I'm not even sure the title of this album makes any sense but that's okay because there's not a single minute of this album worth listening too. I can't quite understand why Raekwon has been the most vocal Wu member when it comes to criticizing the production on the Wu last two albums and yet he's one of the guys bringing the least amount of heat. I'm trying to figure out what cut on this record made Rae say "They're going to love this on tour" or "they're going to bang this in the clubs". I can only wonder how an emcee who calls his own shots came to release such a mediocre project. It's dedication to the malaise left this reviewer feeling like I had attempted to drown myself with a wet sweater.
With F.I.L.A Rae has essentially made an album filled with songs that would be the 9th best song on a good album. So for all of you who wake up thinking you need to listen Wisdom Body on repeat for three weeks straight, this is for you.
JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE NIGHT
MADCHILD LIVE!
(with Slaine and 6 other opening acts i don't ever want to remember again!)
Christ it had been a long time since i went to a rap show...maybe 10 years ago when i went to see souls of mischief in toronto with drama...wow...yeah maybe...since then i've been living off grid, in the rurals or in small towns and that pretty much kills any rap show action. Which means i was long past due and so i was pretty excited to rap out...and to top it off it was my 40th birthday!...i wanted to celebrate...i wanted to kick start the second half of my life with some fucking live rap music!
I got there around 10...early i know...so just in case, i brought along vonnegut's slaughter house 5 to reread if things got dreadful...through the door, the first thing i noticed was that people were drinking their fucking faces off. And so i thought it might be interesting to people watch instead of read...i found a seat in the back and watched. The women were dressed up and flashing their peacock tails and the men were strutting like roosters. One dude was strutting around while wearing a Carlos Boozer jersey on...seriously?...i mean, seriously guy?...carlos boozer...the guy that spray paints his receding hairline...
The next rapper up had his face painted like a Juggalo and tried to get the crowed pumped with a call and response to his name..."you say weed, and you say stock"..."weed...stock...weedstock"....yeah, his name was fucking weedstock and i never...repeat...never...ever want to see or hear this man rap in any way shape or form...ever fuck-ing a-gain!!!!!!
Four more acts after that which ranged from wanting to slit my wrists to wanting to blow my brains out. i was ready to do some reading, but then thought that would be a bad idea. i could see some slab of meat knocking the book out of my hand and then getting in my grill "what you reading nerd? oh nothing cause i just knocked your book onto the floor? what you gonna do about that?" which would make me pull out my mace...mace his face, then smash a bottle into his fucking face...which would feel really fucking good, but would get me kicked out...have i ever mentioned i have a serious anger management problem? i basically burn fire all day, ranging from simmer to boil. i carry a variety of weapons on my person, in my car, or around my home for any kind of situation...phew...okay...grab some ice and cool it down willy bee...put that pot on simmer and focus down on the review...right...so i didn't break the book out but silently endured the rap holocaust...halfway wishing i was drunk, but knowing that would really fucking depress me the next day.
Slaine comes on and i move around to some of his songs...i liked his last album "the boston project" and some of his solo stuff...he's got some addiction problems...some relationship issues...trying to make it as a rapper with a family...stuff i can relate too...slaine does his thing...i wasn't too won over by his live act but i'm feeling a bit more pep in my step after his set.
A short intermission where i notice this guy that looks like Kenny Powers from Eastbound and Down...
I see a clock and notice it's 2am!!!...fuck me, i have to get up for work in 4 hours! But here comes Madchild, the man of the hour...his battle ax warriors hit the floor running. I'm there, i'm ready, i'm amped cause i've been listening to "dopesick" and "lawn mower man" all summer.
After a 5 year addiction to oxytocin, in which he reportedly lost 3 million dollars and had his penis shrink to the size of a baby's finger, he's back...clean, focused, and hungry!
The crowd is fucking feral...all that alcohol and drugs has caused mass hallucinations...everyone knows the words, including me and we're all swinging off the ceiling like monkeys...monkeys with the face of brad pitt and the ass of angelina jollie...
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It's all over and i'm shortly back home sipping on a bob marley "mellow mood" beverage to try and calm down and get to sleep...but i can't cause i'm too wired...i lie there thinking about shit for another 2 hours...i think about kenny powers...i think about carlos boozer...i think about a penis the size of a baby finger...i think about mike tyson...i think about louis ferdinand celine...i think about my journey to the end of the night...william brown
MADCHILD AND SLAINE STAR IN...
INTER MISSION
Review: J-Dilla Tribute and Charity Auction. Fez Batik Night Club.
March 2nd 2005.
By: Drama En Sabah
When word originally got back to me that a tribute had been arranged for Jay Dee (a.k.a J-Dilla) I was a little sceptical. I wasn't worried about the money getting to his mother or anything like that. I was worried about the prospect of having to sit through another poorly attended hip hop function surrounded by men. I really wanted to support but its cold in the Big Smoke in March people, and when Thor's own wind chill whips up your pant leg your likely to remember that blunts burn just as nicely at home. Also I'm admittedly not the hugest of Jay Dee fans which isn't to say I'm not a fan, it's just that I wasn't confident a night heavy on Dilla beats would play well.
Anyway I call up my boy Big Tweezie to see what his take would be. I let him know that I was on the fence as to whether or not anyone would show up to this function. Sure 4 or so people had called me within 48hrs of Dilla's death to let me know he had passed (2 more than called me when 'Pac died) but would this be a sign that Toronto's backpackers would manage to assemble en mass to celebrate his life and accomplishments? Tweezie offered, "You know Drama, I think people will show up. Toronto is full of fags and they'll want to attend cause if anything it'll make them feel like they made it out to the funeral."
Word? We'll see. I showed up at Fez Batik Night Club at around 11pm. First thing to grab my attention was the line. Yes the fact that there was a line up in and of itself was surprising but the fact that there were women in the line was downright astounding. I momentarily wondered if I was in the right place. I was, so I got in line. It was about a 20 minute wait which was wasn't so bad at all. For once it didn't seem like the bouncers were purposefully letting people in as slow as humanly possible. I even had a pleasant conversation with the bouncer who frisked me, and generally I'm a grazed testicle away from shutting the whole shit down. It was at this moment that a thought popped into my head. Things would not be going this smoothly at a Tupac tribute.
And I guess this is when I started to realize that maybe this night would have some surprises yet. I enter the spot and I'm immediately struck by the diversity of the crowd. A quick glance of the crowd showed heads who came into Hip-Hop with Run-DMC grooving with heads who came into Hip-Hop with Biggie. Another funny thing that generally separates Hip-Hop shows is the fact that their not necessarily that racially diverse. It's not necessarily that one race always dominates the crowd. Sometimes it's mostly black youth, sometimes it's mostly white youth, and at times it might be a Philippino crowd. This night it looked to me like Toronto as a whole was accurately represented.
Wait, what did that kid say? Dj P-Plus on the wheels? Word? Maybe this is better organized than I thought. Pizzle don't play. Mixing up nuff of Dilla's songs, along with some complimentary grooves from like minded artists. Crowd head nodding hard, everyone getting pulled along by the same energies. Fuck it, I'm in. Bartender rye and ginger. I knew I needed an angle for this article but what is it that brought everyone here? What do Dilla's fans receive from his music? Standing at the bar waiting for rye and ginger number 3 provided some answers.
The bar I was waiting at in the club is a very small bar. End to end it's shorter than a bathtub. I'm leaning on the bar and I weigh 230lbs and yet this bartender keeps taking other peoples orders like she can't see me. No lie 4, 5, 6 people who clearly arrive after me get served before me. This guy walks up beside me at some point and noting that he's behind me in line and that the bartender has passed me over several times says to me, "What's up with that?" I shrug. Two more times she passes over me the last time giving me the index finger to symbolize, "Give me a sec hun". The guy beside me looks at me and says, "No love." Now keep in mind if this was 1997 and/or this bar was filled with the man dem from Jane St. this couldn't have gone on. The bartender, she didn't realize that she was about 4 bars of Shook Ones Part 2 from EMS having to pick green Heineken glass out of her rass. But you know what? Dilla wasn't about that. Shook Ones Part 2. Never came on. So I never had to show her what it means to be "stuck on the realness". She came up to me apologized sincerely and put some extra rye in that ginger. I gave her a tip and off we went our separate ways.
And this might be the essence of a Dilla beat. The common thread linking the works of his career together is that that foundational human element to his art. The aspect that encompasses all aspects, if you will. Not just the tree hugging element or the B-boy element. Not just that thug factor or that militant aspect. The organic sound found so commonly in his music has the ability to appeal to every, and anyone. You know someone can love dancing and someone else can love guns but they both know what love is so why not appeal to that? The beats aren't superficial in nature and that allows them to get to your core. Dilla had that down. You just knew nothing was going to go wrong tonight, and there's a powerful truth in music. When everyone comes to the party for the same thing for the same connection brilliant things can happen. No one was sitting around waiting for an R&B song. No one was in the back waiting for soca. Everyone came to be themselves all night and Dilla was more than happy to provide the soundtrack to let you do just that.
I wonder if this why there were women at this event. But for me hearing Roxanne Shante was looking to reform the Juice Crew I would have written off the female hip-hop head as an endangered species, or in even a myth of legend. But there were women everywhere. Some of them even had nail polish on. Look there goes one right now, and she doesn't even look like she likes skateboarding. And that one right there has clean pants on it. Oh my God! Is that a skirt? A skirt at Hip-Hop jam. We'll I'll be the fourth member of Salt 'N' Pepa; it is a skirt at a Hip-Hop jam. I wonder if Dilla knocked out any reggae joints. I could do with a bubble session with big booty honey behind that speaker.
Speaking of women the moment I walked into the door I knew I'd see this girl I knew. The exact second I walked through the door I knew she'd be there. We originally parted ways under less than amicable circumstances so the fact that Dilla kept whispering that she'd be around had me wondering when she'd show up so that I could see how it would play out. I go downstairs to check out some of the items that were up for the charity auction and there she is coming down the stairs at the opposite end of the basement. I knew it was her as soon as I saw the boots walking down the stairs. Then I see the rest of her. Do you know those women who have an annoying habit of getting hotter than longer your not around them? Yeah well here I am 230lbs of rye and ginger held together by two 3 papers and J-Dilla decides to sit on my shoulder. My right shoulder. That the same shoulder that's connected to my right arm. Yes the right arm that end's in my pimp hand.
Normally the Snoop Doggy Dogg loving Dram E. Dram would have walked by her and only stopped to talk if she said hi. But under Dilla's influence it didn't go quite like that. Why the fuck did I look into her eyes?
Her: Hey! How are you?
Dilla: Tell her how hot she is.
Me: Cool. You?
Dilla: Man is she even prettier than before? Her eyes are shaped like almonds.
Her: I'm good. Same ole, same ole. What are you doing here?
Me: Chillin'
Dilla: Chillin'? Fool, it's like she's looking right into your soul. That's where the beats come from. Tell her she's gorgeous.
Me (thinking): Please Mr. DJ play something by the Ying Yang twins. For the love of Conan the Barbarian play something with the word "skeet" in the chorus.
Her: I didn't know you were a Dilla fan.
Dilla: I know you didn't tell this honey you weren't a Dilla fan. I mean her eyes are prettier than Prince's.
Me (Thinking): You mean East end Prince? The one who thinks he's so big?
Dilla: No the Purple Rain Prince. No one likes the other guy.
Me (thinking): Word.
Her: Didn't you say Like Water for Chocolate was an R & B album?
Me (Thinking): She remembers that convo. Wow.
Me: Well yeah but I blamed that on Common more than the beats.
Her: That's right. So tell me what's new and improved.
Dilla: You baby, you're new and improved. She must have some sort of plastic surgery. How is she prettier? Doggie you shouldn't have looked into her eyes.
Me (thinking); I know.
Dilla: Swallow your pride. Ask her what's up. Find out what's really good.
Me: I'm getting ready to bounce still.
Dilla: What? Look at her.
Me (thinking): You don't understand.
Dilla: That's pride fucking with you.
Me (thinking): But it's like she's looking into my heart.
Dilla: Ask her what she sees there.
Me (thinking): Oh that's just... GET OFF MY GOD DAMNED PIMP HAND DILLA!!!!
Her: Okay nice seeing you again.
Me: One.
Whew 22 year of listening to "Treat her Like a Prostitute", "A Bitch is a Bitch", "Sophisticated Bitch", and "Bitches Ain't Shit" nearly undone by J-Dilla and a pretty girl's eyes. There's a lesson in there somewhere.
P.S
The event raised $3500 to help Jay Dee's mom take care of some bills. Shout out to Jonathon Ramos for putting this event together. Peace to B-Boy Jedi for tearing up the dance floor and helping me find some emergency rolling papers.
R.I.P
J~Dilla.
LIL WAYNE...DEDICATION 5 JOKES
researched by william brown
- hope you live a double life cause you're gonna need an extra
- she gonna learn tonight, call that shit night school
- she said hit it from the back, i'm trying to leave that crack alone
- let em know that we got beef, for anyone got a taste for it
- heard niggas been waitin on me, i might as well go on and tip em
- i pimp my ride, my car is hoeing
- and all my bars be barcoded
- hate a hoe nigga, like anchovies
- my young bitch keep on snapping on me, i told that bitch i ain't posing
- i'm so high i left earth, and ran into venus and serena
- get head like a mind reader
- you washed up, i'm in the dry cleaner
- don't worry about me nigga i'm one hundred like a high fever
- since all you niggas fly now...bugs all on my windshield
- pass that weed around like that shit contagious
- if pussy lips could talk i go down there like it's whispering
- you be batman and i'll be robin the bank
- i know i ain't gonna fall even though i'm power tripping
- i got bloods in the cut, so don't throw salt in the wound
- i wet niggas up, i don't throw water balloons
- she said "you got it made" i say "no i got a butler"
- they tell me to turn up, but i'm the knob on the oven
- i got a knife in my pocket, if there's a fork in the road
- i'm the man of steel but i won't say what i stole
- sometime life is hard to swallow but she like the taste
- i got them flowers in me, i feel like a vase
- monsters in my closet, no more closet space
- niggas wanna be this fly, too many flights to take
- enough with the small talk my girl pussy is a water park, every little thing i do...turn her on
- i be shitting on these niggas, like i'm sipping metamucil
- and we smoking on that gas, pass it like excuse you
- and old folks get shot too, they write down license plates
- all this fucking gotta stop, but i need tighter brakes
- i wax that ass, she makes that Mr. Miyagi face
- they say numbers don't lie, she's shaped like an 8
- it's curtains for these niggas, i feel like some drapes
- i'm hotter than the peppers peter piper ate
- looking at the clouds, thinking about your ass and how it looked like a big smile
- let me get back on track, you say i act like i don't miss you girl, that's because i don't act
- it's wayne's world, and she said what is this world coming too?
