are sometimes hard to find in the bacteria-filled muddy rivers and lakes that Keith is used to. The punchlines and thinly veiled threats come quickly, but Keith rhymes as if the beat is of absolutely no consequence, which, for most of Sex Style, they aren't. It is commendable that Keith was able to maintain many separate personas while recording this project, with minimal seepage. Save for the tracks listed below, Sex Style isn't a good enough sampler of what non-fans of Kool Keith are missing: a lot of this will fall flat if you're not already buying into the man's eccentricities. This one's for Ultramagnetic MC's fanatics only. Oh, and also for those of you who love porn. Go ahead, raise your hands: I know there are a lot of you two out there: we're all on the Interweb, after all.

BUY OR BURN? Only three of these songs are especially good, and only two of those threes actually deserve their spot in the Kool Keith canon. So this should be a burn (or only a passing glance) for everyone except for fans of Keith's work with Kurt. And even those folks should try it before you buy it, as Kool Keith remains a required taste.

BEST TRACKS: "Lovely Lady"; "Sly We Fly"; "Make Up Your Mind"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Other Kool Keith excursions can be found here.

Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded (March 3, 1987)

2009-09-20T12:00:00.002-05:00

For all of you two who were wondering where the KRS-One reviews were, I appreciate your patience. This is an album that I've been meaning to get to for a long while now, so I'm going to try to keep this intro short.

Boogie Down Productions (BDP) is a highly influential crew straight out of The Bronx. Upon its original incarnation, it was made up of KRS-One, DJ Scott LaRock, and D-Nice. They were among the first group to popularize what would later be known as gangsta rap, but they were also responsible for furthering the craft, weaving narratives into their rhymes, pointing a critical eye at society's ills, freely utilizing KRS-One's Jamaican heritage in the songs themselves (prior to BDP, a lot of rappers hid their pasts in an attempt to assimilate into American culture), and also starting up one of the first hip hop feuds, against the Juice Crew: KRS and company interpreted some of their comments as saying that Queensbridge was the birthplace of hip hop, and took offense. (While their beef may have started off legitimate, MC Shan and KRS-One soon quietly settled their arguments in an effort to make money off of said feud, and even toured together.)

Criminal Minded, BDP's debut album, was their only release for B-Boy Records. Its production was originally credited to KRS and DJ Scott LaRock (D-Nice only really sort-of appears on one track), but it was more recently revealed that Ced Gee, from the Ultramagnetic MC's, actually produced a lot more of the album than either crew member, even though he doesn't receive any such credit. (So, in that respect, BDP was also responsible for Ced Gee, as the Ultra's Critical Beatdown didn't see its release until a year after Criminal Minded.) However, that new revelation doesn't detract from the listening experience: samples are woven in and out of each carefully composed track, and KRS-One's rhymes remain as potent as they did twenty-two years ago.

Shortly after Criminal Minded was released, DJ Scott LaRock was killed in an act of senseless violence, and KRS elected to take the group name to another label, surrounding himself with new faces to advance his own career while keeping Scott's legacy alive.

Criminal Minded is still considered to be one of the best rap albums ever made, and KRS-One's vocals helped set him up to be in the running for Best Rapper Alive.

I realize that was a severe oversimplicifation of the Boogie Down Productions backstory, but I really just wanted to get to the music this time.

1. POETRY
The scratching gives KRS-One's poetry a heightened sense of reality, as if the song is on the verge of falling apart and the only thing that will save it is shifting its very essence around on a turntable. Also, there isn't really a hook, which is so a plus.

2. SOUTH BRONX
This is the only song which D-Nice really makes any sort of appearance on. I love the beat, which continues to influence music today, but the lyrics are incredibly simple, which isn't what newer listeners (those who are driven to pick up Criminal Minded because other bloggers list this as one of the greatest diss songs ever made) will be expecting. I recommend this song anyway, but even I admit that this shit is kind of lacking. And yes, I know I just committed hip hop seppuku by writing that last sentence.

3. 9MM GOES BANG
I enjoyed the blatant 1980's-type instrumental, and the storytelling on here is pretty vivid for what it is: violent acts of gangsta rap. The hook is a bit annoying, but I'm nitpicking too much.

4. WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR
On any other rap album, a track with that title would indicate an interlude that could easily be skipped. For Boogie Down Productions, “Word From Our Sponsor” means that KRS spits with the fire that explains why some (not me, though) rank him higher than Rakim on the list of Greatest Emcees Ever. There isn't much to the beat, but I still liked this one.

5. ELEMENTARY
KRS doesn't battle with rhymes (he battles with guns), but he immediately claims that his “Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone”? Contradictory much? Other than that bizarre line (which helps explain the man's rap name, for those of you who didn't catch that), this was pretty good, albeit in a truly old-school and dated kind of way.

6. DOPE BEAT
Scott LaRock swipes AC/DC's “Back In Black”, a feat that the Beastie Boys and Eminem, among others, couldn't swing because the band doesn't allow others to sample their songs. So, yeah, I won't speculate on how this song came to exist. Scott does manage to make a “Dope Beat” out of this, though.

7. REMIX FOR P IS FREE
Mos Def and Talib Kweli jacked this beat for their “Definition”, and the next song in the tracklisting also served as inspiration for their follow-up, “Re:Definition” (oddly enough), and I'd be willing to bet that a lot of you two would find Mos and Kweli's version much more accessible. This is still a good song with an excellent instrumental, but it is a bit difficult to wrap your head around at first.

8. THE BRIDGE IS OVER
Another diss record aimed at MC Shan and Marley Marl (along with Roxanne Shante and, fuck it, the rest of the Juice Crew, while we're talking semantics). I'm going to catch a lot of shit for my next statement, but so be it: I never liked this song. It sounds unfinished (it is possible for a beat to be too simple, folks), and I can't stand KRS-One's rhyming style on here. I acknowledge the song's importance to our chosen genre, but that's where it stops.

9. SUPER-HOE
KRS-One basically used up an entire song to call his deejay a slut. Had his deejay been a female, she would have been chastised left and right, but since Scott is a dude, this track is the audio equivalent of a high five between frat guys at a kegger with Asher Roth. Listeners looking to BDP for conscious lyrics will be immediately turned off by this song. But let me get off of my soapbox: the beat itself is simple and catchy, but the lyrics, while technically proficient, are not what you want to hear KRS-One say, especially when he uses the phrase “do not keep in mind that [Scott] is a rapist”, when a “keep in mind that he isn't a rapist” is both more sufficient and grammatically correct.

10. CRIMINAL MINDED
If you've somehow become a fan of KRS-One without knowing about his earlier efforts, this will be the first song that you will gravitate to, as it is the most like his Teacher persona today. The beat is both good and frustrating (I was left hoping that he would do more with it), but KRS rips shit up, which, to some of you, is all that will matter.

My version of Criminal Minded came with an extra song that, to my knowledge, wasn't included on the original 1987 release.

11. SCOTT LA ROCK MEGA MIX
I like it when one can take a song's title literally.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Criminal Minded is most certainly a product of its time: if Boogie Down Productions were to release it today, critics would blast the dated musical sound and the sometimes simple lyrics from KRS-One, and labels would be reluctant to market it unless KRS was willing to collaborate with Lil' Wayne for a remix. (Can you imagine? I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.) Luckily, Criminal Minded was released in 1987, so instead, hip hop heads from yesterday, today, and tomorrow can appreciate why it is considered a true classic of the genre. Some of this is more violent and sexist than I remembered, but then again, so is hip hop in general. Scott LaRock's beats may not appeal to the new artists today, but they complement the mindstate of KRS-One beautifully. Some of this doesn't hold up as well today, but the package as a whole is deserving of its praise.

BUY OR BURN? Yeah, um, you'll need to buy this one. It's the law or something. KRS-One has kind of muddied things a bit by also releasing Best of B-Boy Records, which was a re-release of Criminal Minded's tracks, most of which are longer than the album versions, paired up with b-sides, but that should be seen as for collectors only. Everybody else should be satisfied with the original album, which, once again, you have to buy.