- we took a bath together and splashed each other/then she said toon i gotta ask you something...do you really love me?/i tried to change the subject so i said some crazy shit to her like...what if you and i were just letters that would be unfortunate...we'd have to rob a fortune teller/but i swear i think i love you, fingers crossed in my pocket/okay that's a dead subject, you bring it up that's a zombie/you remind me of...my memory ain't what it used to be/she said she ain't tripping, i said i know because i move my feet/and when she figure out she been swindled, i be clearing that love bird shit off of my window/i...i...love you too
- these niggas wearing dresses and you call me weird
- what kind of cologne do you wear? cause all i smell is fear
- bitches give me head instead of playing mind games
- niggas just construction workers trying to build a case
- why your bitch blowing me up if i answer i deflate
- dreads hanging out the ski mask, run up in your house, the couch potatoes getting mashed
- everyone knows my name like Cheers
- you think you're street, i'm a jay-walk-ya
- i'm a basket case, where the fucking lawyer
- keep a brand new bitch, about to get her ribbon cut
- you can judge us, but don't sentence us
- blow me like the wind would gust
- WTF...who to fuck
- she say my dick head need a crown on it, she say my cum taste like holy water
- i said i'm coming, she said taker your time
- she treat me like a God and tell her man she atheist
- i killed that pussy, it came back alive
- i keep change on me now, cause this shit starting to take a toll
- even though i'm not an artist this is where i draw the line
- we don't feel none of you niggas you some fucking porcupines
- none of my cheques came late, i ain't having that, i gave them curfews
- dressed up like an old lady, uzi under my church dress, surprise your ass like a baby taking its first steps
- i'm too good for just any bad bitch
- smoke like i been kissing dragons
- that milk carton show her missing panties
- that pussy felt like a hidden valley
- got some moon rocks in my pocket, that's a pocket full of stones, fuck with me, cause i fucked around and got that shit from Neil Armstrong
- all these bitches think they dimes, watch me flip a coin
- trigger happy nigga, i just can't stop smiling
- thank god i'm fly, i had to thank my pilot
- you think you calling shots, you got the wrong number
- i love Benjamin Franklin more than his own mother
- you shell shocked like adidas
- just changed the face on my rollie, shout out to lil kim
- looking for a bitch to stay down, like i'm throwing knives
- i really beat that pussy up, them niggas shadow box
- turning your homies into slop, put your brains all over the window, people passing window shop like "ugggh"
- burning blunts like bridges
- killing everybody, y'all gonna need a limousine hearse
- you see i'm on like a fucking short sleeve shirt
- monkey see, monkey do...banana clips
- shoot at them niggas, no camera glitch
- got some shit built up, i keep it inside
- you can call me an S.O.B...skateboards over bugatti's
- i'm shining so hard on these hoes, they getting tan lines
- you know snitches get stitches nigga needle and thread
- walk it like you talk it, or we cut off your legs
- take all your possessions, call it poltergeist
- and my homie be a sniper, we call him Wesley Snipes
- your bitch leaking information, i just follow the drip
- you tell that bitch to give me space, like a telescope
- but i can't trust none of them bitches like magicians
- no broken mirrors, i can't see myself broke
- shorty make that dick stand up, like it's telling jokes
- if i ain't had the keys to success i would have picked the lock
- still got that crack, maybe one day i'll pass the rock
- i got two choppers...that's chopsticks
- eat your block up, like shrimp fried rice
- it's going down, let me straighten up and fly right
- check yourself, before i sign it
- money talks, yours has no comment
- had a phone in jail, that's a cell phone
- i'm strong arming these niggas, role my sleeves up
- nigga fall back, like he's getting baptized
- got so much shit built up, you can smell it on me
- ain't nothing free round here, but Willy nigga
- all my niggas blood, fuck your syringe
- if you've got a problem, i'm Einstein
- my niggas saying they racked up, don't let that cue ball leave you broke
- i know you want that pat on the back, but them fools want you to choke
- i been out here getting bread, and i don't need you all in my loaf
- these niggas say they playas, they ain't even scoring
- everyone following me, i ain't even moses
- i'm a-head of the game i need a blow job
- i'm a-head of the game i need a hair cut
- i used to hug the block, i mean bear hug
- i'm high, like bonjour
- twisted, like french braids
- i'm working that graveyard shift, man, these niggas been dead
- i fell asleep in that pussy and i didn't even know it, i woke up and act like i don't even know her
- i'm a ball, like crystal
- i'm hardheaded...ocho...dedication...cinco
- i can still taste her pussy...memorabilia
- i used to be at them heat games with better seats than Pat Riley
- tear her ass up like a parking ticket
- everything i do i plan it out like a solar system
- nigga, if you're clumsy you're gonna slip and fall a victim to me
- i shoot off in her mouth and she bit the bullet
- write it down, take a picture...now i feel framed
- wish i had a penny for my thoughts for some loose change
- i'm a yell timber...money grows on trees
- hoes prettier than please
- fuck you blow me, i sit back and enjoy the breeze
- i don't really do shit, but sit back and call the shots, she poured out her heart, i had it on the rocks
- red beam on your head, that's a cherry on top
- niggas ain't safe...all nine innings
- this a gut check, now who do i write it to?
- gotta cut up the credit cards, plastic surgery
- i'm a god, mercy me
- i'm higher than mercury, smoking on that strong, full of that hercules
- niggers pulling capers, like they come on a string
- you can get your head cut off with the saw...hee-haaw
- kill you and your right hand man...south paw
- black and white porches, like a nazi with a nigga
- we throw them dollars up, them bitches better be frisbees
- some niggas fade away, some niggas hit the jumper
- i'm not hearing that bullshit, i'm deafer than leppard
- i heard a nurse say, thank you for being so patient
- i should probably see a shrink, but i'm afraid he'll make me little
- my bitch named G.G. give me head, i be like Goodness Gracious
- this gun got a hair trigger, i pull this bitch till it ball head
- you ain't got no bars nigga, recharge, cause you're going dead
- oh what a tangled web we weave, i feel like daddy long legs
- my bitch says my dick is great, but i make her say it like Tony the Tiger
- and if anyone of them niggas got a fuckin problem i'm a milk all of them, cause they fucking cow-ards
- been schooling all y'all niggas i'm ya alma mater
- can't afford failure, i'm just browsing
- nigga and if your bitch got an eye problem you know what it is...armed robbery
- these tricks ain't got no magic
- one man band all you hear is re-percussions
162. pretty please don't kill my vibe, i ain't tupac and big
163. time flies, clip its wings
164. she twisted on my dick, like it was a tornado
165. new money, no wrinkles
166. i woke up this morning dick rock hard, dick harder than an armadillo
167. that dick got her coming back, motherfucking reincarnation
168. girl i gotta make a few runs like Usain
165. new money, no wrinkles
166. i woke up this morning dick rock hard, dick harder than an armadillo
167. that dick got her coming back, motherfucking reincarnation
168. girl i gotta make a few runs like Usain
169. i can pull a few strings make em sound like guitars
170. i'm the shit, where's my fly swatter
171. my girl pussy tastes just like ms. butterworth's
172. you're gonna have to swallow your pride like a thirst quencher
173. you ain't got a shot in a gun range
174. niggas feed these bitches lies, nigga don't food poison my hoe
175. when i'm through ballin, i'll coach
176. tell em rats that AK go rat-a-tat like snare drums
177. blunt longer than a tongue twister
178. these niggas acting like little bitches, i don't understand this shit like you scribbled it
179. and to you it's just change, i want every J.C. Penny
180. you can't kill me i was born dead, crown of thorns head
181. ride me like a horse, bitches call me Charlie
182. tell my bitch she my boo, not a round of applause
183. i got this bitch on lock, these niggas ain't got no bail
184. and if you talk trash, i'm a fucking possum
185. i hope my weed ain't too loud to hear the snakes hiss
186. we geeked up, revenge of the nerds
187. as long as money talks i got someone to talk too
188. watch my dogs treat the beef like dog food
189. i got the power but a short fuse
190. i'm on a mission to get movie money, stick to the script
191. they tell me go to Hell okay i know the owner
192. you think you're calling shots? you've got the wrong number
193. we be passing blunts, they be passing judgement
194. 5 blunts of that strong, call that strength in numbers
195. whoever find your body, finders keepers
196. she says she trying to see me, bitch that's stevie wonder-ful
197. if she married i'll fuck her, if she lonely i'll fuck her, if she crazy i'll love her, y'all just don't understand her
198. her pussy tastes like kiwi*
*...that's the interesting thing about the "jokes" is that they bring out a variety of laughs from me...they either give me a funny visual...like her pussy tastes like kiwi...the juxtaposition of visualizing a pussy and a kiwi makes me laugh...some are straight up jokes...some are metaphors...some are weird...some are pop culture references...weed jokes...pussy jokes...dick jokes...money jokes...potty jokes...on and on...
199. my navigation system tells me deaths around the corner
200. ice on my neck, they think i fainted
25 YEARS OF
STRICTLY BUSINESS
by Drama En Sabah
I find it really strange that not only did it catch me off guard to find out that Strictly Business came out 25 years ago but also that I thought it came out when I was younger. I mean I thought this album had come out more than a year before I was old enough to drive but apparently not. I guess I’m saying that while it’s hard to believe so much time has passed since its release it’s even more difficult to believe that this record hadn't occurred earlier in the formation of my own musical identity. It was simply that important
I’ll tell you something though, while there is no denying this record as an absolutely Hip Hop classic and essential listening the most telling proof of its impact was how little I liked it for the most part upon its release.
Confused? Well let me explain as best I can. There were four Hip Hop albums released between 87-88 that absolutely put to bed the previous era of Hip Hop, an era I to this day cherish and that had fully cemented my love of this genre. These genre busting albums started with the release of Eric B and Rakim’s Paid in Full in July of ’87; and continued with Big Daddy Kane’s Long Live the Kane in June of ’88; Eric B and Rakim’s Follow the Leader in July of ’88; and of course this record, EPMD’s Strictly Business released in August of ’88.; collectively these records where the planet killing meteors of their Hip Hop predecessors.
What these four albums had in common was that they abandoned the rock and disco heavy sound track that had propelled Hip Hop music into the public consciousness and had made genuine music super stars out of acts like RUN DMC, the Beastie Boys, and LL Cool J and instead adopted a sound more heavily sourced from genres such as, soul, funk, and jazz. All genres more easily digestible by an audience that was increasingly demanding if not more “blackness” from their musicians then definitely a lack of “whiteness” couldn’t hurt. And though Rock N Roll had its roots in black music it was no longer seen as black music, where as Jazz and the rest were.
In addition to the shift in the musical accompaniments there was also a complete shift in how the rhymes where being delivered. These guys just didn't project their voices in the same way the top rappers of the early to mid 80’s did. You could damn near grow chest hair listening to LL growl his way through songs like Radio, and I’m Bad. This new generation was more laid back in their delivery to say the least.
So by the time RUN DMC released their most Rock N Roll influenced album Tougher Than Leather, in the fall of 1988, Hip Hop had seemingly passed them by. Yes the album sold well as would be expected from the follow up to the best selling Hip Hop album of all time Raising Hell, but TTL was not underground and it had too much electric guitar which meant whatever else it may have been it wasn't the cutting edge of Hip Hop music and simply was not what the hardcore crowd wanted any longer.
And that was ultimately my issue with Strictly Business. At least Rakim and Kane were soloists. But EPMD were a group which meant they had to be compared with my beloved RUN DMC, but they sounded nothing like them. I mean didn't everyone in the 80’s sound like RUN DMC? It wasn't even considered biting it was just considered rapping. That’s the way you rapped, like RUN DMC. Everyone had some heavy guitars on their songs, and everyone had a song which had a little bit of the cadence of the Kings of Rock, Rap, and of Rhyme.
Except they didn't, not anymore, not after EPMD dropped Strictly; You Gots to Chill was funkier than anything the West Coast would ever come up with. The title track Strictly Business injected some Reggae stylings through a sample of Eric Clapton’s cover of I Shot the Sheriff by Bob Marley; Get Off the Bandwagon was as powerful as any of the rock riffs employed by RUN DMC without sounding like it owed a thing to Rock music. Get Off the Bandwagon was a cotdamn terrorist threat of a beat while being as anti a RUN DMC song as anyone could have made at the time. Strictly Business was as anti Raising Hell as an album could be.
How did we get here? How did we go from DJ Run and his partner Devastating Mic Control to Erick and Parish? We traded Devastating Mic Control for a guy named Erick? We did that? Straight up? No future draft picks? No undisclosed cash? Can we get a fucking expiring contract here? Something for christsakes! It was an ongoing joke for years between me and my boy Boogie that I never really respected guys who used their real names as emcees or dj’s for that matter.
It was nearly overwhelming to me that such a record could exist. Why weren’t they yelling? Didn’t real men yell on records? I mean even the notoriously stoic Rakim seem pretty agitated at times. He wouldn't yell but you know he wasn’t fittin’ to sound happy on a record.
Can I get a “Huh!”? A “Ha!” maybe? How about a “Huh-Ha!”? No? Well fuck you then.
A moment that crystallized my feelings on this album stands out to me as clear as day. It was after gym class and I was sitting on a bench in the change room and discussion turned to this album. A kid named Richard was talking about how good the record was. I wanted to say it sucked. Not that I thought it sucked but when you’re 15 you tend to drag things you’re passionate about to the margins lest a motherfucker not take your shit seriously. But I couldn't bring myself to say they sucked. I said they were “okay” with a hard emphasis on “okay” like I was talking about a retard's finger painting assignment (Don’t get mad, retard was a word that could be used without consequence back in ’88. Can I get my Tarantino on? Can I please?!). An argument still broke out with him basically saying they weren't just okay and I remember in what was a small miracle at the time I after some smart ass comments back and forth eventually let it go. It’s like even back then I knew this was the revolution right here. Black people jumped off the old guard’s bandwagon like rats on a sinking ship and moved over to guys like EPMD wholeheartedly. There was just no stopping it. The sale of Fisher Man hats would go through roof about a year later. EPMD had made it.