BEST TRACKS: “Criminal Minded”; “South Bronx”; “Poetry”; “Word From Our Sponsor”; “Remix For P Is Free”; “9MM Goes Bang”

-Max

My Gut Reaction: Saigon & Statik Selektah - All In A Day's Work (March 17, 2009)

2009-09-19T12:00:00.005-05:00

Critics all over the blogosphere have been praising Brian Carenard, who performs under the rap name Saigon. The man has released around eleventy billion mixtapes, all of which are allegedly the best shit since sliced bread, and has had a debut album, The Greatest Story Never Told (executive-produced by Just Blaze) set for a supposed release of February 31 of whatever year it currently is. That is to say, his album will probably never ever ever come out, and Saigon himself probably knows this.

I've been slacking off on following the man's career, mainly because there are too many rappers to follow in the game and I've made my choices with no regrets. I've caught the man's act on Entourage, though, when he played a rapper (coincidentally named Saigon) who was sort-of discovered by Turtle, who managed him for approximately three episodes or something, until he was abandoned for the services of someone who was an actual manager. I've also caught a few guest appearances on compilation albums, and he released a single from this mythical album that also featured Jay-Z which I don't remember, but I know I've listened to it at some point.

So when I first heard that Saigon and mixtape deejay extraordinaire-slash-producer Statik Selektah locked themselves in a studio for twenty-four hours and recorded an entire album's worth of material, I didn't immediately believe it to be a positive thing. Who records an entire album in one sitting? A mixtape, maybe, but a cohesive album?

The two men named the album All In A Day's Work and released it through Amalgam Digital in March of this year. Upon its release, bloggers quickly took notice and proclaimed it to be the tits, but then immediately began to ignore it. Such may be the disposable nature of today's hip hop (everybody seemed to completely forget about Asher Roth's debut, too, save for MTV, where he was recently up for an award for Best New Artist), but I couldn't shake the nagging notion that perhaps the album wasn't much to begin with.

All In A Day's Work may have been a noble experiment (one which was somewhat successful for Saigon and Statik, as a sequel is supposedly planned for later this year), but the act of recording an entire album in one day may have been more if a publicity stunt than an actual creative effort. Let's see what the big deal is.

1. TO BE TOLD
I wasn't impressed with Saigon's threat to “e-thugs” that he will “'CTRL-ALT-DEL' you dead”, but for a rap album intro, the fact that the man actually spits a couple of verses gives the man a pass. Statik's beat is relatively simple, and the soulful vocal sample is kind of annoying, but this still wasn't all that bad.

2. SO CRUEL
Statik's reliance on sampled vocals doubling as the hook is frustrating, but I liked Saigon's vocals, especially when he warns that he will give you nothing but “fuck-you's and bad criticisms”. That shit is funny to me. Saigon actually isn't cruel enough on here, in my opinion.

3. THE RULES
This fucking knocks. You can almost imagine Saigon's fictional manager Turtle nodding his head in the studio. However, I take a few points off because I swear Statik swiped a one-word sample from a Soulja Boy song, and that is something I cannot condone.

4. MY CREW
I didn't care for this one.

5. PREPARE FOR WAR
Referring to Elvis Presley as “Michael [Jackson]'s old father-in-law” is pretty fucking inspired. However, Statik's beat isn't aggressive to warrant anybody preparing for way, and although Saigon's lyrics are pretty good, his delivery suffers.

6. SPIT
I hated this song's beat. Saigon manages to sound pretty goddamn entertaining, but Statik's pan flutes and strings didn't do anything for me. Moving on...

7. LADY SINGS THE BLUES
Not every hip hop song needs to have sampled vocals on the hook. Statik Selektah apparently missed that memo. The Chris Brown domestic abuse reference at the end only shows you just how recently this shit was recorded.

8. LOSE HER
Okay, seriously, Saigon needs to get some instrumentals that consist primarily of hard drums and some sense of melody, because this sampled vocal shit is getting ridiculous.

9. GOODBYE
I really liked this short song, even though it falls into the same production pothole as everything else on All In A Day's Work. I appreciate how Saigon is able to express both disbelief and exasperation in regard to the events of the track.

10. THE REASON
Meh.

11. I WARNED YOU
For the finale, Statik supplies a beat that sounds like hands clapping at a concert by a Kraftwerk tribute band, but still falls back on his vocal sample crutch, thus hindering Saigon's progress.

THE LAST WORD: For All In A Day's Work, Saigon provides your typical hip hop bombast that one grows accustomed to after listening to the genre for forty seconds, but he also deviates a handful of times to expand his horizons, providing newer listeners with a valid reason why most bloggers have been waiting for Saigon's major label debut to drop (although it never will). Teaming up with one of the most popular mixtape deejays would normally be considered a smart move, and had Statik Selektah given Saigon any one of these eleven instrumentals for his actual album, the songs would have been better received. However, Statik was apparently in a certain mindset the day this project was completed, one which involved R&B vocals sampled throughout, and when you hear that shit for the duration of an entire album, no amount of lyricism can overcome that obstacle. A lot of All In A Day's Work sounds the same, which ultimately means that hip hop heads can walk right past this album with little to no guilt. Maybe next time Saigon should speak up about the instrumentals. Oh well. Be sure to leave your comments below, and also let me know if there are any specific Saigon mixtapes that you would recommend to newbies.

-Max

Havoc - The Kush (September 18, 2007)

2009-09-18T12:00:00.004-05:00

I didn't plan for this to happen, but sometimes things work out in a bizarre way. Exactly two years ago today, the less vocal half of Mobb Deep released his debut solo album, The Kush. With this project, Kejuan Muchita, who orders pizzas under the alias Havoc and then gives the wrong address, attempted to prove that his talents didn't lie exclusively behind the boards.

Havoc and his partner-in-rhyme Prodigy make up Mobb Deep, a New York-based rap duo who were seemingly untouchable in the mid-1990s, only to suffer through a series of bad business decisions which resulted in losing almost one hundred percent of their fan base. Cellblock P, who is still currently serving a prison sentence, was always considered to be the "real" rapper of the two, even though Havoc also spit quite a few bars, but Hav's magic resonated with the musical compositions he produced: with the skill of a master composer, he crafted dark, brooding masterpieces such as "Shook Ones Pt. II", "Give Up The Goods (Just Step)", "Nighttime Vultures", and, as most of my two readers would include on this list (as you picture me shaking my head with disbelief), "Hell On Earth (Front Lines)", with ease.

Prodigy had already ventured out of the box to release two solo albums, but Havoc was content with holding off until the fall of 2007, when the expectations would be so fucking low that he could do nothing but impress. To be fair, though, his rhymes have been steadily improving over the years: whatever water P has been drinking that caused his mouth to start saying some utterly stupid shit is having the opposite effect on Kejuan. As such, The Kush, Havoc's self-produced debut album released on Nature Sounds, was met with a surprising amount of blogger acclaim.

Surprising to me, anyway.

1. NY 4 LIFE
Thankfully, Havoc missed the exit to the rap album intro frontage road and drove directly to the first actual song on The Kush. If he truly has an icebox where his heart should be, as he claims on his reintroduction to his fast-dwindling street audience, then he has a serious medical condition that should be checked on. How is the man walking around? Hav's flow concerns me, as he already doesn't sound like the type of rapper who will be able to captivate an audience for the duration of an entire album, and the organ-driven beat is repetitive at best.

2. I'M THE BOSS
Havoc's obvious appreciation for A Tribe Called Quest's "Luck Of Lucien" (or, more accurately, "Forty Days" by Billy Brooks) has led to this track, The Kush's first single, which isn't really an homage: rather, Hav thought it would be funny to filter his sexist and violent thoughts through a happy-go-lucky sample. Oddly, this experiment actually works, even though he rhymes the phrase "sex tape" with itself on two occasions, which smacks of laziness.

3. BY MY SIDE (FEAT 40 GLOCC)
Yet another rap song about how the artist involved loves his weapons. Guest star 40 Glocc's description of himself "smoking on the cancer/fucking up my lungs" is almost poetic, and I'm completely serious when I say that. The beat is all types of blah, though, so both rappers don't sound as interesting as they might have otherwise.

4. ONE LESS N---A
Ridiculous title aside, this overly dramatic Havoc instrumental may have been a better fit for both halves of Mobb Deep, as this sounds like the kind of beat that Cellblock P of today tends to gravitate toward. Which is to say: it's alright, but it's not real. Sigh.

5. RIDE OUT (FEAT NYCE)
Even though Havoc adopts an appropriately threatening tone, Nyce's sing-songy hook is fucking hilarious, and I mean that in the worst possible way. My suspension of disbelief was completely shot after this track. Oh well.

6. BALLING OUT (FEAT UN PACINO)
This actually wasn't bad. Un Pacino's verse made me wish that somebody, anybody, from Infamous Mobb was available instead, but he still sounded okay, and Havoc's assertion that he's right where he's supposed to be, "like feng shui", and the fact that he is the first rapper in existence to admit that he isn't in the top five, makes this song feel like a refreshing splash of water on a hot summer's day in the front row of whatever incarnation of the Shamu show they have playing at Sea World these days. Also, entertaining as hell.

7. WHAT'S POPPIN' TONITE
I'm not going to say that Havoc shouldn't ever go to the clubs and get drunk like a normal person, but Mobb Deep's collective attempts at that elusive club banger have been spotty at best. This one doesn't shift the tide.

8. CLASS BY MYSELF (FEAT NITTI)
Unsure of why Infamous Mobb's Ty Nitty felt that he had to change his name to Nitti, but still: meh.

9. SET ME FREE (FEAT PRODIGY & NYCE)
Had Prodigy not appeared anywhere on The Kush, this album just wouldn't have felt natural. Unfortunately, all of the lyrics provided by this trio suck balls: as frequently mentioned in the past, Cellblock P has lost whatever spark he had behind the mic, and Nyce's verse is just boring. Sadly, Havoc's beat is really fucking good, which makes this shit even more of a letdown.

10. BE THERE
I kind of liked this one, even with Havoc's attempt to discredit the song with insanely stupid lyrics such as "it won't be long, like a monkey with its tail cut". The vocal sample woven throughout is much more haunting than it should be for a track this cheesy, but it helps make the song sound that much better.

11. HIT ME UP (FEAT UN PACINO)
This could have been worse, but that turn of phrase also implies this could have been a lot better. Like, for instance, if Havoc had deleted Un Pacino from the track entirely. But that's just me.

12. GET OFF MY DICK
Havoc gets more homophobic than usual and threatens to leave those who oppose him in hospital beds with colostomy bags attached. Which is really fucking gross, but you cannot deny that deft use of imagery. Too bad the track itself isn't deserving of any praise, so the effort was wasted. And with that, Havoc's solo debut is over. You just have to appreciate the economy of this project: had The Kush been as bloated as most rappers tend to make their debut albums seem, this would make me a lot more angry. As it is, I'm simply mildly irritated.

FINAL THOUGHTS: The Kush may have been highly anticipated ever since Prodigy dropped both H.N.I.C. and Return Of The Mac, but Havoc churns out a product that sounds as if he recorded all of it in the span of a weekend . Even though I consider him to now be a better rapper than Cellblock P (although there is no way that he could ever fuck with Prodigy back when his shit was tight, around the era of The Infamous and Hell On Earth), none of that newly formed skill set is to be found on The Kush. Instead, listeners are treated to twelve generic gangsta rap pieces with little to no relation to one another. As a hip hop veteran, Havoc should have much more to say, but maybe he felt like dipping his toes in the water first, instead of going balls-out. With the exception of a handful of tracks, The Kush is about as much fun to listen to as it is to watch paint dry after smoking the bunkest weed available in your dry town. The good news is that the best songs leave Havoc some room to take a mulligan, but we'll see how quickly he squanders that opportunity.

BUY OR BURN? Mobb Deep's remaining fans snatched this up as soon as it first ~~leaked~~ hit store shelves, but everybody else shouldn't give this a second thought. This is neither game-changing nor consistently entertaining, but fuck it, at least it's short.

BEST TRACKS: "I'm The Boss"; "Be There"; "Balling Out"

-Max

J-Zone - $ick Of Bein' Rich (July 22, 2003)

2009-09-17T12:00:00.003-05:00

After the release of his first full-length project, Pimps Don't Pay Taxes, producer-slash-rapper J-Zone told anybody who would listen that he had no plans on rapping again. He felt that he had already done everything he could with the art of the rhyme, and his heart was in the production side of hip hop anyway, so he intended to produce full time and leave the verses to the experts.

The critical acclaim and success (relatively speaking) of Pimps Don't Pay Taxes derailed those plans. Zone found himself in high demand, helming the boards for artists such as The High & Mighty, Cage, MF Grimm, Biz Markie, and Wordsworth, all while helping out his fellow Old Maid Billionaires Al-Shid and Huggy Bear, now simply going by H.U.G., by releasing singles for both. Zone even found the time to release a 12-inch single of his own, for "S.L.A.P.", a goofy non-album track that shared a kindred spirit with his earlier work from his first two EPs.

His second album and fourth release overall, entitled $ick Of Bein' Rich, chose to further explore an alternate universe in which J-Zone was hugely successful and was running out of ways to spend all of his money, Brewster's Millions-style. What remains a mystery to me is what exactly happened with the Old Maid Billionaires: while Zone retained the name for his vanity label (with distribution handled by Fat Beats), he and H.U.G. had some sort of falling-out, which resulted in him not appearing on $ick Of Bein' Rich at all. Al-Shid pops up on one track, but it seems that the damage was done, and J-Zone elects not to refer to his past life as part of a trio too often on this project. If anybody could enlighten me as to what the fuck actually happened, I would appreciate it, since I'm a fan of Huggy Bear's and would like to know what he's up to now.

Undeterred, J-Zone decided to use $ick Of Bein' Rich as a vehicle with which to convince other rappers outside of his immediate circle to join him in his quest for underground hip hop supremacy. As such, he handles probably a few too many songs solo, but when he brings in artists such as Masta Ace, Celph Titled, and J-Ro from Tha Alkaholiks, the transition is seamless, and the man is able to prove that he is pretty versatile when he needs to be.

The album as a whole, though, needs a bit of work.

1. THE INTERNSHIP
Not as funny as his previous album intros. In fact, this isn't really funny at all: it comes off as the beginning of yet another Penthouse Forum letter that rappers love to compose (although it must be noted that Zone is in no way sexually explicit with this track). This isn't a good sign.

2. THE 2 BIT CLUB
Okay, this rap album intro is more like it. $ick Of Bein' Rich really didn't have to have two different intros, though, did it? There are rap albums in third world countries who would kill your parents for a rap album intro of their own.

3. THE COMMANDMENT$
I have to be honest: this J-Zone tirade is actually much more mean-spirited than anything else the man has released to date. The humorous lines (of which there are few) seem forced, and the overall moral to this story seems to be that J-Zone hates both his fans and his underground success. That was weird. Also, not something that your fans would actually want to hear, Zone.

4. FUCK YOU, PAY ME
This song gets the train back onto the right track. J-Zone claims to only rhyme for the money, a fact that he brazenly cops to, and his justification is kind of funny. Not as much as his first three projects were, but funny nonetheless.

5. 5-$TAR HOOPTIE
This is fucking hilarious. Zone's description of his busted-ass ride will remind you of the funnier self-deprecating tracks from his older projects. This shit was nice.

6. GRANDMA
Zone sure loves his grandmother, as she seems to play some sort of role on all of his albums. At least she seems to be more supportive than Consequence's mother, anyway.