I had the Strictly Business tape and damn near forced it on myself but I did grow to treasure it. In truth to this day my personal opinion hasn't changed that much. There are a few songs I loved but mostly songs I liked, but it would be years and years before I finally stopped listening to EPMD’s new releases. So Whatchu Saying was the megaton bomb of EPMD records when it dropped a year later off their second LP which I actually liked less than their first but by the time the third LP hit Business as Usual with the Bill Sienkiewicz painted album cover (cover art orgasm for a Hip Hop head and comic book geek like myself) I was a die hard EPMD fan. They rarely diverted from their funk and soul fueled formula which served them well over the course of 5 gold albums not to mention the incredible body of work provided by what was arguable the first Hip Hop super crew; the EPMD founded collection of emcees known as the Hit Squad (EPMD, Redman, Das EFX, Tom J, K-Solo and for arguments sake Keith Murray). These guys were Wu-Tang before there was a Wu-Tang. Get me?
But it all started 25 years ago when we were introduced to their blueprint on Strictly Business.
Salute!
EPMD
STRICTLY BUSINESS
a review by willy bee
(well more like a reminiscence...
i'm hoping drama will do more of the review side of things!)
TIME KEEPS ON SLIPPING...yeah it sure does...25 years ago i got off the bus and went into a white's only diner in alabama...myself and the other freedom riders sat at the counter and ordered some food......wait a second...what the fuck!?...that was a whole other life ago...another incarnation!
Let's start this again...25 years ago i got off the bus. I was 15 years old and living in Toronto
I didn't know who EPMD was when i saw the tape cover under the glass, but i liked the colours, and found it funny that they were both wearing the same outfits. i asked the guy to see it and i looked at the back and saw they had a song called the steve martin...fuck it this seems kind of different...felt esoteric...like a secret rap cult...and anything that came out in the late 80's was rarely if ever wack...so i rolled the dice and bought it. 25 years later i'm still listening to that same tape.
Erick and Parrish making Dollars...EPMD
25 years ago...15 years of age. i was going to lawrence
...used to trade tapes...listen to my walkman...get home and watch YO! MTV RAPS...we had one of those ufo sized satellite dishes so i could watch mtv as well as any sporting event...and of course i could track down some very nice porno!...suffice it to say, my friends used to enjoy coming over to my place!
Everyone at school listened to other shit...like led zeppelin or rush, red hot chili peppers...steve miller band (nothing against those bands)...funny how EPMD sampled a steve miller vocal on that album...time keeps on slippinslippinslippin...
It would take an hour and a half each way to get to school...which means i would do my homework...yeah right...i would listen to EPMD yo!
at home while my mom got the shit kicked out of her i would do my homework...yeah right...i would listen to EPMD yo!
Erick Sermon aka the green eyed bandit aka e double rapped and did the beats...his partner Parrish Smith was the other mc and dj k la boss provided the scratching...smooth flows and fun beats. throw this on at a party to this day and you'll get smiles and people dancing the steve martin...sickem steve...
I would go to sleep dreaming about jane...what a nice name...lyrics would drift into my thoughts as i daydreamed...
you sniff blow? hell no i have my whole life a head of me no time to be sniffing...
i'm a locksmith with the key to fame, never high on myself, always stay the same...
Thinking about this album takes me back in time...the good and the bad...it makes me think about the friends i used to have...the feelings, the paths i used to walk.
Trading my public enemy tape for doug e fresh, with dwayne...watching shawn bring a ghetto blaster into class early...put it on the teacher's desk, pressing play and hearing ll cool j's i'm bad pump out...and secretly knowing almost all the words to it. Wearing my adidas sweatshirt with air jordans...nervous i'd get them jacked on the subway by this gang called "the untouchables" that was swarming around the city.
Sometimes albums aren't just classics because of the music or raps...they're classics because they're time machines that allow you to time travel...time keeps on slipping...william brown...into the future
RICK ROSS' MASTERMIND
Ladies and Gentlemen in the blue corner fighting out of Carol City , Florida
I hate to say it folks but Keeping It Real ain’t getting out of the first round here. Officer Ricky is back and once again he’s put together an album worth listening to. Inexplicably this man keeps the heavyweight championship of Oz though the curtain has long been pulled back, rolled up and discarded like a $3 bill used to sniff cocaine last weekend.
Don’t get me wrong plenty of Hip Hop careers have perplexed me. I’m looking at you Wreckx N Effect. Because I mean nothing says let a group record 3 albums more than combining Guy with Jodeci with a pinch of leather vest and dash of Timberlands in the summer. Truth be told there have been many successful acts to get caught up in playing a role that they don’t have the slightest claim to, *cough* Ja Rule *cough*. But never has one man been more CB4 than Rick Ross. I mean at least Gravy had himself shot, “A” for effort Gravy. All Ross has done is bite someone else’s hair cut, and possibly get butt injections into his chest and the back of his neck.
But here he is, back again, and truth be told he’s probably put out the most consistently quality product of any emcee over the last several years. Good job Hip Hop you just keep on getting it right.
Now while Ross doesn’t have the clever word play of someone like Jay-Z he does share a trait with Hov in that his ear for picking a beat and complementing it with his rhymes are close to impeccable. I often find myself wishing Ross would switch up his flow a little bit but I never feel like he’s wasted a beat, and with Mastermind he’s done it again. Using a wide range of producers with varying production styles Ross’ baritone and slow flow melt into the tracks and ties all the beats together and has the project sounding like the cohesive works of one production team. A far cry from what we had for much of the last 15 years in Hip Hop with endless albums of Neptunes , Timberland, Swizz Beats, rinse repeat. Those years gave rise to the super producer and put us on the path to the cookie cutter records we hear now. Mastermind however is far more reminiscent of the late 80’s early nineties when most of the major acts like De La Soul, Naughty by Nature, NWA, Public Enemy, etc had their own distinctive sounds and recorded albums that sounded like they were the product of a singular vision.
Surprisingly evidence suggests that an alcohol selling master of wearing leather pants named Puff Daddy is largely responsible for the unified sound of this project as an executive producer and being heavily involved in the mixing of the project. Stating that he wanted the album to sound like it was recorded in one day in the same studio. Mission accomplished.
The old school philosophy doesn’t end with the mixing of the record, as it continues into the lyrics. Ross name drops Hip Hop veteran Dana Dane (and indirectly Slick Rick) on the Mike Will Made It produced banger “War Ready”. And doesn’t destroy B.I.G’s masterpiece You’re Nobody (Till Somebody Kills You) on the Puffy produced (go figure) “Nobody”. And while many might see the song as a misstep as it clearly illustrated the lyrical disparity between the Great One, Big; and the Next One, Ross. It also shows that Ross is no fool. He knows how to write a record. And maybe more telling is the fact that he knows who he writes records for. His audience doesn’t want to listen to “rapping ass rappers”. They want to be able to understand every word being said without needing to reference a dictionary.
The mining of Hip Hop’s past continues with a homage to Camp Lo
And that to me may be the biggest selling point of this album, where as on his last album (the superior) God Forgives… I found myself questioning why credible emcees would record with someone so embarrassingly phony, I’m now enthralled by how these emcees bring their entire tool box to work when Ross calls. “The Devil is a Lie” features one of Jay-Z’s best verses in years. More so if don’t count his work with Kanye. I’ve never been the biggest Jay-Z fan but I was pretty sure he was headed to the glue factory after hearing rapping about his baby’s nursery on Ross’ last album but here he is talking about shutting down Stop and Frisk (I had no clue he did that but whatever). Scarface shows up on a bonus track on the deluxe edition of the album and nearly steals the entire album. A coherent Lil Wayne earns his first pay cheque since I don’t know, “Lollipop” maybe. Whenever it was he and Ross have a good time on the J.U.S.T.I.CE League produced "Thug Cry", which has a nice flip of Souls of Mischief’s 93 Til Infinity. I’m sure I should be giving credit to a sample there but what I know is 93 Til Infinity. I think Jeezy does a great job on “War Ready” but that could be because I’ve never listened to an entire Jeezy verse before. Kanye West and Big Sean turn up on “Sanctified” and provide Ross with value for every penny he paid them. No guest takes a night off here.
Still I can’t help but wonder if Ross is at the end of the line here as he hasn’t come close to really breaking new ground or expanding his fan base. I can see a shift in popular music derailing him like asteroids on the heads of silk shirt wearing dinosaurs. But on the flip I’m also reminded of that great Mark Jackson quote from many years ago. “I am too old to play in the league. But none of these young guys know how to play basketball so that allows me to keep playing.” Say what you will but in a world where Kreayshawns get million dollar contracts you have to take note of the fact that Ross knows how to make albums.
4 out of 5
THE ABSTRACT AND THE DRAGON?
Check out Thank You and let us know what you think.
A QUICK SHOT OF THAT WU
Take a walk with Method Man as he returns to his old stomping grounds, Staten Island aka Shaolin.
THE TELPATHS REVIEW
EMINEM - THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP2
Mister brown your hand is
raised do you have something to say?
Yeah...lost my fucking mp3 player during my last relapse
binge…sometimes you have to offer an offering to the gods…at least I didn’t
crash the car, get shit kicked or wind up in jail like previous relapse
installments…I’ll take the loss…fitting that I was listening to the king of
relapse…eminem…someone’s walking around listening to the new marshall mathers 2
album on me…so I need to justify the loss of my ishuffle with this review…
When I first heard this album I was pretty excited…drama,
drama have you heard it yet…huh…huh…it’s a classic…he’s back…all hail…true I
was as drunk as a drunken monk playing “here pussy, pussy” with a stinky
skunk…huh?...but that weird line kind of sums up this album for me…huh?...well,
the more I listened to it…and the more I listened to it sober…the curtain began
to fall…and eminem was like the wizard of oz…exposed…he can rap circles around
your favourite rapper…but once you start catching up to the speed you realize
he’s driving a clunker…it feels like he’s rapping for teenagers…songs about
being bullied…songs about his dad…got his mom of course…ex girlfriends…his issues…sticks
and stones thrown against various celebrities…shit we’ve heard before with more
weight to it than this…which might be the point of it being a sequel and all…i mean, it’s
not horrible…and I’ll take it over his last few albums…it’s got a few songs…bad
guy…rap god…evil twin…even love game is catchy…it’s just that he’s acting all
hysterical and angry…and that’s just it…it lacks substance cause he’s
acting…it’ll sell really well…it’ll have a bunch of hits…and I bet the fucking
guy downstairs will start bumping "monster" at some point…at least I hope it’s
monster…cause if he cranks "berzerk" I’ll fucking lose it…and that my friends is called blacking out and falling into blackberry bush filled with thorns that rip the shit out of your clothes…slice open your flesh so when you wake up the next morning you think you fucking
murdered someone…yeah…another willy bee tell all report…giving this album 3
bottles of beer out of 5 on the telepathic radar
Both Telepaths rate this album 3 out of 5.
So the last thing I want to do at this
moment as I suffer from an achy back and a terrible seating position for typing
all brought on by the death of my desk chair is write about an artist who I
want to succeed but who quite frankly has left me with a case of “meh” after
listening to his latest album.
I’ll say that I am a huge fan of Eminem’s
early work and I definitely place him among the greatest emcees of all time. That
being said I find that the Marshall Mathers 2 LP is a lot of smoke and mirrors
and not a lot of solid Eminem. If you’re only half paying attention it would be
easy to be fooled into thinking the Em of old had resurfaced, but alas the verbal
gymnastics on display often lead no where. All style and very little substance, it’s like
listening to someone freestyle and if they can come up with just a couple good punch
lines to bring the freestyle home they’ll get a solid round of applause but if
they don’t they’re getting booed.
This is the problem with the majority of
this album each song is a couple of great lines away from making it a great
song but without those lines each song just left me disappointed. The weight of
the lyrics are no longer present. Eminem is no longer shocking or controversial
and the subject matter no longer seems to fit the narrator. A 40 year old bitching about the father who wasn't there just can’t hold the same weight as when his younger self did the
same thing.
It seems Em doesn’t have as much to be
angry about but he wants to convince us he’s still angry. The strange thing is
his last LP Recovery proved once and for all that he doesn’t need that
particular emotion to connect with his audience. At this point in his career
Recovery 2 would have made more sense than a second Marshall Mathers LP.
What’s interesting is that years ago I made
the claim that if Em could have somehow fused the reckless abandon of Relapse
with the more purposeful approach of Recovery he may have been better off. But
he’s kind of done that here with his latest and it just isn’t impactful but it’s
not the concept at fault. As an architect Em shows he’s a cut above ever major
label artist you can name. Structurally and from a technical perspective most of the album is fine, his ability is super sharp and he plumbs his Hip Hop influences like few
others in the game could hope to duplicate but I couldn’t help but feel like I
was watching a master fencer practicing with a wooden sword. There’s just no
gravity to what’s happening here. Lot's of fancy techniques look great when sparring but each album is supposed to be a championship fight and what this album lacks is occasion and grit.
The Good:
Rap God
So Much Better
The Bad:
Nothing is bad so much as “meh”
Hip Hop Quotable Part 2
Continuing on our trip down memory lane. I wonder how many emcees stepped their games up in the hopes of getting a Quotable? I've heard guys mention the quotable in their rhymes so it had to have meant something to the emcees just like it meant something to fans. Just some thoughts.
Anyway up next is surprisingly the only Quotable every awarded to the big homie Uncle Snoop. Yes my people Snoop Doggy Dogg with Deep Cover. I could say a lot about this song. Mostly that it's a shame that Dr. Dre moved away from break beats. Don't get me wrong G-Funk was huge and rightfully so but some of the good doctor's best work appeared during time where the drum where on the front burner ahead of the funk. The song Straight Outta Compton being just one example. Same goes for Snoop who is generally at his most menacing when working over some solid drum loops.
Deep Cover
and some bonus the remix known as 187
Let's Take It Back. How Far Back?
Back to a time when the The Source magazine meant a lot to whole lot of people. Unfortunately corruption, petty agendas, and bad management fucked off the Source's reputation over a decade ago. I really doubt they'll ever get anywhere near that level of importance again. But believe me there was a time when a lot of Hip Hop heads lived and died by how fast they could discover whether or not an issue contained a 5 mic album or to read how dope that month's Hip Hop Quotable was.
Here at Telepaths At Night we're going to walk through some of the best verses and songs in Hip Hop history as we attempt to track down every single song that was ever awarded a Hip Hop Quotable in the Source.