7. 38TH & 8TH (FEAT AL-SHID)
Al-Shid takes over this dope beat to provide listeners with a cautionary tale of the down side of getting head while driving. The attention to detail is extraordinary, and the sense of humor is much appreciated, making this the best song on the album so far easily. It probably also helps that J-Zone cedes the microphone to his old running buddy. I cannot stress enough how nice this instrumental is.

8. STEADY HOGGIN'
All sorts of wrong. Although a lot of what Zone says has crossed everybody's minds at one point or another, that doesn't necessarily mean that you want the man to be your personal spokesperson.

9. GIMME, GIMME, GIMME (FEAT MASTA ACE)
$ick Of Bein' Rich has the distinction of being t he first J-Zone album to feature artists outside of the man's immediate camp. Masta Ace is first up to bat, with an interesting (and graphic, at times) performance that is good enough to explain why the man is still in the midst of a career resurgence of his own today.

10. WHIPLA$H (PIMPOTENT)
I don't think I've ever written this about a J-Zone song, but there's a first time for everything: meh.

11. BITCH-B-GONE
A fake commercial, one which is much more annoying than it has any right to be.

12. PRIMA DONNA (FEAT COPYWRITE)
Underground stalwart Copywrite battles absolutely nobody for seemingly no reason, but he rides Zone's beat like a motherfucker.

13. TOO MANY BABIE$ (FEAT GORILLA PIMP$ (CAPTAIN BACKSLAP & DICK STALLION))
This one-joke song is performed by Captain Backslap (Zone's alter ego) and Dick Stallion. Clearly, J-Zone felt that, after his success on the first three entries in his catalog, he was entitled to say whatever he wanted on wax, so on here he and his boy go after women who have too many children. Pretty ridiculous, but I mean that in a "you'll only listen to this once because it sucks balls"-kind of way. At least he tries to take the piss out of himself on here, as well.

14. HO KUNG FU!
Kind of offensive to Asians, to be honest. This originally appeared as the b-side to "S.L.A.P.": why that song didn't make this album's final tracklisting and this shit did is beyond me. Here, Zone takes his stalker-like affection for Lucy Liu (evident on his other albums) to new lows, creating what could possibly be his most embarrassing song ever. This was a misfire.

15. CHOIR PRACTICE (FEAT J-RO & KING TEE)
I was left wishing that Tash could have found a way to appear on here, as he would have sounded terrific over some of J-Zone's demented cartoon scores, but J-Ro and King Tee manage just fine on their own on this entertaining-as-hell song.

16. LA CHATEAU BLANC
Skit...

17. CHUMP CHANGE
Zone comes across as the cheapest Scrooge in the history of mankind. However, he's funny, so this bizarre excursion works. The beat is a tad bit annoying, though not enough so to avoid hearing the track altogether.

18. BLING AROUND THE COLLAR (FAKE GOLD CHAIN)
I still don't understand what compelled Zone to have a conversation with himself during this song's intro, but I still enjoyed his track-length confession. This is probably the closest that $ick Of Bein' Rich ever comes to the heights of Pimps Don't Pay Taxes, though.

19. EATADICCUP (FEAT CELPH TITLED)
Zone's instrumental is fucking awesome, and his future partner in the Boss Hog Barbarians exhibits a chemistry with him that is palpable. Rhyming alongside Celph Titled actually makes J-Zone sound more comfortable than he has been for the rest of the album, which kind of sucks, as this is the last real song on here, but that's just a minor quibble.

20. BI$CUIT$
An outro masquerading as a song-length track, which features J-Zone thanking every single person who contributed to $ick Of Bein' Rich, oftentimes individually. And with that, we're out.

FINAL THOUGHTS: $ick Of Bein' Rich is entertaining enough, but it isn't very consistent, and some of this is downright mean and boring. J-Zone seems to be bitter and pissed off about his circumstances. As such, about one-third of this project is a misstep. The sense of humor is still intact, but Zone's production is still the real draw of the album anyway, and for the most part, the man does not disappoint. Using the album to prove that he's no fluke behind the boards when it comes to other artists was also a great idea, as working with the likes of Celph Titled and Masta Ace seem to have helped him step his own production game up, increasing his own stock tenfold in the process. If you look at $ick Of Bein' Rich as a demo tape of sorts for the second chapter in his career, moving beyond the salad days of the Old Maid Billionaires, instead of what you probably hoped was a natural progression from Pimps Don't Pay Taxes, this album works a hell of a lot better, but be forewarned: some of this album doesn't sound that great at all.

BUY OR BURN? I recommend a slightly hesitant purchase, because the two-thirds of the album that click work extremely fucking well, but the rest of the album sucks. For the first time, a J-Zone project features tracks that you will be skipping on a regular basis. Fans may be disappointed, and newbies won't understand what all the fuss is about.

BEST TRACKS: "Eatadiccup"; "38th & 8th"; "Vling Around The Collar (Fake Gold Chain)"; "Prima Donna"; "Choir Practice"; "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Other J-Zone projects can be discussed by clicking here. Trust me, you'll want to click here.

Westside Connection - Terrorist Threats (December 9, 2003)

2009-09-16T12:00:00.004-05:00

In 1995, disgruntled West Coast gangsta rapper-ternt-actor O'Shea "Ice Cube" Jackson recruited two of his fellow California-based artists to help him do battle against every single rapper that wasn't based in their home state, in an effort to prove to nobody in particular that hip hop was best served under the hot Cali sun. Igniting a feud that seemingly came out of nowhere (but in reality was both created by and instigated by the hip hop media), these three amigos launched their first volley, "Westside Slaughterhouse", on Mack 10's debut solo album Foe Life, and used Chicago rapper Common as a punching bag. However, Lonnie Lynn is, apparently, nobody's bitch, and he quickly ripped Cube a new asshole on "The Bitch In Yoo", causing O'Shea to suffer an odd loss, considering that he was the same guy that dismantled N.W.A. with nothing but his words.

Undeterred, Cube, Mack 10, and WC (of The Maad Circle) formed the Westside Connection, a hip hop supergroup whose sole purpose was to bring the West Coast back into prominence, a feat that was damn near impossible at the time, as New York and the rest of the East Coast was exercising its dominance over the genre. Their debut, Bow Down, which was released in 1996, attacked rap music stereotypes, other rappers (Cypress Hill got it the worst), and anybody else that dared stand in their way, all while being almost defiantly West Coast in its sound. Bow Down ended up being Ice Cube's last actual good album, and it helped elevate both Mack 10 and WC into the realm of successful artists. Bow Down ended up moving over one million copies, earned four-and-a-half (out of five) mics in The Source (a questionable rating, considering that The Source was one of Westside Connection's targets), and generally rocked. Go ahead, listen to the album again. Trust me, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

While Bow Down was a call to arms for the West Coast to step their game up, both lyrically and musically, 2003's Terrorist Threats, the eventual follow-up, was an indifferent publicity stunt, a one-act play performed by three older artists who were appalled at what these youngsters were up to. At this point, the careers of all three men had hit a roadblock, so much so that Cube was seen more as an actor than as a rapper, and they figured that, since Bow Down was so fucking successful, why the hell shouldn't they try to capture lightning in a bottle twice? Hey, anything to try to make some extra cash, right?

Terrorist Threats featured a typically antagonistic title, but Ice Cube, Mack 10, and WC were all oblivious to the reason that the crew banded together to begin with, choosing instead to record an album full of rap music that was wholly indistinguishable from their peers on the radio. Sparks of their past concerns with hip hop cropped up on two tracks (which will be mentioned below), but for the most part, Cube's mind took the day off, Mack 10 opted to rhyme about nonsensical shit, WC tried his best to save face, and the numerous guest stars all showed up to the studio to collect their paychecks, leaving the original concept of the WSCG, or the West Side Connect Gang, to die a slow death on the shelves of fucking Sam Goody.

Terrorist Threats spawned no real hit songs (although its first single, "Gangsta Nation", got a lot of airplay on MTV), and somehow still sold over half a million copies, although if you look around, you'll find that absolutely nobody has one of them. This album effectively ended Mack 10's relationship with the crew: after a falling out with his mentor O'Shea, he was kicked out of the group, and although Interweb rumors persist that he was replaced with The Game, another West Coast jackass who loves to start beef for no reason, no third album has ever materialized.

Sigh.

1. A THREAT TO THE WORLD (INTRO) (FEAT KEITH DAVID)
Keith David is one of those character actors who works his fucking ass off. He's worked with Ice Cube before (on Barbershop), hence his appearance here. His narration makes this rap album intro much more dramatic than absolutely necessary, but I'll always like the guy, if only because he's in John Carpenter's They Live. That scene in the alley between him and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, where the latter is trying to get the former to put on glasses? Motherfucking classic.

2. CALL 9-1-1
Young Tre's beat already confirms the worst: the organic West Coast sounds of Bow Down have been replaced in favor of what the trio thought was popular in 2003. As such, this reintroduction to the WSCG is a major disappointment.

3. POTENTIAL VICTIMS (FEAT KEITH DAVID)
Did Cube just dedicate this song "to all my white n----s"? The fuck? WC blows his two rhyme partners out of the fucking park (at least that guy still has the hunger behind the mic), but the most memorable aspect of this crap was Keith David's hilariously deadpan threats running throughout the song.

4. GANGSTA NATION (FEAT NATE DOGG)
The first and, as far as I know, the only single off of Terrorist Threats. I've always wondered why nobody has ever pointed out that Fredwreck's beat is essentially a sped-up version of Kanye West's instrumental for Beanie Sigel's "The Truth". Then it occurred to me that I'm probably the only guy who would ever try to compare those two songs together. Anyway, Nate Dogg's hook is a winner, as usual, while Cube and Dub-C both manage to sound good even though this song was a fairly obvious radio effort. Mack 10, on the other hand, showcases a flow that proves that he is the weakest link in the WSCG chain. And yet, the song wouldn't really work without him. Strange, eh?

5. GET IGNIT
This song is frustrating. The Westside Connection were originally conceived as an attempt to draw attention away from the East with the aid of tight beats and thoughtful (and thoughtless) lyrics. However, shit like this only helps inform listeners why the mainstream audience stopped giving a fuck about the West Coast in the first place. Pass.

6. PIMP THE SYSTEM (FEAT BUTCH CASSIDY)
I thought this metaphor was a bit too easy to draw upon, but Cube, Mack 10, and WC's correlation between prostitution and the music industry is still pretty decent. Mack 10's assertion that "pussy don't pay you like EMI" is just funny to me. Butch Cassidy's hook offsets the harder edge that the crew was chasing after on the instrumental, but this still wasn't that bad.

7. DON'T GET OUTTA POCKET (FEAT K-MAC)
O'Shea's gibberish at the beginning of the track sets the bar pretty low already, but the back-and-forth between the four rappers somehow makes this track worse than you were expecting. How in the hell does that happen?

8. IZM
The beat (credited to Bruce Waynne, who is clearly not Batman, and some guy named Dirty Swift) is pretty good, but it sounds like it would be a better fit for Tha Alkaholiks. Ice Cube obliterates any memory of Death Certificate's lyrical potency with an inane verse that he probably penned in between setups while filming Barbershop. What a waste.

9. SO MANY RAPPERS IN LOVE
Attacking sellout rappers who write love songs solely to get radio play and to garner a female audience is inspired: Bow Down was chock full of lyrical bile being spewed toward the conventions of hip hop at the time (the East Coast, magazine critics, Cypress Hill, Q-Tip). However, this concept deserved a much better execution, or at least a completely different chorus, which sounds almost as bad as those on a lot of Kool Keith's self-produced work.

10. LIGHTS OUT (FEAT KNOC-TURN'AL)
This is the best that O'Shea Jackson has sounded since "Gangsta Nation", and he utilizes this slight resurgence to attack two guys that share his surname, Samuel L. and Jesse Jackson. (No relation.) Damizza's beat is the very essence of the West, and even though Knoc-Turn'al's hook is fairly fucking awful, the song itself is pretty good otherwise.

11. BANGIN' AT THE PARTY (FEAT K-MAC, SKOOP, & YOUNG SOPRANO)
This one song is a prime example as to why Ice Cube and the rest of the Westside Connection are no longer relevant to hip hop: this was recorded with every intention of rocking the clubs. Wow. This was eight different varieties of useless. And yes, they just rhymed "tardy" with "party", shades of Real Housewives of Atlanta. I never thought I'd reference that on this blog, but I feel that the mention above of They Live will help offset it.

12. YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART
I don't purchase Westside Connection albums to hear positive messages directed toward the youth. If I wanted that shit, I would have bought The Carter III, thanks.

13. TERRORIST THREATS
Yet another beat that would have been better suited for Tha Liks. I'm convinced that Mack 10 swiped Tash's beat CD and brought it to the WSCG studio sessions as a lark. Well, at least this abomination was motherfucking short.

14. SUPERSTAR (DOUBLE MURDER = DOUBLE PLATINUM)
Cube's first verse is some of the best satire I've heard in hip hop in a long while. Mack 10 and Dub-C stick with the theme, with varying degrees of subtlety, but O'Shea's words carry the track. More commentary such as this (and less blatant commercial attempts) would have been appreciated on Terrorist Threats. Oh well.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Terrorist Threats is all over the place, and most of the project sounds so poor that you'll be forced to double-check the Westside Connection's debut album to prove that these are the same three guys that channelled their anger so well on Bow Down. Ice Cube, Mack 10, and WC opt to travel with the grain this time, instead of going against it, resulting in an album interchangeable with most other no-name Left Coast artists, only managing to come up for air sporadically with something that sounds remotely decent. The beats sometimes knock, but they're wasted so often on these three that you'll be tempted to complain to your city councilman. Terrorist Threats only manages to suicide-bomb about an hour of your valuable time, which is one hour more than what you should devote to this bullshit.

BUY OR BURN? There is no reason for anybody to purchase this, which sucks, as Bow Down was so fucking good. This is the anti-Bow Down: instead of bucking trends, the WSCG follow them like that little scrawny pup running after the bulldog in those old Warner Brothers cartoons. For fans of Ice Cube (those of you who still exist at this point), spinning the tracks listed below will be sufficient, and if you're not an Ice Cube fan, why the hell are you still reading this write-up? We'll see you next time.

BEST TRACKS: "Gangsta Nation"; "Lights Out"; "Superstar (Double Murder = Double Platinum)"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Westside Connection - Bow Down

Dr. Dre - 2001 (November 16, 1999)

2009-09-15T12:00:00.003-05:00

After Dr. Dre escaped the sinking ship that was better known as Death Row Records, he ended up on dry land at Interscope Records, where label head Jimmy Iovine rewarded Andre Young for his talent and hard work with a vanity label of his own, which he called Aftermath Records. Once this news hit the hip hop media, it was wholly expected that Dre's first release was going to fucking blow our collective minds, due to its inherent awesomeness and the fact that Death Row's output had declined in quality almost immediately following Dre's departure, a fact that had to help the man sleep more easily at night.

However, what we ended up with is a crappy compilation album entitled Dr. Dre Presents The Aftermath, marketed as a sampler of all of the artists Dre had signed after decorating the new offices. (None of whom would ever release their own album, but that's a story for another day.) Only one track was credited to Dr. Dre the rapper: that was the mild MTV hit "Been There, Done That", in which the man who popularized G-Funk gangsta rap (note: I didn't say he created it) denounced his former sub-genre, choosing instead to focus on positive messages, living life to the fullest, and, oddly, ballroom dancing (at least, that's what I learned from the video). Fans were satisfied by the track itself, but the compilation tanked, since the rest of it pretty much sucked (save for one other song, Group Therapy's "East Coast West Coast Killas", which featured Dre on the hook surrounded by KRS-One, B-Real, Nas, and RBX, who was the odd man out in this cry for hip hop solidarity), and Aftermath Records was damn near written off as yet another failed investment for Interscope.