Skipping over some obvious favourites (for now) let's hop right into the Lost Boyzbanger "Beasts from the East". Produced by Bink (aka Bink! aka Bink Dog), this is a joint that starts out good and just keeps getting better. Mr. Cheeks warms it up very nicely. Batting in the number 2 spot, young A+ drops what surely is his personal best 16. Then Redman comes in and cobra spits a verse that should have gotten him a quotable mention himself if not for the last emcee on the track. The quotable on this song instead was deservedly awarded to Canibus for his Cappadonna like marathon of a closing verse. This may have been the high watermark of Canibus' short lived run as the guy everyone thought would be "next". Proving once and for all that Wyclef didn't actually have to stick his dick into you to ruin your career.
Seriously Pusha?
I think we're all aware that in this day and age a lot of the music we listen to can't possibly be the result of "jam sessions" where producers and musicians all get together and build a record from the ground up. We know guys are emailing beats and lyrics back and forth across continents, at times not even entirely aware of what the finished product is intended to sound like. The RZA was notorious for having Clan members rap over skeleton beats that sounded not too much like the finished product or at times even moving verses from song to song. A process that could be so disorienting ODB recorded the same verse 3 different times on his debut solo album. All three versions made the album!
Still it's somewhat surprising to hear Pusha T had no idea who produced what is possibly the best song on his album, "King Push".
Dope song right? Might want to work with this guy again? Just call up Joaquin Phoenix and book some studio time. Wait Joaquin didn't make the beat. Oh it was produced by Sebastian Ulrich? The son of Lars Ulrich? THEE Lars Ulrich of Metallica fame? Yeah maybe there's a story worth reading there. Check out Refined Hype where they present both a transcript and audio of Pusha T on the Juan Epstein Show Refined Hype.
PUSHA T: MY NAME IS MY NAME
by Drama En Sabah
I was actually really worried about this
album. Anyone familiar with my music reviews will know that I've been calling
Pusha T the best emcee in Hip Hop since about 2007. Since that time he’s put
out an avalanche of good verses and a mixtape, which was better than you’d
expect most albums to be, with the 2011 release of Fear of God. The problem
began with Fear of God 2 which was released a few months later. The lyricism
seemed to be a little tired on the sequel. An occurrence that I've often noted
with emcees who release too much material in a short period of time. They
eventually start to burn out.
The release of the Wraith of 'Caine mixtape
really reinforced my notion that Pusha may have spent too much time making hits
for other people as again the songs seemed flat to me. So while a song like Blocka seemed to resonate with his fan
base I felt that it wasn't on par with his previous offerings.
But I guess My Name is My Name proves that
some artists do work to a different level for albums than they show on mixtapes
because MNIMN is fantastic.
The title of the album is drawn from a line
spoken by Marlo Stanfield in this classic scene from the Wire.
Essentially this scene breaks down to the
premise that reputation is everything. Marlo is known to run those corners.
They only way he can run those corners is if it is known that he runs those corners. Any
slight to the perception affects the reality.
Pusha T walks a similar path in that his
name springs from a life of coke dealing. He wants you know that his music will
forever be inspired by that lifestyle. On
the thumping opening track King Push he states
“King Push/I rap nigga/ ‘bout trap niggas/I
don’t sing hooks”
And that’s all the warning you should need.
This isn't emo rap, this isn't happiness wrapped in a molly. This isn't discuss
the new economics of the black experience. No this is crack in a school zone.
You
cannot listen to this record and utter the words “But he only raps about coke.”
Yeah his name is Pusha T he tells you what he’s about every time you say his
name stupid. You can’t fault the subject matter, you were warned. My Name is My Name.
Given the era that Hip-Hop currently finds
itself in this maybe a higher degree of lyricism than one is used to coming
across on a major label release. Not necessarily the relentless bars of the
early 90’s or even the more traditional song writing approach that Hip Hop
employed in the early 2000’s but a melding of the two. So where Canibus might have rapped about
sub-atomic molecules politicking on a the ass off a woolly mammoth. Pusha T says, "In the kitchen with a cape
on/A-pron/Trey 8 on/Coulda been Trayvon/But instead I choose Avon/Powder noses
like a geisha/Arm and Hammer for the break up/turn one into two watch the brick
kiss and make up. Woooooo!"
And where Jay-Z might have rapped about
only dancing with girls that dance with girls, Pusha says "All my niggas got
ESPY’s…/Triple double/Two hoes and check please."
So lyrically what we have here is the best
of trap rappers doing what he does best. Except Pusha T is a trap rapper in
subject matter only. The way he lays his game down speaks to a sophistication
that is greater than those who may share the genre with him. The craftsmanship
apparent on this disc definitely speaks to an old school mentality.
That state of mind is also apparent in the
beats selected for this project. The stripped down musicial backdrops of songs
like Numbers On the Boards, and Nostalgia are nearly
the polar opposites of tracks like Sweet
Serenade. I mean is that a KRS-ONE sample on Nostalgia? No it’s actually two
KRS-ONE samples. That clearly ain't the move of a new generation of emcee at
all. So this album does move around. It's a little South, a little East, and a little bit West Coast all with a vibe that pulls from more than one era of Hip Hop.
There’s also a couple of nods to the “stadium
sound” that Kanye West has popularized in Hip-Hop in the recent years. Songs
that you may not quite get until you picture the song being played to 10’s of
thousands of people at a concert. A songs like No Regrets(hurt by the guest
appearances) is a prime example of a song that is meant to grip a crowd in a
stadium in a way that doesn't necessarily translate it’s full effect through
headphones.
The album does suffer from some missteps but
those missteps lean more toward philosophy than anything else. For instance if
you're hanging your hat on being the truest of rap dealers why are you doing yet
another song with Rick Ross? I mean was he REALLY in that travel lodge? Also
what does Kelly Rowland bring to the project? Don’t get me wrong it’s cool to
hear Pusha break out his Mase impersonation and revisit the territory from the
Clipse’s “Ma I Don’t Love Her”. But I’m not sure if Kelly brings enough
personality to the record to make up for the fact she makes it seem like Pusha
T is kinda sorta reaching for a hit there. At the end of the day it reminds me of a 90’s
mixtape duet. Not a bad song though no one wants to think that they bought a Pusha T album and ended up hearing a song with Ill Al Scratch rhyming with Ms. Jones on the hook. Or do they?
40 Acres would have had a similar vibe to
it but the Dream really does a good job on it and may actually outshine Pusha T
on his own track. You don’t know what to make of 40 Acres on first listen but
trust me, give it a chance. It’s a good song. "I'd rather die than go home" is a hella poignant lyric. Hella poignant.
All in all this my favourite album of the
year to date.
4.5 out of 5
2 CHAINZ: B.O.A.T.S 2
Who would have thought the day would come when I found myself
reviewing a second 2 Chainz album but here we are. If you remember while
reviewing Mr. Chainz’ last album I asked the question if a not so great rapper
could make a great album? Well I still don’t have an answer to that but much
like last time 2 Chainz has created an album greater than the some of its
parts.
Listening to this album I can’t help but think back to a
quote from retired basketball player Mark Jackson. Mark in the twilight of his
career was asked how a man of his age managed to stay in the league. Mark
replied that physically he shouldn’t
have been able to play in the league especially not as a starting point guard. But
he quite candidly told the reporter that while he wasn’t the athlete the
younger players were he simply knew how to play basketball whereas the young
guys in the league didn’t.
Similarly you wouldn’t think 2 Chainz has the out and out
rap skill necessarily to stand out in field with more acts than ever before. He
also doesn’t have the diversity of subject matter to make up for a lack of
verbal gymnastics, nor does he really have the voice of a rap star but he
simply knows how to make entertaining records. He’s as good as making trap
music as anyone. He competes because he knows what he’s doing and his knowledge
makes him more entertaining than most.
Firstly there isn’t hardly a bad beat on this album. Sourthern
artists in general have been putting discs of really well produced music over
the last few years and BOATS 2 is no exception to that. The first song Fork is
an audio welcome mat to come in and get some of this 2 Chainz trap pimpin. 2
Chainz shouts out his wrist and his stove and you don’t even have to ponder
those facts nor whether the song has 1 chorus or 3 because you’re trying to
figure out where you can find a Cadillac to drive around in because this song
all but demands it.
Also 2 Chainz has something in abundance that a lot of his
contemporaries don’t, personality. That
personality infuses all his work and really puts life in this project.
Feds Watching isn’t typical in that it isn’t about a
rapper’s crime lord dealings bringing him under the eye of the feds. 2 Chainz
leaves you to determine why the feds are watching him he just wants you to know
that he’ll be fresh as hell if the feds are watching and to the end he points
out that your glasses are Ray Bans while his cost 8 bands.
You barely notice that Where You Been isn’t the same
song as Feds Watching because by now you’ve been pulled into the world
of 2 Chainz and when he drops lines like “I get high and I fly pass/I don’t
know nothing ‘bout iChat/I’m working this iPhone/they need an app called iTrap”
You can’t help but chuckle, which also serves to distract you from wondering
how many choruses this song has as well.
2 Chainz’ personality really allows him to make any song his
own so he’s never out shone by guys like Drake or Lil Wayne because they’ll not
ever out entertain him regardless of the bars they may spit.
Another stand out cut is Netflix the inexplicable pairing of Chainz
and Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas. Why does this song exist? Who is still a BEP
fan? Who figured that Fergie had something to bring to this record? Still when
she raps “You do what you can/I do what you can’t/You on that Bobby Brown/We on
that Shabba Ranks.” You realize that Miley Cyrus picked the wrong black guy to
hang out with. It just works. Why? Because it’s a 2 Chainz song.
And at the end of the day sometimes all you need is some
music to drive to or possibly strip to and this record will help you get the job done. It doesn't attempt to be anything more or anything less.
...having technical difficulties with the ".5"...
...i probably would've given it a 5 if i was drunk so i could piss people off, but there it is...william brown...09/14/2013
At first i was like naw...i wouldn't tap that...but then i was like hmmm...if i was drunk enough...but you know what...straight up...the more i look at her, the more i would do it up stone cold sober...word to your mother bro...that being said...
william brown
and his review of many colours presents...
2 CHAINZ - BOATS 2: ME TIME
FUCK MAN...you know what?...confession time...i listen to this album only when i jog...can you fucking believe that? Just on the basis of that i should not be allowed to review this motherfucker....jogging and 2 chainz!?...can't get any purer than that homie...i mean, the old me would've been drinking and driving to this shit...swerving and speeding to this shit...i would've been at some bar at last call asking the DJ if he had any "2 CHAINZ UP IN THIS BITCH!?"...i would've been blacked out with no shirt on and rapping into my bathroom mirror to this shit...but nope, i'm cleaner than a bar of soap listening to this shit...i'm like a washing machine listening to this shit!
With all that in mind let's do this old school telepaths style, and go track by track cause the telepaths are back baby...first off i should say i was a little bit of a harsh toke on chainz with his last album...i had my backpack on a little too tight with the young man...wait i think he's my age...40...with the middle aged man then...but rest assured our loyal followers of the telepaths brand, my backpack is in the closet for BOATS 2.
"mama, you get that money out my pants last night?"
#1 - FORK - i had a dream that rap wouldn't work, i woke up on the block, had to hit it with a fork...i love the souther rappers cause i have no idea what they say sometimes...i thought originally he said hit it with the phone than i thought he said folk, then i looked it up and rapgenius says he raps "hit it with the fork"
my wrist deserve a shout out...i'm like what up wrist
my stove deserve a shout out...i'm like what up stove
...things get off to a great start with fork...this beat bangs and the off the wall humour makes me giggle.
#2 - 36 ...short song but real catchy.
#3 - FEDS WATCHING ...first time listening i didn't mind it but after that it grated on me like i was a block of cheese...sometimes pharrell's beats make me feel superficial for some reasoning.
#4 - WHERE YOU BEEN ...back on track...beat by mike will made it...i been getting money where the fuck you been?...bought a new crib just to fuck you in...love that shit...they need an app called itrap...shit man, that's gold standard right there!
#5 - I DO IT w/drake and lil wayne...fuck i wonder how much wayne gets paid to jump on these guest tracks...fucking dudes on everyone's fucking album and mixtapes these days...don't like the hook but i'm okay with this one...at least drake doesn't sing...shawty redd on the beat!
#6 - USED TO...fuck me, mannie fresh breaks out some good shit for me here, bro...i hear this one and i get my dance on...i like how 2 chainz raps like juvenile for a few bars...a little homage...good shit
#7 - NETFLIX - the old me would've howled at the fucking moon about this song...the concept is corny as fuck...make a porno and put it on netflix!?...and then you got fergie rapping!?!?...when i die bury me in a liquor store...i gotta say her kick off line here makes me ponder shit though...i mean, the alcoholic in me would love to be buried in a liquor store...and then come back alive?...or as a ghost?...just drinking and having fun...no hangovers, no guilt...but then i wonder if you could ever leave the liquor store?...or was it some kind of buddhist hell realm?...and would there be other dead people there with me?...cause i gotta say, an endless eternity listening to drunk people would get old real fucking quick...plus people would be fighting constantly...yeah...i don't know about being buried in a liquor store...i like this song...no shit...i know...sometimes i surprise myself!...nice beat by diplo...and my theory is that 2 chainz wanted fergie on this track so he could fuck her standing up in the control booth...and if that's true, can't say i can hate on the man for that!
#8 - EXTRA - this beats ill...wonder arillo...never heard of that cat, but i'm down...rich homie quan as a guest rapper...not sure who this guy is but he sounds a little too much like gucci mane...maybe they're friends or he's from the same area or something but whenever someone raps like someone else it's a bit of a turnoff...it took along time for me to come around to action bronson because of that.
#9 - U DA REALEST...another strong beat...drumma boy this time.
#10 - BEAUTIFUL PAIN...tempo slows down here...got lloyd and mase getting into the ring here...and you know i'm not liking the lloyd...nor the mase for that matter...not digging this track.
#11 - SO WE CAN LIVE...shocked to hear t pain still doing hooks...2 chainze gets his narrative on in this one which is a nice change of pace...not to big of a fan of the beat by justice league but around the 3:45 mark dj montay comes in and does some scratching and then flips the script into a pretty dope second part to this song.
#12 - MAINSTREAM RATCHET...not liking the guitar riffs but when the beat drops i get my swerve on...dj montay doing some fun stuff in and around the beat.
#13 - BLACK UNICORN...corny title...spoken word intro that i paid no attention too...2 chainz sounding sincere...dj toomp on the beat...chainz gathered some nice throwback southern beatmakers on boats 2...is that his daughter singing at the end?...no lie...maybe because i have a daughter...but that shit almost brought a fucking tear to my eye.
#14 - OUTPRODUCTION...another earnest track...ends the album with a couple of softer cuts...feels like he was trying to craft an album.