Then, two seemingly unrelated events occurred. First, Dr. Dre was flipping through some demo tapes and independently-released albums that somehow found their way into his collection, and came across an EP by an unknown artist named Marshall Mathers, better known as Eminem. Impressed with the craziness he heard (Dre was listening to The Slim Shady EP, after all), he quickly signed the white boy from Detroit and helped him take over MTV, a reign of terror which still continues to this day, as two nights ago he somehow won an award at the VMA's for "We Made You", and both that song and video suck balls. But I digress.

The other event that happened was more of an attitude shift for the unlicensed Doctor. After leaving Death Row Records, a label which owed its very existence to violent and sexist rap music, he vowed to leave it all behind him and move on to other topics. Dr. Dre claims that, late one night, his wife found him in a slightly depressed funk, wondering where his musical career was going to take him, and gave him the green light to start talking about murder, bitches, hos, and murdering bitches and hos again, all for the sake of entertainment. (I'm quite afraid of what Dre's wife considers to be horrific if she finds those topics fun to listen to, but whatever.) Andre quickly pulled his white lab coat and stethoscope out of his storage unit in Compton, and began recording what was tentatively called Chronic 2000, ostensibly a sequel to his breakthrough "solo" album The Chronic, with the help and encouragement of his two most successful apprentices, Snoop Dogg (who escaped from Death Row Records himself shortly after the Dre debacle) and Eminem.

Suge Knight, who was clearly not bitter about losing his cash cows to rival labels, took out his anger on Dre and Snoop every chance he got. He threatened both men with physical violence and lawsuits, often at the same time. He released a DVD, Death Row Uncut, which included, alongside uncensored (read: chock-full of female nudity) music videos from Death Row's vault, very specific directions as to how to find both Dre and Snoop's respective houses (which was a low fucking blow). He signed rappers to the label, talent be damned, specifically to trash talk these two men, whom, for the most part, they never actually had the pleasure of meeting. (Crooked I, now of the supergroup Slaughterhouse, was one of these signings, although he actually wielded some skill behind the mic, unlike the Snoop Dogg soundalike Top Dogg, whose career went nowhere and left him fighting for extra hours at Del Taco.) Finally, in one of the most unsurprising moves in the history of hip hop, Suge Knight released his own album entitled Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000: Still Smokin' (why it's "represents" and not just "presents" remains a mystery), a double-disc label compilation fully intended to strip sales away from Dre's own comeback project. Suge's album featured numerous potshots at both Dre and Snoop by many interesting names, including Soopafly, Daz Dillinger and Kurupt (also known as Tha Dogg Pound), Tha Realest (a 2Pac soundalike), 2Pac (older recordings), Dre's baby mama Michel'le, Treach from Naughty By Nature, and E-40.

It didn't work one fucking bit.

Even though Dre's original title for his project had been stolen by his former business partner, he proceeded undeterred, releasing his first album in seven years, now simply titled 2001, in 1999. It was easily the most anticipated hip hop release of that year. Building upon the same recipe from The Chronic, Dr. Dre used 2001 as a way to introduce lesser-known artists such as Hittman and Six-Two to the mainstream (much like he did with Snoop, Tha Dogg Pound, Warren G., Nate Dogg, and The Lady of Rage on The Chronic), except this time around he also featured many of the rappers whose careers he helped build (such as Snoop, Kurupt (strange in that he also appeared on Suge Knight's album), Nate Dogg, and Eminem) and others who he just admired (such as Devin The Dude, King Tee, and Xzibit). (2001 also originally boasted guest appearances from Redman and Sticky Fingaz (of Onyx) in its print ads: the Sticky Fingaz track would end up on Eminem's second Aftermath album The Marshall Mathers LP, but any Redman Dr. Dre-produced song has been securely locked in a vault, as it has never leaked.) Dre, never really one to write his own lyrics, looked to the likes of Eminem, Snoop, Jay-Z, and an uncredited Royce da 5'9" to craft his words (information as to why Ryan Montgomery is uncredited can be found below), and took his time creating every single beat on 2001, save for the final one, which he purchased from Lord Finesse.

2001 has since sold more than seven million copies, earning a ton of critical and commercial praise, and is generally considered as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. Dr. Dre would also go on to win a Grammy for Producer Of The Year (Non-Classical), which is a big fucking deal for a hip hop artist. His follow up, Detox, has yet to be released, after being promised for the past ten years. But hey, Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...Part II and Chinese Democracy from Guns 'N Roses both came out, so I still have the slightest amount of hope.

1. LOLO (INTRO)
Dre allegedly stole the theme that announces a film is being shown in THX-quality sound to signal his return. (My understanding is that George Lucas was pissed about this.) Instead of playing the “like we always do about this time” vocal sample again, though, Andre decides to show that 2001 is on a different wavelength and, after some lowrider sound effects (and some terrible acting by an easily impressed Xzibit), he goes straight into the first song.

2. THE WATCHER
Dr. Dre uses this song to reconfigure himself as a gangsta rap icon-slash-music producer extraordinaire-slash-family man, one who never technically disappeared from the spotlight: instead, he has been laying low, watching others make their mistakes while calculating the right time to emerge from the shadows. Or at least that's what he wants you to think. In reality, this is just an above-average Dre solo track, one which successfully sets the tone for (at least the first half of) 2001. Eminem, who barely appears on the hook, swiped the beat for “The Watcher 1.5”, a blah freestyle, and Dre himself gave “The Watcher 2” to Jay-Z and Rakim.

3. FUCK YOU (FEAT SNOOP DOGG & DEVIN THE DUDE)
After a long answering machine message intro, a funky groove kicks in and Dre, Devin the Dude, and Snoop begin proceedings on introducing the other primary theme of 2001: sex, and lots of it, with a double helping of misogyny. Dre's “head clinic” line is hilarious in that he doesn't really sound convincing when he says it, but Devin's verse (and sung hook) are literally awesome. Snoop is also alright, I suppose. There was supposed to be an all-female rapper response to this song released soon after 2001 hit store shelves (it was discussed both online and in XXL): what the hell happened to that song?

4. STILL D.R.E. (FEAT SNOOP DOGG)
Dre's “comeback” single (not so much, mind you: it's not like he wasn't working constantly), which was written by Jay-Z. Snoop only appears in a hook and ad-lib capacity, which was frustrating when this dropped, but the song is still entertaining enough. The plucked strings that dominate the instrumental have a way of getting stuck in your head, which is frustrating in an entirely different fashion. The Hype Williams-directed video for this song wasn't memorable in the least (except for Eminem's brief cameo): kind of a waste of money on Interscope's part.

5. BIG EGO'S (FEAT HITTMAN)
The Chronic's “The Day The N----z Took Over” had the benefit of being informed by the riots of the early 1990s. “Big Ego's” has no such luxury: Dr. Dre rolls around trying to justify his place in gangsta rap (which is especially boring when you realize that he doesn't write his own rhymes), and Hittman, who was supposed to be Dre's newest protege, sounds okay, but nothing on here would lead any label to believe that Hitt could move Snoop numbers.

6. XXPLOSIVE (FEAT KURUPT, HITTMAN, NATE DOGG, & SIX-TWO)
This beat was originally for a Dr. Dre solo song titled “The Way I Be Pimpin'”, which featured (and was written by) Royce da 5'9” on the hook. That concept was scrapped immediately following the fallout caused by Royce's manager blabbing to the press that his client was writing 2001. (The original song can be heard here.) Instead, Dre surgically removed his vocals entirely, and added on multiple guests who were all obsessed with sex and ejaculation, not typically in that order. (The soulful groove that lies beneath the rolling drums probably had something to do with the selection of the subject matter.) Listening to Kurupt's opening verse, it's entirely questionable how he was inducted into The Four Horsemen in the first place, as all he's doing is vomiting profanities as if he ate some bad shrimp earlier, and yet, I still like this song, especially because of Nate Dogg's hook. Kanye West has also freely admitted that he stole the drums from “Xxplosive” for Jay-Z's “This Can't Be Life”: anybody interested in a quick comparison can click here and here, but hurry back: this is a long album.

7. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? (FEAT XZIBIT & EMINEM)
When Dr. Dre's future marching band anthem first hit the Interweb, it featured Hittman instead of Xzibit. The good Doctor even took it upon himself to trash former N.W.A. Member MC Ren (“Claimin' they nonviolent, talkin' like they Ruthless”: Eazy-E had already passed away, and he sure as hell wasn't talking about the Atbann Klann). Hittman was obviously the rookie of the bunch (although Eminem was still technically brand new to the mainstream when 2001 dropped), but his verse was still entertaining as hell. When 2001 finally dropped, though, Hittman was replaced in favor of Xzibit, whose verse I could never get into (although it sounds alright, I liked Hitt better on this beat), and Dre's inflammatory comments were deleted. The song itself is still pretty good, and Marshall's first few bars (before Slim Shady takes over) are actually kind of sweet. The original version of “What's The Difference” can be heard online if you look hard enough: maybe a kindhearted soul will leave a link in the comments section.

8. BAR ONE (FEAT TRACI NELSON, MS. ROQ, & EDDIE GRIFFIN)
Skit...

9. LIGHT SPEED (FEAT HITTMAN)
Dre really seems to think that having had a hand in The Firm's incoherent mess of an album is an accomplishment. (He also mentions something similar on “Forgot About Dre”.) His beat on here is pretty good, but this song, whose pretense (thanks to the preceding skit) is that Dre and Hittman are in a bar picking up chicks, and the verses are their loquacious pick-up lines, is ultimately ridiculous.

10. FORGOT ABOUT DRE (FEAT EMINEM)
For a short period of time in late 1999/early 2000, “Forgot About Dre” was both mine and my wife's song, and we were only half joking. Dre's Marshall-penned lyrics are recited remarkably well over this faster, bouncier beat, and Em himself, in full-on Slim Shady mode, steals the song entirely, with his running commentary regarding Charleston Chews and trying to park a Dodge into a two-car garage while intoxicated. I've also always loved Dre's line “Now you wanna run around talkin' 'bout guns like I ain't got none/What, you think I sold them all?” The video for this track ended with a preview of a Hittman solo song, “Last Days”, that ended up being locked up in the Aftermath vaults after Hitt was dropped, although you can find it online if you know where to look.

11. THE NEXT EPISODE (FEAT SNOOP DOGG, KURUPT, & NATE DOGG)
Uses the same beat as Tash's “Fallin' Up”, but by that I mean it uses the same sample source (David McCallum and David Axelrod's “The Edge”). This was a surprise choice for a third single, since it's such a short track (two verses total, plus an outro by Nate), but this shit knocks in your ride, and, fuck it, it's Dre and Snoop! Although Dre should have done the right thing and also invited Tash to spit as well (he got Defari to appear on 2001, but Tash was too busy? I don't buy it), this song still rocks. Not bad considering Snoop fans have been waiting for a song with this title ever since it was falsely promised on the back of cassette copies of Doggystyle.

12. LET'S GET HIGH (FEAT HITTMAN, KURUPT, & MS. ROQ)
What the hell? This shit is corny as fuck, especially when Dre brags about taking ecstasy (obviously Eminem's influence). Kurupt sounds fairly decent, but everyone else on here will cause listeners to hit the 'next' button, right after they pick their jaws up off of the floor. Once again: what the hell?

13. BITCH N----Z (FEAT SNOOP DOGG, HITTMAN, & SIX-TWO)
Dre places a weird pronunciation around the phrase “murder weapon” that is distracting. A Master P reference is also made, which was unnecessary (and it also inadvertently informs listeners of the offender, Six-Two, and his musical tastes). Although I enjoyed the sample from Audio Two's “Top Billin'”, this song was pretty fucking boring.

14. THE CAR BOMB
Skit...

15. MURDER INK (FEAT HITTMAN & MS. ROQ)
Do you think Dr. Dre regrets populating this John Carpenter's score to Halloween-sampled instrumental with two rappers who ended up making absolutely no dent in the music industry? Hittman's distorted vocals are okay, but not great, and Ms. Roq is no Lady of Rage. What was Andre thinking? I'm sure Snoop could have made himself available for a verse on here. Sigh.

16. ED-UCATION (FEAT EDDIE GRIFFIN)
Eddie Griffin takes over a track on 2001 and delivers a bitter rant against women. This is much angrier than you would expect, throwing the entire tone of 2001 under a bus for the duration of this interlude.

17. SOME L.A. N----Z (FEAT MC REN, TIME BOMB, KING TEE, KNOC-TURN'AL, KOKANE, HITTMAN, XZIBIT, & DEFARI)
MC Ren introduces this song, which is the reason why Dre's barbs were removed from the earlier “What's The Difference?”. (Ren and Dre kissed and made up almost immediately after that song was recorded.) I still don't know why Lorenzo couldn't just buckle down and write a verse, but whatever. This West Coast posse cut focuses its attention on artists that mainstream audiences (read: MTV) wouldn't be familiar with (save for Xzibit, possibly), which was a good move, and Defari probably thought it was fucking Christmas morning when he was invited to contribute, although I have to admit, for a guy who I normally don't care for, he sounded good over Dre's production.

18. PAUSE 4 PORNO (FEAT JAKE STEED)
A wholly unnecessary skit, included merely to remind listeners that 2001 is still a gangsta rap album. (A similar interlude appeared on The Chronic, and, of course, sex played a big role on the N.W.A. Albums.) This is entirely stupid and unnecessary, but hearing one of the women in this interlude yell “You got it in my eye, you bastard!” to the porn star Jake Steed was kind of amusing.

19. HOUSEWIFE (FEAT HITTMAN & KURUPT)
I always get this song confused for “Ho's A Housewife”, from Kurupt's solo debut Kuruption!, mainly because Kurupt appears on both. I never felt that this song fit in on 2001, but I will say that Hittman sounded alright. Rappers need to stop quoting the “hotel, motel, Holiday Inn” line from the Sugarhill Gang's “Rapper's Delight”, but the fact that Kurupt also quotes “Bitches Ain't Shit” was interesting, since this song is essentially an inferior sequel.

20. ACKRITE (FEAT HITTMAN)
Hittman is rewarded for his multiple guest appearances with a solo track of his own on 2001. Unfortunately, Dre reserved an instrumental for him that is boring as shit, rendering his three sort-of interesting verses and sing-songy hook obsolete. Sigh.

21. BANG BANG (FEAT HITTMAN & KNOC-TURN'AL)
This was asinine. It's almost as if Andre distilled the very essence of gangsta rap and found the one element that is consistent (the sound of gunfire) and laid that element into the beat multiple times, making this shit sound terrible. The vocals on the hook are also fucking awful. On a positive note, I liked Dre's verse, but as a whole, this shit is a mess.

22. THE MESSAGE (FEAT MARY J. BLIGE & RELL)
Dr. Dre lets Lord Finesse craft the beat to this ode to his late brother. This track was allegedly written by Royce da 5'9” (he receives no such credit in the liner notes, though), but this is the closest to the real Dr. Dre that we'll probably ever get to hear on record. Mary J. Blige's hook could have been better, but whatever. You won't bump this in your car, but it's alright. The outro with Tommy Chong fucks up the atmosphere, though.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Okay, here's the rub: 2001 is no The Chronic. My feelings are that the seven years that passed between Dr. Dre's two solo albums caused critics and fans alike to heap praise upon the album without ever really listening to it straight through, so here's my take, ten years later: The first half is damn near brilliant, but Dre's heavy reliance on third-tier rappers drags the project down in its second half. (Some will probably argue that The Chronic was also stacked with no-name rappers, but those guys ended up being Snoop Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound, among others who you actually still hear from today.) The instrumentals are consistently head nodding (indeed, when Aftermath unleashed an all-instrumental version of 2001, I was the first person at Circuit City to snatch it up), for the most part, and the star turns by Eminem, Snoop, and Devin the Dude rock, but 2001 is actually much worse than I remember. Not because of the violent overtones (they're too prevalent to be undertones) and the blatant misogyny: sadly, I've grown to expect that in my gangsta rap albums. No, 2001 doesn't work as a cohesive album because the second half is pretty much terrible. Back in 1999 and early 2000, when I spun 2001 on the regular, I used to switch out discs after “The Next Episode”: I now remember why.