Okay, that about does it...was it better than BOATS1?...couldn't tell you...i have no actual memory of BOATS1...alcohol abuse wipes out memories bro...give you black holes bro...potholes bro...shits gone with the wind bro...but this is a pretty consistent album...like i could listen to this from beginning to end and it wouldn't kill me...and if i hear anymore of this bullshit that 2 chainz can't rap i'll cut my ear off like van gogh and send it to you C.O.D.!!!...don't even get me started with that can't rap shit...check out my top ten songs to relapse too coming one of these days and i'll show you motherfuckers this man can rap...rap your ass off...rap his ass off...what?...huh!...yeah...anyway, i turned the corner with 2 chainz since the last album...i'm a fan...i give this fucker 3.5 blips on the radar...
...having technical difficulties with the ".5"...Rick Ross: The Black Bar Mitzvah
Review by Drama En Sabah
It seemed to me that by the time things got to the point where artists were at first dropping exclusive verses on mixtapes and then putting out entire mixtapes themselves that it was affecting the quality of the music. Not too many artists have the ability to release albums upon albums worth of music in a short period of time and not have the quality suffer; Canibus and Lloyd Banks come to mind as artists who left their best verses on mixtapes.
So while I know artists are having success booking shows off of mixtapes it just seemed to me the place where your songs would received the most exposure and thereby ultimately the most financial reward would be on official albums. More confusing is artists who put out mixtapes with all original beats and lyrics? Why is that not just called an album? Especially given the fact some of these projects aren’t free.
Rick Ross it seems is an artist who has remembered what those early artists (as opposed to DJ) driven mixtapes were about; promotion. With the Black Bar Mitzvah Ross puts together a body of work that’s purpose is to get people to spend money on things he’s charging for, specifically his latest album God Forgives, I Don’t, and the upcoming MMG tour that Ross will be headlining in the coming weeks.
This isn’t a case of marketing through osmosis where one hopes that by producing a good mixtape that listeners will gravitate toward purchasing albums. Something that I feel has been backfiring as many artists these days have better mixtapes than albums, *cough* Slaughter House *cough*. So why buy the dying cow when the fresh milk is free. With TBBM Ross clearly directs listeners of this mixtape on multiple occasions to go out and buy GFID and to come out to catch him on tour.
He also does a good job of not overworking himself on the project which allows this free download to do its job as a promotional tool. By no means can this be viewed as a full fledged album from the Bawse. He does enough to whet the whistle but that’s it. By way of example I’d mention that a couple songs from GFID appear on the mixtape without alteration (Ice Cold, 911). Also as we all know an emcee rapping over the beat of a song that was previously hot is a staple of the mixtape circuit. Here Ross again astutely saves his greatest efforts for his cash projects. On TBBM Ross raps over the Kanye West hit Mercy, he also adds MMG’s Rockie Fresh to the track however he notable leaves Kanye’s and sometime collaborator 2 Chainz verses on the song. Likewise on his remix of the Don’t Like remix he leaves Kanye, Chief Keef and Jadakiss’s verses intact. As a matter of fact if you put this CD on random you might end up thinking that Kanye had Ross come in a rerecord half of Cruel Summer.
That’s how efficiently he associates himself with monster tracks that he can now flip effectively at his own stage shows. And not waste new material he could be saving for albums he will sell. By not having to come up with 3 verses and hooks for most of the mixtapes tracks he very effectively teases his fan base to want more and also engrains himself to new listeners by sliding his BBQ sauce drinking rhymes over songs they already love and that dear readers is the point of mixtapes like this in the first place.
3.5 out of 5 blips.
RIFF RAFF
BIRTH OF AN ICON
mixtape/compilation/fuck if i know what to call albums anymore
by william brown
..fuck where do i even start with this guy...i've gone through so many emotions with this guy...first noticed him hanging out with vnasty of all people...then i saw his mtv riff raff tattoo...youtub'd his appearance on mtv's "g's to gents" show...then i started watching his videos like orion's belt...reading some interesting interviews...my initial reactions was one of anger...then i thought he was a joke...i wondered if he was for real?...then anger again...i got bored and then ignored him...but then it all started to come into focus for me...and suddenly, i got him...he wasn't a comedian making fun of hip hop (ali g)...instead what he had was a sense of humour...he was making jokes, but wasn't a joke...i also realized something else, he was in a creative bubble world...a creative zone...i've been in that creative bubble world myself...it's a world where you're allowed to be yourself...it's a world where you're allowed to get your freak on...your 1969 on...be a fucking eccentric weirdo...wear what you want...say and act however you want...
...we've seen it from jimi hendrix to andre 3000...riff raff is just being his pure creative self. Anyway, with that solved i was able to breathe and listen to his music...and yes...enjoy his music...birth of an icon then...his mixtape/compilation/album...the first of 11 that he signed up for on diplo's mad decent label...11 albums?...seriously?...i mean, what is nas up to now...10?...kind of funny...and the funnier thing is how i actually like this album...i got sucked in by the beautifully produced track "bird on a wire" by harry fraud...just lovely...just let this sweetheart wash over you...now there's some shit on here that's a little too neon weird, even for me...but man, there's some joints on this...jose canseco, larry bird, icu, marc jacobs, squirt ..i also dig his freestyle type lyrics...they bring a sense of freshness and they also allow you deeper access into his consciousness...
they like riff raff just acting black/ he just wylin/ oh i get it you're just mad cause i'm stylin
- jose canseco
adversaries call me on my blackberry/ now i'm in the laundry mat darryl strawberry/on my cellphone/ now i'm on my iphone/ she thought it was the cat phone/ now i'm on my bat phone/ hanging things down like a vampire/ sapphires dancing on my hand like a campfire/ camp counsellor living in the lap of lux/ double cheese deluxe/ in the penguin tux
- cuz my gear
might pull up may 5th/ in the candy gold fish/ bipolar paint seats look like tiger paws/ eating lobster/ shark screens while i'm watching jaws/ rap game julio franco/ chuck norris texas ranger/ ice on my fingers look like i slap boxed a penguin
- deion sandals
i don't have a fever but my flows are sick/ in my parking spot/ i'm in the parking lot
in public/ my bank account/ accumulates money quick/ my bank accountant speaks arabic/ nothing to play/ your number already been erased/ nothing to say/ i'm sitting sideways at a chinese buffet
- terror wrist
tasers/ house full of lasers/ mouth full of glaciers/ froze the outskirts of asia/ medication/ deep thoughts meditation/ pay me for a favour/ rap game joe frazier
- world star
i like this album...it's fun, it's entertaining...riff raff's not wack or a joke...let your preconceived notions go and you'll enjoy the riff raff theme park ride!...at the very least he's got nice eyes!!!
3.5 out of 5 blips on the radar
CRUEL SUMMER
by G.O.O.D MUSIC
album review
by DRAMA EN SABAH
When I was younger, a time before Hip-Hop was played 24hrs a day on radio and there was no way to download anything, it could take weeks, and weeks to make a good mixtape. People talk about the Golden Age but there was a lot of crap to weed through back then too. Sometimes it took so long to make a 90 minute tape of quality music that by the time you had one done you were sick of hearing all the songs you started the tape off with because you’d played them so much while waiting to get enough good songs to finish the tape.
Since I only really made tapes with two kinds of music Hip-Hop, and Dancehall what I would do to save time is put both types of music on the same cassette. At first I’d record them on the tape in the order the songs came on the radio. Some Hip-Hop then some Dancehall, but soon enough I’d devote one side to Dancehall and another to Hip-Hop. One thing I learned about either format is that people hated it.
People would ask if I had any good mixtapes and I’d say yes but if it was one with the mixed musical genres on there inevitably that fact would get a negative comment and I mean every time. One chick even phrased it “You have Dancehall and Rap on the same tape. You can’t do that.” Fuck me I had no clue of the prohibition of mixing these genres. What was more confusing to me was the fact this is how you’d be exposed to the songs in clubs. You’d get a Hip Hop set, then a Dancehall set, then an R&B set, a House set. Rinse, repeat until 2am.
More than 20 years later I may finally sympathize with all the folks who hated my blending of genres on those old cassette tapes. I have the same ambivalence toward it on Cruel Summer. The R&B songs on this project stop it from being a near classic and that’s considering those R&B songs do dare to be different. Still R.Kelly’s name no longer springs to mind when I think of a dynamic R&B artist and yet his is the lead track on this project.
Teyana Taylor?
"GETHERTHEFUCKOUTTAHERE!"
I’m not sure why I know who Teyana Taylor is but I’m pretty sure the responsibility lies with mediatakeout.com I can only assume I have been blessedly unaware of the clamour of the people for a new Nia Peeples. The cries from the unwashed masses to give us someone who is moderately talented at many aspects of this game called entertainment must have missed me entirely. Bring on the new Party Machine I guess but you’d think Kanye would have a cousin who needs the work. Not one? Get. Her. Thefuck. Outtahere.
That being said the Hip Hop segments of this record are great with my only real complaint being that most of these songs have been blaring out speakers for months now. Notable additions being the Ghostface Killah verse to New God Flow with Kanye and Pusha T. Still it can be difficult to review an album when most of the songs have already made a first impression on you many moons ago.
That being said songs 2 through 6 are about as good a sampling of music as you’re likely to hear on a Rap album for some time. Kanye is at his rock god best on the song “Cold” (formerly Theraflu) and “Can’t a nigga make money anymore?/Tell PETA my mink is draggin’ on the floor”, may be the purest most Hip Hoppinest line since LL told you what you could do with your opinion on drinking and driving.
The Morning, a song featuring an energetic Raekwon, and Common who displays no interest in appealing to his usual fan base of pre op transsexuals and women who wear sports bras all the time, Pusha T, D’Banj, Cyhi, Kid Cudi, is a song that I personally had on repeat like 8 times in a row and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten through the entire thing without rewinding it to the beginning. It’s that infectious.
Kanye once again does an outstanding job of working with beats that are not the norm and he plays with song structures in a way that most do not. Some songs have two verses instead of the usual three. Or he might fit 7 rappers on a 4 minute song. Songs change beats at any point and just keep the party going. Very interesting soundscape for this album, rewarding stuff for the listener.
All in all a solid contender for Hip Hop Album of the year.
4 out of 5 blips on the radar
2 Chainz Based On A T.R.U Story
album review
By Drama En Sabah
3.5 out of 5 blips on the radar
This album perhaps best answers a question that no one has bothered asking. That question is; can an okay emcee make a great album? With Based on a T.RU Story that answer is an emphatic “maybe”.
Most likely 2 Chainz won’t be the first decent rapper to make a great album but he definitely has the blueprint right. Starting with an album that is as sonically interesting as Ross’ latest with beats that are more varied. So while Based… doesn’t adhere to a sonic theme like GFID does it more than surpasses it with musical backings that move through a gamut of tempos and production philosophies. The slow build up on one of the albums stand out cuts “Yuck” with Lil Wayne is as different from the stuttering jilting beat of Dope Peddler as any two songs on The Bawse’s hit record could hope to be.
This album is as well produced as any record of the last 5 years. Outkast could get 5 mics rapping over these beats.
Where it loses marks is going to be with 2 Chainz himself who is never going to be confused with one of Nas’ ghostwriters with lines like, She had a big booty/so I call her Big Booty, so yeah not a dynamo lyrically but in fairness most of his lines are better than that and this guy does really rap like he means it. You get the impression he is giving it his all here and that you’re actually seeing an artist at his peak. So when he says “Before Benihana’s it was canned goods and before canned goods it was Similac/I’m from where they send shots and we send them back”. It’s not what he says it’s how he says it. He rhymes with a self confident emphasis the entire album which allows seemingly B level rhymes to some how provide A level enjoyment.
2 Chainz really has a great handle on a Southern style of making records that is very popular in this day and age even though there are many Hip Hop purists who don’t get it and find the music lyrically unchallenging. Still I dare you to find another album where a song titled “I Luve Dem Strippers” isn’t about strippers whereas a song titled “Extremely Blessed” is.
I wonder if i'll be one of those white guys that buys a yellow converatble mustang when they're 50?...zooming down the highway, big bass booming, dreaming of russian girls reading tolstoy in a bubble bath, chilled champagne and a rolled blunt, with a panoramic view of moscow...yeah...anyway...rather...
2 CHAINZ
BASED ON A T.R.U. STORY
album review
by william brown
...knew fuck all about this guy so i thought me and drama could check on his new album...seemed to have some buzz...so many rappers put themselves ahead of the music, that it was almost refreshing to press play and not know anything...
cut the top off, call it amber rose/just bought a big body time to paint the toes/ known to act a donkey on the camel toe, then take the camel toe and turn it into casserole/ 2 chainz talking on the flex phone, poof just like that the whole cheque gone/ former posturepedic i was slept on/ so many chainz it look like my neck gone/ my girl came through and brought an extra body, now that's an after party for the after party...
...okay...after hearing those lyrics i knew this album was not for the intimacies of my headphones...time to hit the road...i needed to move!...summer days here on the island...highways were busy but not the mind altering grid lock you'll find in toronto or montreal...hop in my suzuki all wheel drive...this bad girl goes from 0-50 in oh, let's say a minute and a half...baby seat in the back...coffee in the holder...rehab motherfuckers...press play...okay...much better...big ass southern beats that mask the lyrics, which is a good thing...cause 2 chainz has fuck all to say in his tru story...strippers, strip clubs, drugs, selling drugs, women, fashion, cars, chains...now i don't really give a fuck about the lack of content, but you better put a twist on it and be charismatic about it...but 2 chainz is a yawner...boring...and his jokes are lame or incomprehensible...neil hamburger is funnier than this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc31POY2gbQ but whatever...the beats for the most part banged and at the very least 2 chainz doesn't get in the way of them.
So we got a bunch of guests on this one...wayne does his new lazy style on the opening track...the dude seems really burnt out and then i read an interview where he said he was taking some time off to skateboard...which i'm okay with, the man fucking ripped for a good chunk of time and knows when to step away...the most shocking thing on this album is that scarface shows up...SCARFACE!?!?!...WHAT!?!?...HOW!?!?...guy couldn't show up on...say a NAS album, but shows up on a fucking 2 chainz?...fuck that...i mean, pretty much all the guest rappers out shine 2 chainz...drake, kanye...deuce and ye, we like snoop and dre...2 chainz raps...yeah, sure...whatever you say bro...even wayne's couch potato verse is more interesting...let's fuck/she said she's on her period/i said yuck...there's a bunch of songs that i simply can't and won't listen to, songs with the dream, mike posner, dolla boy and chris brown...crooning auto tuners...who the fuck listens to these songs?...women?...men setting the mood with candles and white wine?...i consider myself to be an open minded person but these songs confound me.
...where weren't we?...william brown wasn't here...was or wasn't?...huh?...right...anyway...driving the speed limit in my suzuki...god damn right i am...last thing i need is a ticket from the pigs and the gas prices are killing my credit card these days...zoooooom...what the fuck!?...a yellow mustang just whipped by...grey haired white guy at the wheel...me?...did i just see my future self?...some precognition perhaps?...okay, at the very least i'll take that as a sign...time to turn around and go home... run a hot bath and read some tolstoy...
2 out of 5 blips on the radar
ALBUM REVIEW
by
DRAMA EN SABAH
Rick Ross “God Forgives, I Don’t”
Against all that is holy a former corrections officer who use to sleep on Erick Sermon’s couch, a man who now portrays himself as the king of the keys, the BAWSE Rick Ross has somehow released his fifth studio album, “God Forgives, I Don’t”. So how does this record from a man the real Rick Ross deemed “My own rap puppet, with my name tattooed on his hands” stack up? Pretty well actually, I mean despite having 15 songs with 12 different producers this is the most sonically cohesive album I’ve heard this year.
Ross’ strongest suit as an emcee is one he shares with many of the best southern emcees, he knows that complementing the music is as important as shining on the beat. Ross’ syrupy flow works well over an album whose beats seemed to have been milled for the best of the 70’s blaxploitation flicks, “Amsterdam” being a prime example of that.
In terms of subject matter you’ll find more diversity in a cup of water but I’m not sure Hip Hop has ever been about artists showing their range. I will say that believe it or not Ross has turned down some of the major drug dealer rhetoric…a little bit, and instead focuses more on struggling to come up. “Hold Me Back” despite a chorus stolen from the school of Gucci Mane has Rick illustrating the power of positive thinking in ones quest to accomplish their goal. A theme visited again on “Ashamed”
16 ft Andre 3000 who again drops a great verse, but that should be expected when you it takes you 5 years to write a verse, is a nod to Rozay bringing the slightest bit of conceptualization to his songs as he and 3000 detail why 16 bars just isn’t enough to speak on it all.
The album’s most glaring flaw is a surprising one coming from the man who wrote “Hustlin’”. There is no stand out banger that jumps out at the listener. At other times the album falls flat when Ross reaches for the lime light when enlisting Dre and Jay-Z in the incredibly disappointing 3 Kings. I mean Ross has worked with Dre on the sure to be terrible Detox so I guess that’s why you invite Dr. Dre to rap someone else lyrics on your song but did Jay-Z charge so much that you couldn’t cut him out of the track? I mean this foh nigga is rapping about an infant’s bedroom here.
Getting back to Rick’s shady past and suspect image what does it say that Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Andre 3000, and Nas (On the Deluxe Edition) are all featured on this record? Is it time to just let “real” go and just love the music? I think these artists have at least partially answered that question.
All in all this a solid album though not one I will be revisiting often.
3.5 out of 5 radar blips
RICK ROSS..."GOD FORGIVES, I DON'T"...the album review by william "my favourite colour is" brown...
Fuck me...what was i thinking...i must've been drunk to propose a review of a rick ross album to drama...but wait...yeas wait...memories...fond memories of rick ross...speeding down island back roads, colt .45 in my lap..."stay schemin" and "triple beam dreams" cranked to 30...bass warbling...with me blissfully drinking and rapping along...happy...yeas...as happy as the day i got my new luke skywalker action figure when i was five...bullshit...it's true...okay...whatever...new rick ross...sure i'm game...gotta be some bangers on it...right?...get some meek mill on it and it'll be allright...right??????...nothing a couple of telepaths can't handle...RIGHT!?!?!?!?
"But what if freedom isn't just another word for nothing left to lose, but something that's lost whenever you mistake a carnal matter for a spiritual matter?" - Michael Herr from his book on Stanley Kubrik
...yeah...okay...not sure what the fuck that has to do with anything but hey, i'll let you read between the lines and find the gold, you know?...yeah...anyway...back to basics...the first run through this new rick ross album made me want to skip my AA meeting for the week and jump off the wagon and into a pool of rozay coloured wine...dear lord give me the strength...now i don't want to beat on a dead horse about the man's past...former corrections officer...and i don't want to get into how he took a living...yes living...former drug kingpins name and used it as his own...i mean, it's true that shit bugged me in the beginning, but you know what...shit done changed...the game has changed...rappers don't need to be who they say they are...all they need to do is supply you with dreams...
...and you know what?...rick ross does that as well as anyone right now...fuckin rights he does...you see...when i think about rick ross, i think of him on a big yacht, blue skies, scantily clad women, chilled wine...a nice day by anyone's standards...he's rich, he's with his friends, living the good life, the american dream...
So when you're in the club...or you're driving home from your shitty tar sands job and rick ross the boss comes on...you start dreaming!
Wow...how poetic...i mean, how fucking poetic is that!?!?!...huh?...top fucking notch...hey, did you know that the poet in today's society is the least paid of any job title?...as it fucking should be...but hey!...anyway...to the facts of the matter...the sherlock holmes of this shit...straight no chaser...for better or for worse...
First off, god forgives and i don't...is he serious with that shit?...with that album title?...cause when you read it, it sounds like he's on some godfather shit...and those are some good movies...classic shit...godfather 1 and 2 are some of the finest movie making of all time...shouts out to francis ford coppala...and so it seems...at least to your humble servant...that the boss is interested in making an audio masterpiece...a rap classic...well then...press play and let's begin...
intro: pray for us...a little cinematic intro for sure...dude praying to the lord to absolve some sins...setting the album up nicely...i'm hyped...
song #1: pirates... i like this one...beats a nodder...ross got his flow on...
song #2: 3 kings...allright...you know going into this one you'd see the names dr dre and jay z and think that's a guaranteed classic song right about there...that's an olympic gold right there, right?...you know what bothers me about this though...rick ross has a bunch of hand picked all star rappers ready to go...MMG...but instead of repping his clique...he goes with rappers outside of his crew...why?...
I was feeling kind of jaded about that...kind of pissed off, and then i got this email from my 21 year old brother in law steven...
"I like rick ross because i feel he has one of the sickest flows in the game right now. His lyrics at times may not reach a lot of depth but he is one of the most effective rappers at rapping in a style that works witht eh beat. His songs provide some of the best beats in my opinion. i think ross is more pleasing to the ear than to the mind, finally i like rick ross because he is willing to work with basically anyone in the rap game right now. he doesn't get into rap rivalries that most other rappers do. MMG has tight connections to YMCMB and he geatures on almost every major label there is. he doesn't get caust up with calling out other rappers, which i respect."
song #3: ashamed...got no comment cause i'm still thinking about steven's words
song #4: mayback music iv...still thinking...
song#5: sixteen w/ andree 3000...okay, i just gotta say...any song in the year 2012 that starts off with a saxaphone, i'm gonna fucking not like...gives me flashbacks to huey lewis and the news and clarence clemens and all that shit....but i soldiered on you know, cause 1/2 of fucking outkast is on it...a laid back track...actually it sounds like an outkast b side track..but...yeah....fuck it...shit bores me..maybe i'm being too cynical though...maybe people like these collabos...
song #6: amsterdam...nope
song #7: hold me back....okay this beat is actually allright...should've been an MMG crew song...which reminds me...7 songs deep, WHERE THE FUCK IS MEEK MILL!?!?!?!?
song #8: 911...a political song about the twin towers and 9/11?...nope, more like a song about a porsche 911...and...yeah...my patience is officially wearing thin...WHERE THE FUCK IS MEEK MILL!?!?!?!?
song #9: so sophisticated w/meek mill...okay calm down william brown...here's your boy meek mill...ahhhhh...yeas......okay....this i like...even though it makes me want to listen to dreamchasers 2...but whatever...at least it's something...and there's a shout out to walter payton too...i feel satisfied...
song #10: presedential...any good feelings from the last song are quickly gone with this fucker...if anyone likes this i want you to tell my why at telepathsatnight@gmail.com
song#11: ice cold...i don't like this one...the beat...the singing by omarion...cookie cutter shit.
song#12: touch n' you w/usher...i've been suicidal the past number of months and this song doesn't help me stay alive...just saying...
song#13: diced pinapples w/wale & drake...i can't stand wale, he's waaaaaay too high on himself but at least he's a part of MMG, 13 songs in and ross has only repped meek, wale...ooops sorry i forgot about omarion...on second thought, i'd love to forget all about omarion
song #14: ten jesus pieces w/stalley...people keep telling me "stalley's the lyrical one on MMG"...but i'm sorry stalley, i've listened to this song 10 times and i still have no memory of a single word you said...
Fuck, thank god this album has come to an end...god may forgive this album, but i don't!...rick ross is arguably the #1 rapper in the game right now...and i'm not gonna front, dude's got a nice flow and has some nice terry gilliam brazil type dreams going on...but i'm not gonna lie...i feel like i'm listening to a fucking hall and oates record with some rapping on it...
1 out of 5 radar blips
BEANIE SIGEL
THIS TIME
album review
by DRAMA EN SABAH
The story of the unfulfilled potential of Beanie Sigel could fill a book. After being in and out of prison on a variety of charges during his time with Roc-A-Fella Records he was recently convicted on tax evasion charges. The emcee was scheduled to to begin serving a 24 month sentence on September 12th, 2012. Sigel was promoting his latest album “This Time”, while awaiting the start of his sentence. Two weeks before reporting to prison Sigel and a friend were arrested after allegedly being found with a firearm, possession of prescription medication without a prescription, as well as a small amount of marijuana. How this will effect his upcoming prison term is unknown at this time.
Beanie while clearly not the most successful artist to ever emerge from the Roc it is arguable he was the most talented lyricist on that label, having outshone his boss on several tracks they did together; however unlike Jay-Z he was never able to be consistently great across the course of his career especially not where it mattered the most, his albums.
I wrote all that to say that “This Time” is more of the same. More of that close but no cigar from Sigel. The talent is still there as evidenced in songs like Bang Bang ft. Junior Reid. What’s missing is the talent that surrounds the talent. This album was desperately in need of a strong executive producer. Someone to tell Sigel that songs like “That’s All I Know” Ft. Akon have been failing to win fans for artists like Obie Trice for 5 years now, which is about the last time Akon was an effective hook man. I mean, if he couldn’t make Kush a hit for Dr. Dre then its safe to say whatever they had to pay him to work with Sigel was money poorly spent.
This album needed someone to say that 90% of these songs are good enough to be on an album but that no 4 of these songs should be on the same album.
At the end of the “This Time” is like having a great chef cook you a meal that’s just “good”. The sense of disappointment is only deepened by knowing what could have been.
3 out of 5 blips on the radar
Review by Drama En Sabah
For the last few years I’ve struggled to find the point of the mixtape. Even given the fact that this form of presenting music has made legends (Ron G, DJ Clue, G-Unit, Gucci Mane and many other), currently makes for the appeal of many websites(DatPiff.com, Mixtapetorrents.com), and even have their own awards (TheJustos); still I wondered if at this point mixtapes were worth the trouble.
So while I know artists are having success booking shows off of mixtapes it just seemed to me the place where your songs would received the most exposure and thereby ultimately the most financial reward would be on official albums. More confusing is artists who put out mixtapes with all original beats and lyrics? Why is that not just called an album? Especially given the fact some of these projects aren’t free.
Rick Ross it seems is an artist who has remembered what those early artists (as opposed to DJ) driven mixtapes were about; promotion. With the Black Bar Mitzvah Ross puts together a body of work that’s purpose is to get people to spend money on things he’s charging for, specifically his latest album God Forgives, I Don’t, and the upcoming MMG tour that Ross will be headlining in the coming weeks.
This isn’t a case of marketing through osmosis where one hopes that by producing a good mixtape that listeners will gravitate toward purchasing albums. Something that I feel has been backfiring as many artists these days have better mixtapes than albums, *cough* Slaughter House *cough*. So why buy the dying cow when the fresh milk is free. With TBBM Ross clearly directs listeners of this mixtape on multiple occasions to go out and buy GFID and to come out to catch him on tour.
He also does a good job of not overworking himself on the project which allows this free download to do its job as a promotional tool. By no means can this be viewed as a full fledged album from the Bawse. He does enough to whet the whistle but that’s it. By way of example I’d mention that a couple songs from GFID appear on the mixtape without alteration (Ice Cold, 911). Also as we all know an emcee rapping over the beat of a song that was previously hot is a staple of the mixtape circuit. Here Ross again astutely saves his greatest efforts for his cash projects. On TBBM Ross raps over the Kanye West hit Mercy, he also adds MMG’s Rockie Fresh to the track however he notable leaves Kanye’s and sometime collaborator 2 Chainz verses on the song. Likewise on his remix of the Don’t Like remix he leaves Kanye, Chief Keef and Jadakiss’s verses intact. As a matter of fact if you put this CD on random you might end up thinking that Kanye had Ross come in a rerecord half of Cruel Summer.
That’s how efficiently he associates himself with monster tracks that he can now flip effectively at his own stage shows. And not waste new material he could be saving for albums he will sell. By not having to come up with 3 verses and hooks for most of the mixtapes tracks he very effectively teases his fan base to want more and also engrains himself to new listeners by sliding his BBQ sauce drinking rhymes over songs they already love and that dear readers is the point of mixtapes like this in the first place.
3.5 out of 5 blips.
BIRTH OF AN ICON
mixtape/compilation/fuck if i know what to call albums anymore
by william brown
..fuck where do i even start with this guy...i've gone through so many emotions with this guy...first noticed him hanging out with vnasty of all people...then i saw his mtv riff raff tattoo...youtub'd his appearance on mtv's "g's to gents" show...then i started watching his videos like orion's belt...reading some interesting interviews...my initial reactions was one of anger...then i thought he was a joke...i wondered if he was for real?...then anger again...i got bored and then ignored him...but then it all started to come into focus for me...and suddenly, i got him...he wasn't a comedian making fun of hip hop (ali g)...instead what he had was a sense of humour...he was making jokes, but wasn't a joke...i also realized something else, he was in a creative bubble world...a creative zone...i've been in that creative bubble world myself...it's a world where you're allowed to be yourself...it's a world where you're allowed to get your freak on...your 1969 on...be a fucking eccentric weirdo...wear what you want...say and act however you want...