BUY OR BURN? I'm going to recommend a tentative “buy” only because of the first half of the album. Nostalgia and blindness have caused many bloggers, critics, and fans to proclaim this as an instant classic. If you fall into that category, before you leave comments (because I'm sure they're coming), I recommend that you sit down with this disc and listen to it all the way through without skipping any tracks, and if you still think 2001 is perfect, then more power to you. You're not going to change my mind, though.

BEST TRACKS: “Forgot About Dre”; “The Next Episode”; “Fuck You”; “Xxplosive”; “Some L.A. N----z”; “The Watcher”; “What's The Difference?”; “Still D.R.E.”

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Dr. Dre – The Chronic

My Gut Reaction: Black Milk - Sound Of The City: Volume 1 (2005)

2009-09-14T12:00:00.002-05:00

In 2007, a producer based in Detroit, Michigan, seemed to explode completely out of nowhere. The man's production skills were likened to that of his peer, the late, great J. Dilla, who was also based out of Detroit. Even though the man wasn't a brand new name to the hip hop scene, he was unknown enough to surprise everybody with his fully formed persona and his skills both behind the boards and on the mic.

That producer was Black Milk.

Now, Black Milk didn't actually spring up from out of nowhere: he had been working hard in Detroit for quite a while when his stock suddenly rose. Detroit rap enthusiasts, and there are a lot of them, know of the man as one of the producers who worked on Slum Village's Trinity: Past, Present and Future, which may be best known as the first Slum Village album recorded after group founder J. Dilla left to pursue a solo career. He also worked with a myriad of other Detroit-based artists, and even found the time to venture out of his home state to lace the beats for several random rappers, including Starang Wondah (of the Originoo Gunn Clappaz), Canibus, and, when his name carried much more weight, Gza/Genius, KRS-One, Buckshot, Kidz In The Hall, and Bishop Lamont.

Most importantly, though, he is better known now for promoting his own damn self through his musical backdrops and his rhymes, which have steadily grown more confident and nuanced through the years. It makes sense that interest in the man's back catalog picked up after the 2007 release of Popular Demand, Black Milk's equivalent of a major label debut, even though he's signed to the indie label Fat Beats. I wasn't really aware of the guy until after his name started appearing on everybody else's blogs, so I figured that the best place to start would be with his actual debut album, Sound Of The City: Volume 1, which, for some reason, I've been sitting on until now. (Okay, I will admit that I cheated and picked up Popular Demand first, but this is the first time I've ever heard his first album.)

Hopefully, this goes well, so that I'll be more likely to look for his other work, especially his most recent album Tronic, which for some reason I have yet to hear.

Yeah yeah, I know, I'm behind. But I'm trying to make up for it.

1. INTRO
On which Black Milk shouts out seemingly every Detroit artist ever except for Eminem (although he does mention D-12, so I should let that one pass), Royce da 5'9”, Kid Rock, Madonna (no, seriously), and all of the Motown legends. He warns listeners that the intro will be long, but it ends up being an acceptable length, and you'll only hear the fucking thing once in its entirety anyway.

2. N---A WHAT
Ridiculous title aside, the first actual song on Sound Of The City: Volume 1 isn't bad. It's obvious that Black Milk is fully aware that his lyrics need to be tightened, but the effort and enthusiasm put into the writing is admirable. The beat he laces our ears with is also decent, but as a whole, it's a good thing that the song itself is so short.

3. DANGER (FEAT T3 & PHAT KAT)
This is actually really fucking good, and Milk's beat is overly dramatic in the best possible way.

4. PIMP CUP
Milk's instrumental plods along like a cross-country Amtrak ride. Unfortunately, the drums and the faintest hint of melody may cause uncontrollable drowsiness, so you may want to move on to the next track, or, at the very least, you may not want to operate heavy machinery while this song is on.

5. DUCK
Black Milk brings listeners some interesting imagery: “Don't let the barrel skeet-skeet on your shirt”. Admit it, that's kind of funny. The vocal sample used repeatedly gets old very quickly, though, so thank your lucky stars that this song is short.

6. SO GONE
Milk's obsession with women makes him come off as every other rapper in history, whether underground or mainstream. He has a catchy way about his observations, though, so you'll be entertained, at least until you realize the guy is saying the same shit you can hear on the radio at any given time for free.

7. THIS THAT (FEAT MARV WON)
I like Marv Won. He has a key guest spot on Royce da 5'9”'s “Happy Bar Exam 2”, one of my favorite songs on Royce's The Bar Exam 2 mixtape. This song isn't really on that level, but I still thought it was pretty good. Milk handles his own behind the mic very impressively.

8. DIRTY HORNS (INSTRUMENTAL)
More of a brief interlude than a full-on instrumental, but it still sounds okay anyway.

9. BANG DIS SHIT (FEAT NAMETAG)
No, I won't, but thanks for playing!

10. SWING DAT FAR
Just like every other rapper ever, Black Milk is a fan of a woman with a fat ass. Not that there's anything wrong with that. His sample usage helps this song not turn into Sir Mix-A-Lot re-imagined. The hook is pretty terrible, though you should have seen that coming if you follow my thoughts on hip hop choruses at all.

11. SOUND OF THE CITY (FEAT FAT RAY & ELZHI)
I liked the rhymes a lot more than Milk's beat, which embeds itself into your brain in the worst possible way. Pass.

12. DIRTY GUITAR (INSTRUMENTAL)
There's an awful lot of chatter at the beginning for something that's supposed to be an instrumental. That being said, this is pretty catchy.

13. ETERNAL (FEAT BAATIN)
The beat sounds very similar to everything else on Sound Of The City: Volume 1. (It's up to you to determine if that's a good thing: for my money, it's not.) Baatin, late of Slum Village, recently passed away, so hearing this is more bittersweet than it should be, but it was still pretty nice.

14. APPLAUSE
This was really fucking good. Once Milk starts spitting, he goes in, only losing steam near the end when he delivers a hook, which is unnecessary for a song that is essentially a one-verse wonder, but whatever.

15. HOLLA LIKE U KNOW ME (FEAT QUE DIESEL)
Milk's beat would have sounded better with some additional rappers on it. Or, at the very least, if that title wasn't really the actual name of this song, since it gives the track an inadvertent generic tone. Que Diesel's appearance was also entirely unnecessary.

16. OUTRO
One of the shortest rap album outros that I've ever stumbled across.

Sound Of The City: Volume 1 concludes with a hidden bonus song.

17. HIDDEN TRACK
This brief instrumental manages to sound both sinister and warm, which is no small feat. Well played, sir.

THE LAST WORD: Sound Of The City: Volume 1 sounds like what producer-rapper Kanye West's pre-The College Dropout album would have sounded like if (a) there were such an album in existence, and (b) Kanye's rhymes (over the soulful samples he was synonymous with early in his career) were less polished but more aggressive. Black Milk takes his J. Dilla inspirational messages and runs with them, carving himself a nice niche in the hip hop game. He doesn't sound bad on the mic, but his flow has definitely gotten better since his debut disc. But the kid is a beast behind the boards, and that aspect of Sound Of The City: Volume 1 is what shines the brightest. True, the disc has an incomplete feel, and some of these tracks flat-out suck, but this is a consistently entertaining mess. As such, this is for Black Milk enthusiasts only, but don't get me wrong: there is a lot to admire on this project, even though a second volume was never actually made.

-Max