..fuck where do i even start with this guy...i've gone through so many emotions with this guy...first noticed him hanging out with vnasty of all people...then i saw his mtv riff raff tattoo...youtub'd his appearance on mtv's "g's to gents" show...then i started watching his videos like orion's belt...reading some interesting interviews...my initial reactions was one of anger...then i thought he was a joke...i wondered if he was for real?...then anger again...i got bored and then ignored him...but then it all started to come into focus for me...and suddenly, i got him...he wasn't a comedian making fun of hip hop (ali g)...instead what he had was a sense of humour...he was making jokes, but wasn't a joke...i also realized something else, he was in a creative bubble world...a creative zone...i've been in that creative bubble world myself...it's a world where you're allowed to be yourself...it's a world where you're allowed to get your freak on...your 1969 on...be a fucking eccentric weirdo...wear what you want...say and act however you want...
...we've seen it from jimi hendrix to andre 3000...riff raff is just being his pure creative self. Anyway, with that solved i was able to breathe and listen to his music...and yes...enjoy his music...birth of an icon then...his mixtape/compilation/album...the first of 11 that he signed up for on diplo's mad decent label...11 albums?...seriously?...i mean, what is nas up to now...10?...kind of funny...and the funnier thing is how i actually like this album...i got sucked in by the beautifully produced track "bird on a wire" by harry fraud...just lovely...just let this sweetheart wash over you...now there's some shit on here that's a little too neon weird, even for me...but man, there's some joints on this...jose canseco, larry bird, icu, marc jacobs, squirt ..i also dig his freestyle type lyrics...they bring a sense of freshness and they also allow you deeper access into his consciousness...
they like riff raff just acting black/ he just wylin/ oh i get it you're just mad cause i'm stylin
- jose canseco
adversaries call me on my blackberry/ now i'm in the laundry mat darryl strawberry/on my cellphone/ now i'm on my iphone/ she thought it was the cat phone/ now i'm on my bat phone/ hanging things down like a vampire/ sapphires dancing on my hand like a campfire/ camp counsellor living in the lap of lux/ double cheese deluxe/ in the penguin tux
- cuz my gear
might pull up may 5th/ in the candy gold fish/ bipolar paint seats look like tiger paws/ eating lobster/ shark screens while i'm watching jaws/ rap game julio franco/ chuck norris texas ranger/ ice on my fingers look like i slap boxed a penguin
- deion sandals
i don't have a fever but my flows are sick/ in my parking spot/ i'm in the parking lot
in public/ my bank account/ accumulates money quick/ my bank accountant speaks arabic/ nothing to play/ your number already been erased/ nothing to say/ i'm sitting sideways at a chinese buffet
- terror wrist
tasers/ house full of lasers/ mouth full of glaciers/ froze the outskirts of asia/ medication/ deep thoughts meditation/ pay me for a favour/ rap game joe frazier
- world star
i like this album...it's fun, it's entertaining...riff raff's not wack or a joke...let your preconceived notions go and you'll enjoy the riff raff theme park ride!...at the very least he's got nice eyes!!!
3.5 out of 5 blips on the radar
CRUEL SUMMER
by G.O.O.D MUSIC
album review
by DRAMA EN SABAH
When I was younger, a time before Hip-Hop was played 24hrs a day on radio and there was no way to download anything, it could take weeks, and weeks to make a good mixtape. People talk about the Golden Age but there was a lot of crap to weed through back then too. Sometimes it took so long to make a 90 minute tape of quality music that by the time you had one done you were sick of hearing all the songs you started the tape off with because you’d played them so much while waiting to get enough good songs to finish the tape.
Since I only really made tapes with two kinds of music Hip-Hop, and Dancehall what I would do to save time is put both types of music on the same cassette. At first I’d record them on the tape in the order the songs came on the radio. Some Hip-Hop then some Dancehall, but soon enough I’d devote one side to Dancehall and another to Hip-Hop. One thing I learned about either format is that people hated it.
People would ask if I had any good mixtapes and I’d say yes but if it was one with the mixed musical genres on there inevitably that fact would get a negative comment and I mean every time. One chick even phrased it “You have Dancehall and Rap on the same tape. You can’t do that.” Fuck me I had no clue of the prohibition of mixing these genres. What was more confusing to me was the fact this is how you’d be exposed to the songs in clubs. You’d get a Hip Hop set, then a Dancehall set, then an R&B set, a House set. Rinse, repeat until 2am.
More than 20 years later I may finally sympathize with all the folks who hated my blending of genres on those old cassette tapes. I have the same ambivalence toward it on Cruel Summer. The R&B songs on this project stop it from being a near classic and that’s considering those R&B songs do dare to be different. Still R.Kelly’s name no longer springs to mind when I think of a dynamic R&B artist and yet his is the lead track on this project.
I’m not sure why I know who Teyana Taylor is but I’m pretty sure the responsibility lies with mediatakeout.com I can only assume I have been blessedly unaware of the clamour of the people for a new Nia Peeples. The cries from the unwashed masses to give us someone who is moderately talented at many aspects of this game called entertainment must have missed me entirely. Bring on the new Party Machine I guess but you’d think Kanye would have a cousin who needs the work. Not one? Get. Her. Thefuck. Outtahere.
 |
| Teyana Taylor? "GETHERTHEFUCKOUTTAHERE!" |
That being said the Hip Hop segments of this record are great with my only real complaint being that most of these songs have been blaring out speakers for months now. Notable additions being the Ghostface Killah verse to New God Flow with Kanye and Pusha T. Still it can be difficult to review an album when most of the songs have already made a first impression on you many moons ago.
That being said songs 2 through 6 are about as good a sampling of music as you’re likely to hear on a Rap album for some time. Kanye is at his rock god best on the song “Cold” (formerly Theraflu) and “Can’t a nigga make money anymore?/Tell PETA my mink is draggin’ on the floor”, may be the purest most Hip Hoppinest line since LL told you what you could do with your opinion on drinking and driving.
The Morning, a song featuring an energetic Raekwon, and Common who displays no interest in appealing to his usual fan base of pre op transsexuals and women who wear sports bras all the time, Pusha T, D’Banj, Cyhi, Kid Cudi, is a song that I personally had on repeat like 8 times in a row and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten through the entire thing without rewinding it to the beginning. It’s that infectious.
Kanye once again does an outstanding job of working with beats that are not the norm and he plays with song structures in a way that most do not. Some songs have two verses instead of the usual three. Or he might fit 7 rappers on a 4 minute song. Songs change beats at any point and just keep the party going. Very interesting soundscape for this album, rewarding stuff for the listener.
All in all a solid contender for Hip Hop Album of the year.
4 out of 5 blips on the radar
2 Chainz Based On A T.R.U Story
album review
By Drama En Sabah
3.5 out of 5 blips on the radar
This album perhaps best answers a question that no one has bothered asking. That question is; can an okay emcee make a great album? With Based on a T.RU Story that answer is an emphatic “maybe”.
Most likely 2 Chainz won’t be the first decent rapper to make a great album but he definitely has the blueprint right. Starting with an album that is as sonically interesting as Ross’ latest with beats that are more varied. So while Based… doesn’t adhere to a sonic theme like GFID does it more than surpasses it with musical backings that move through a gamut of tempos and production philosophies. The slow build up on one of the albums stand out cuts “Yuck” with Lil Wayne is as different from the stuttering jilting beat of Dope Peddler as any two songs on The Bawse’s hit record could hope to be.
This album is as well produced as any record of the last 5 years. Outkast could get 5 mics rapping over these beats.
Where it loses marks is going to be with 2 Chainz himself who is never going to be confused with one of Nas’ ghostwriters with lines like, She had a big booty/so I call her Big Booty, so yeah not a dynamo lyrically but in fairness most of his lines are better than that and this guy does really rap like he means it. You get the impression he is giving it his all here and that you’re actually seeing an artist at his peak. So when he says “Before Benihana’s it was canned goods and before canned goods it was Similac/I’m from where they send shots and we send them back”. It’s not what he says it’s how he says it. He rhymes with a self confident emphasis the entire album which allows seemingly B level rhymes to some how provide A level enjoyment.
2 Chainz really has a great handle on a Southern style of making records that is very popular in this day and age even though there are many Hip Hop purists who don’t get it and find the music lyrically unchallenging. Still I dare you to find another album where a song titled “I Luve Dem Strippers” isn’t about strippers whereas a song titled “Extremely Blessed” is.
I wonder if i'll be one of those white guys that buys a yellow converatble mustang when they're 50?...zooming down the highway, big bass booming, dreaming of russian girls reading tolstoy in a bubble bath, chilled champagne and a rolled blunt, with a panoramic view of moscow...yeah...anyway...rather...
2 CHAINZ
BASED ON A T.R.U. STORY
album review
by william brown
...knew fuck all about this guy so i thought me and drama could check on his new album...seemed to have some buzz...so many rappers put themselves ahead of the music, that it was almost refreshing to press play and not know anything...
cut the top off, call it amber rose/just bought a big body time to paint the toes/ known to act a donkey on the camel toe, then take the camel toe and turn it into casserole/ 2 chainz talking on the flex phone, poof just like that the whole cheque gone/ former posturepedic i was slept on/ so many chainz it look like my neck gone/ my girl came through and brought an extra body, now that's an after party for the after party...
...okay...after hearing those lyrics i knew this album was not for the intimacies of my headphones...time to hit the road...i needed to move!...summer days here on the island...highways were busy but not the mind altering grid lock you'll find in toronto or montreal...hop in my suzuki all wheel drive...this bad girl goes from 0-50 in oh, let's say a minute and a half...baby seat in the back...coffee in the holder...rehab motherfuckers...press play...okay...much better...big ass southern beats that mask the lyrics, which is a good thing...cause 2 chainz has fuck all to say in his tru story...strippers, strip clubs, drugs, selling drugs, women, fashion, cars, chains...now i don't really give a fuck about the lack of content, but you better put a twist on it and be charismatic about it...but 2 chainz is a yawner...boring...and his jokes are lame or incomprehensible...neil hamburger is funnier than this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc31POY2gbQ but whatever...the beats for the most part banged and at the very least 2 chainz doesn't get in the way of them.
So we got a bunch of guests on this one...wayne does his new lazy style on the opening track...the dude seems really burnt out and then i read an interview where he said he was taking some time off to skateboard...which i'm okay with, the man fucking ripped for a good chunk of time and knows when to step away...the most shocking thing on this album is that scarface shows up...SCARFACE!?!?!...WHAT!?!?...HOW!?!?...guy couldn't show up on...say a NAS album, but shows up on a fucking 2 chainz?...fuck that...i mean, pretty much all the guest rappers out shine 2 chainz...drake, kanye...deuce and ye, we like snoop and dre...2 chainz raps...yeah, sure...whatever you say bro...even wayne's couch potato verse is more interesting...let's fuck/she said she's on her period/i said yuck...there's a bunch of songs that i simply can't and won't listen to, songs with the dream, mike posner, dolla boy and chris brown...crooning auto tuners...who the fuck listens to these songs?...women?...men setting the mood with candles and white wine?...i consider myself to be an open minded person but these songs confound me.
...where weren't we?...william brown wasn't here...was or wasn't?...huh?...right...anyway...driving the speed limit in my suzuki...god damn right i am...last thing i need is a ticket from the pigs and the gas prices are killing my credit card these days...zoooooom...what the fuck!?...a yellow mustang just whipped by...grey haired white guy at the wheel...me?...did i just see my future self?...some precognition perhaps?...okay, at the very least i'll take that as a sign...time to turn around and go home... run a hot bath and read some tolstoy...
2 out of 5 blips on the radar
ALBUM REVIEW
by
DRAMA EN SABAH
Rick Ross “God Forgives, I Don’t”
Against all that is holy a former corrections officer who use to sleep on Erick Sermon’s couch, a man who now portrays himself as the king of the keys, the BAWSE Rick Ross has somehow released his fifth studio album, “God Forgives, I Don’t”. So how does this record from a man the real Rick Ross deemed “My own rap puppet, with my name tattooed on his hands” stack up? Pretty well actually, I mean despite having 15 songs with 12 different producers this is the most sonically cohesive album I’ve heard this year.
3.5 out of 5 radar blips
...yeah...okay...not sure what the fuck that has to do with anything but hey, i'll let you read between the lines and find the gold, you know?...yeah...anyway...back to basics...the first run through this new rick ross album made me want to skip my AA meeting for the week and jump off the wagon and into a pool of rozay coloured wine...dear lord give me the strength...now i don't want to beat on a dead horse about the man's past...former corrections officer...and i don't want to get into how he took a living...yes living...former drug kingpins name and used it as his own...i mean, it's true that shit bugged me in the beginning, but you know what...shit done changed...the game has changed...rappers don't need to be who they say they are...all they need to do is supply you with dreams...
So when you're in the club...or you're driving home from your shitty tar sands job and rick ross the boss comes on...you start dreaming!
Wow...how poetic...i mean, how fucking poetic is that!?!?!...huh?...top fucking notch...hey, did you know that the poet in today's society is the least paid of any job title?...as it fucking should be...but hey!...anyway...to the facts of the matter...the sherlock holmes of this shit...straight no chaser...for better or for worse...
First off, god forgives and i don't...is he serious with that shit?...with that album title?...cause when you read it, it sounds like he's on some godfather shit...and those are some good movies...classic shit...godfather 1 and 2 are some of the finest movie making of all time...shouts out to francis ford coppala...and so it seems...at least to your humble servant...that the boss is interested in making an audio masterpiece...a rap classic...well then...press play and let's begin...
intro: pray for us...a little cinematic intro for sure...dude praying to the lord to absolve some sins...setting the album up nicely...i'm hyped...
I was feeling kind of jaded about that...kind of pissed off, and then i got this email from my 21 year old brother in law steven...
song#5: sixteen w/ andree 3000...okay, i just gotta say...any song in the year 2012 that starts off with a saxaphone, i'm gonna fucking not like...gives me flashbacks to huey lewis and the news and clarence clemens and all that shit....but i soldiered on you know, cause 1/2 of fucking outkast is on it...a laid back track...actually it sounds like an outkast b side track..but...yeah....fuck it...shit bores me..maybe i'm being too cynical though...maybe people like these collabos...
Fuck, thank god this album has come to an end...god may forgive this album, but i don't!...rick ross is arguably the #1 rapper in the game right now...and i'm not gonna front, dude's got a nice flow and has some nice terry gilliam brazil type dreams going on...but i'm not gonna lie...i feel like i'm listening to a fucking hall and oates record with some rapping on it...
album review
by DRAMA EN SABAH
by DRAMA EN SABAH
The story of the unfulfilled potential of Beanie Sigel could fill a book. After being in and out of prison on a variety of charges during his time with Roc-A-Fella Records he was recently convicted on tax evasion charges. The emcee was scheduled to to begin serving a 24 month sentence on September 12th, 2012. Sigel was promoting his latest album “This Time”, while awaiting the start of his sentence. Two weeks before reporting to prison Sigel and a friend were arrested after allegedly being found with a firearm, possession of prescription medication without a prescription, as well as a small amount of marijuana. How this will effect his upcoming prison term is unknown at this time.
3 out of 5 blips on the radar
TELEPATHS AT NIGHT PRESENT: Our house is a very, very fine house With two cats in the yard Life used to be so hard Now everything is easy 'Cause of you And our la,la,la, la,la, la, la, la, la, la, la.....
SLAUGHTERHOUSE
“OUR HOUSE”
record review
By Drama En Sabah
I’ve liked many different types of emcees in my time listening to Hip Hop. I’ve liked Canibus and Snoop. I’ve liked De La Soul and NWA, Rakim and Cool J. Also I’ve always been entertained by emcees from Hip Hop’s 3 major regions as well, East, West and South. But there’s always been a special place in my Hip Hop heart for the M.C the mic controllers, those rappers whose lyrical abilities turned writing into mathematics. Those guys like Big Pun who abused and assaulted the dictionary as if the grammar of mortal man was an impediment to their greatness.
I remember in the 80’s when Kane said “All your vocals go local on the M-I-C/ Mine go a long distance like AT&T” and unknowingly set off a lyrical arms race in Hip Hop. Everyone who wanted to be anyone packed their rhymes with similes (a.k.a the Hip Hop metaphor) after that. A lot of songs did this to ridiculous results. Especially in the underground where guys were releasing records with 16’s composed nearly entirely of similes, essentially begging to receive a Hip Hop quotable award from the Source. Who knows how far it would have went if the rise of G-Funk didn’t lead to a revival of simpler rhyme schemes.
It’s funny because if I was to rate these guys as emcees out of 10 I would give Royce, Joe and Joel Ortiz a grade of about 7.5 each. I would give Crooked I an 8. To be honest over the last several years I think Crooked has been second to only Pusha T for spittin’ bars. So we have 7.5+7.5+7.5+8=30.5 right? Wrong. Closer to 25 here as the sum is definitely less than the parts would indicate.
And the issue isn’t the beats it’s the raps. On one hand Crooked I seems to be going through the inevitable decline that comes from spitting super complicated rhyme schemes for years on end. He’s the 28 year old running back at this point. Far from washed up but it could happen at any minute and 100 yard games will now be the exception. Royce is in a similar position not to mention that also like Crook I he’s proven incapable of maintaining the spot light without the assist of emcees with more personality; a weakness that is not compensated for by working with Joel Ortiz and Joe Buddens. I mean if you ever needed to care less about a dude’s professional model girlfriend having a miscarriage of twins listen to a Joe Budden’s song.
And of course the nail in the coffin is signing to an Eminem who career resurgence not withstanding, the Hip Hop world last cared about 3 albums ago.
The lack of personality on this album means it’s only real advocates are going to be those that prefer technique to theatre and even they will have a hard time not skipping over the obvious grab for records sales with songs like Throw It Away with the always terrible Swizz Beatz on the hook and the even more blatant My Life (Is there anyone left alive who doesn’t cringe every time they see Cee Lo Green’s name on a track listing? Anyone?) Now in fairness to the later track it does feature some quality work from Crooked I but then Cee Lo comes in and smoothers that flame like the 300lbs of melted Philadelphia cream cheese he’s become over the last several years.
I don’t think these guys could make a terrible record but they sure can make one that isn’t very entertaining. I mean even Kane had back up dancers right?
1.5 out of 5 blips on the radar
Well then, how about "i don't like" with some lyricists then...first off, shouts out to kanye for still keeping his ear to the streets, i thought for sure he was disappearing into some liberace type lifestyle...getting more and more excessive, eccentric and insular...so i was shocked to hear him fucking with chief keef...pusha t kicks things off acapella...i hear some ric flair wooing in the background which almost puts me off, but then the beat kicks in and pusha takes off...kanye next with some actual venom in his voice...can almost hear the fangs growing out of his gums, the blood dripping..."we hanging out the window, it's about to be a suge knight"...chief keef next up has his verse recycled from the original cause kanye did this remix without young chop's or keef's consent...just saying...kanye breaks off the beat and big sean comes in...i'm actually liking big sean these days...his song with meek mill on dreamchasers 2 was a big one for me...he's been working hard on his craft and it's beginning to show...BANG, BANG...kanye was smart to end this shit off with jadakiss and not G.O.O.D. music comrades common or qtip...jada..."jean jacket with the sleeves cut"...
SINGLE REVIEW
by
DRAMA EN SABAH
by
DRAMA EN SABAH
"I Don’t Like"
ft. Chief Keef & Lil Reese
4 out of 5 radar blips
Is it possible for a record of this type to be reviewed on its own merits in this day and age? A time where seemingly half of everything written about Hip Hop is done against the back drop of an increasingly ageing fan base steadfastly waving the banner of “real Hip Hop” against what is perceived to be an increasingly untalented and commercialized bastardization of their favourite genre.
Where’s the social commentary? Where’s the innovation? Where’s the next KRS-ONE? Who will take up the mantle of Rakim?
I don’t know the answers to any of those questions but I do know that as long as “I Don’t Like” is turned up loud I really don’t give a fuck. This, the major label debut by 16 year old Chief Keef is the type of music you can only make when you’re young and unconcerned about the reaction to your music beyond the opinions of your friends and neighbourhood. A song that takes you on a adrenaline rush as Keef spits, stutters, and disjointedly takes you on a bravado laced 5 minute exorcism of haters, busters, suckers, scallywags, and snitches. All things he don’t like. And you know what by the end of it all you damn well know that you don’t like any of those things either, and your real glad someone decided to remind the world of it.
SINGLE REVIEW
"I Don’t Like" (remix)
"I Don’t Like" (remix)
ft. Pusha T, Chief Keef, Jadakiss & Big Sean
3 out of 5 radar blips
With this here we have ourselves an example of be careful what you wish for. While some may have been salivating at the chance to hear Chief Keef’s monster summer smash “I Don’t Like” remixed with lyrical titans like Pusha T, Kanye West and Jadakiss who for whatever reason have decided to hang out with Big Sean. Similar to the kind girl in grade six who would always befriend ESL students as to not have them feeling segregated from the larger student body. Well what we have here is a song that is far less than the sum of its parts, and definitely less than the original. I’d go so far as to say other than Pusha T who drops another incredible verse in what is amounting to an incredible run of lyricism, that the rest of the song falls well short of the original. Proving that sometimes cerebral doesn’t beat adrenalin. Someone put Zeppelin through an autotuner here and the song loses some soul. A good effort but I won’t be skipping over the original to listen to this one. I can’t say I don’t like, but I definitely don’t like as much.
william brown and drama en sabah
(a.k.a.) telepaths at night
in their bygone days
Hello, i am your humble servant...i go by the name of WILLIAM my favourite colour is BROWN
and so...yeah...anyway...
and so...yeah...anyway...
...how about a little bedtime story?...a coming of age story?...a tender story from the heart?...one in which william brown had a breakdown, followed by a subsequent depression in which i self-medicated with extremely tall cans of colt.45...no need to tell you what trouble a man can get into after several tall cans of colt.45...the line that comes into my head that sums it up..."the devil made me do it the first time. The second time, i done it on my own."...well waylon jennings, how about 2 straight months of binge drinking after that?...well let's just say...anyway...i was trying to get my shit together and had gone ten straight days without imbibing...starting to feel okay...getting my mind right...it was also time to get on the ferry and go to vancouver to see the inlaws...suffice it to say i lasted 10 minutes at the inlaws house before i ran out...got in the car, found the liquor spot...30 seconds later i was twisting off the cap of a 40 bottle and guzzling...with a 40 nestled in my lap...i started the car back up...and pressed play...
SINGLE REVIEW
"i don't like"
"i don't like"
chief keef and lil reese
beat by young chop
4.5 out of 5 radar blips
So there i was...randomly driving around the city, with these two songs on repeat...swigging on some malt...a beautiful summer, sunny day...but my mind was beginning to get emotional...guilt, anger, sadness, fuck the world type of cockiness...emotions that matched perfectly with young chop's beat perfectly...fuck yeah...that dude made one king kong of a beat...damn...an anthem...a beat where you want to take off your shirt and mosh it up with your boys...a man's man kind of beat...summertime, testosterone shit...lots of murders will be done in chicago this summer with this motherfucker on in the background..."your honour young chop's beat made me do it"...case dismissed...
But, what about the lyrics i hear imaginary people whining in my ear...chief keef is so wack i hear them cry...chief keef can't rap...i can just imagine these whiny fuckers on message boards...but, whether or not keef can rap or not is not the fucking point with this song...this song is chanting music...a fucking indian war chant before taking on general custard type shit...this shit is straight murder music, the likes i haven't felt since mobb deep's shook one's pt.2...you heard me.
SINGLE REVIEW
"i don't like" remix
"i don't like" remix
pusha t, kanye west, chief keef, big sean, jadakiss
4 out of 5 radar blips
Well then, how about "i don't like" with some lyricists then...first off, shouts out to kanye for still keeping his ear to the streets, i thought for sure he was disappearing into some liberace type lifestyle...getting more and more excessive, eccentric and insular...so i was shocked to hear him fucking with chief keef...pusha t kicks things off acapella...i hear some ric flair wooing in the background which almost puts me off, but then the beat kicks in and pusha takes off...kanye next with some actual venom in his voice...can almost hear the fangs growing out of his gums, the blood dripping..."we hanging out the window, it's about to be a suge knight"...chief keef next up has his verse recycled from the original cause kanye did this remix without young chop's or keef's consent...just saying...kanye breaks off the beat and big sean comes in...i'm actually liking big sean these days...his song with meek mill on dreamchasers 2 was a big one for me...he's been working hard on his craft and it's beginning to show...BANG, BANG...kanye was smart to end this shit off with jadakiss and not G.O.O.D. music comrades common or qtip...jada..."jean jacket with the sleeves cut"...
BANG, BANG
I parked and slugged back the last dregs from the 40 bottle and winced...god damn...an hour of "i don't like" songs on repeat, mixed with the malt had me feeling rowdy...making me want to drink more...and so your hero william brown tripped and fell...tumbling down the rabbit's hole into satan's lair...yet again...12 hours later i passed out and woke up half naked on the side of the railroad tracks...what?...where?...how?
"Where were you all night!!!!?"
"i...i...i don't know...i don't know what happened...i...i...i'm sorry, i guess chief keef made me do it..."
BANG, BANG
1st quarter: So, Ron Artiste (kind of a corny name for a group though) consists of Roc C and Chali 2na...not sure who Roc C is...but i've been down with chali 2na from jurassic 5 for awhile now...they got a nice little give and go between them.
2nd quarter: This project feels rushed for some reason...the skits they use of Ron Artest feel forced and they don't really relate to the songs...and the songs aren't really about Ron Artest.
The following links are some of our favourite Ron Artest moments!
4th quarter: Okay...yeah...well...final thoughts?...sit in the sun with a brew and a joint and have this bumping in the background and the world will move as it should...at the very least it'll have you dreamin of california again.
RON ARTISTE
R.I.D.S (RIOT IN DA STANDS)
album review
by drama en sabah
3 out of 5 blips on the radar
Long time collaborators Roc C and Chali 2na, collectively know as Ron Artiste release their first album Riot in da Stands. Chali is best known for his work with Jurassic 5 while Roc C is best known for hanging out with a guy who used to be in Jurassic 5.
First I should state that the sound bites of Ron Artest sampled throughout the album in such a way that they function as skits don’t do much for the album and really don’t seem to connect in any meaning ways to the songs that precede them or those that follow them. If your going to call an album Riot in Da Stands, and name your group Ron Artiste I say go all in. Those sound bites should have been from the actual riot for starters.
I honestly don’t find either of the emcees to be real compelling as individual artists but they do click well on this project. We live in a time where anyone can get a hold of a quality beat and we hear some good beats on this record that clearly inspire the best both emcees can muster. The album’s final cut DOA Laid is maybe the best example of this.
Where I find the most appeal of this album resides is that it functions as a great portal back to early to mid 90’s west coast, non gangster rap. West Coast back packer rap had a very brief moment in the spotlight in the early 90’s and this album is firmly rooted in that aesthetic except it does borrow slightly from the musical styling’s of the East Coast producers of the same time period but that helps improve the overall feel of the album.
But strictly speaking I don think this record is a must listen for anyone who isn’t longing for those by gone days, though for those who are, R.I.D.S could be just what they were looking for.
Anyone still California dreamin?...sandy beaches, blonde women, hollywood movie studios hiring...yesssss...but how about that California reality...polluted beaches, silicone tits, and massive unemployment...but damn did that place fill my walkman with dope music back in the day...death row, hiero, jurassic 5, dj shadow, people under the stairs, dilated peoples, blackalicious, peanut butter wolf, alkaholiks...beats and flows that made me want to chill in the sun with a beer and a blunt...nod off dreamin...so when i started listening to this Ron Artiste album it was almost a dream come true...throwback west coast rap with a concept around one of my favourite ball players, Ron Artest (check out this entertaining blow by blow oral history account of ronron's infamous involvement in the palace brawl malace at the palace an oral history)...anyway, with this team and concept in place...this album can't miss from the free throw line, right?
RON ARTISTE
R.I.D.S (RIOT IN DA STANDS)
album review
by william brown
1st quarter: So, Ron Artiste (kind of a corny name for a group though) consists of Roc C and Chali 2na...not sure who Roc C is...but i've been down with chali 2na from jurassic 5 for awhile now...they got a nice little give and go between them.
2nd quarter: This project feels rushed for some reason...the skits they use of Ron Artest feel forced and they don't really relate to the songs...and the songs aren't really about Ron Artest.
HALFTIME
The following links are some of our favourite Ron Artest moments!
3rd quarter: Ron Artiste bring together a nice little team of guest rappers...a little nostalgic reunion, with william brown favourites like king t, casual, krondon, edo g, med, big pooh...got some nice beats from oh no, imakemadbeats, and soul professa...highlight songs include "ron's theme" "noplace2hide" "high enuff" and "DOA laid".
3 out of 5 blips on the radar