Trying to catch up here, which is what makes this two posts in two days. Will this post be great? No clue, probably not. Will this post be retarded? No clue, probably yes. Will it be entertaining? Probably maybe.
I’ve been thinking lately, and I just realized that one man, based solely off of facial expressions, has practically the best job in the world. Who am I talking about? Well, none other than this guy:
Nope, I’m not talking about Busta Rhymes….I’m talking about the one and only SPLIFF STAR. Look at him perched on Busta Rhymes’ shoulder…he rides Busta’s coattails harder than the average High Schooler rides Lil Wayne’s dick. And yet…he’s the man.
Spliff Star (up until very recently, when he said he would be releasing an album) has KNOWN HIS ROLE AND PLAYED IT. No weed-carrier posse cuts, no long-term deals based off of relation to Busta…simply being one of the most noticeable hype men this side of Flava Flav and Memphis Bleek, who are both obnoxious in their own right. In fact, all Spliff Star has done is made faces in countless videos and get arrested a kajillion times for holding Busta Rhymes’ weed, only to be inevitably bailed out yet again.
Party with Busta Rhymes and act ridiculous in videos. Sounds like a pretty good job to me. Now, Busta Rhymes’ catalogue of music videos is UNREAL and ties for first place all time in terms of quality with the Wu, but I’m going to go through the catalogue with a different intention than usual. To show you how awesome Spliff Star is.
I don’t actually know why, but the first time I saw this video I thought this part was hilarious…Spliff Star accompanying Busta Rhymes by getting a full windup keister kicking of cranky curmudgeons (alliteration or consonance depending on who you ask…BAM) is just plan awesome.
Part In Question – The Entire Thing
This actual entire video is awesome, even if this post is devolving into me linking awesome Busta Rhymes music videos. I’ll try to avoid it, but no promises.
Alright I’m already breaking my promise. I mean, sure, this video is filled with Spliff Star and actually has a verse with him, but I’m not actually sure who originates the awesomeness – him or Bussa Buss.
Well to be completely honest, this post went completely to shit. I just wanted to say that Spliff Star is secretly the man because he gets to tour the world for free partying just because he makes dumb faces in the back of already awesome music videos. Accordingly, Spliff Star is in easy contention for the best job in the world.
I know I promised two posts before the end of last week, which technically makes me a liar, so I’m gonna cut the bullshit and get into this one so I can at least make an ATTEMPT to get back on track.
The Seventh Seal Album Cover
HOW TO EMCEE(7)
While Rakim shows that he still can flip internal rhymes with the same frequency as he did in his classically-hailed debut, there are a couple of small time problems here that just have a way of piling up. While the beat isn’t bad (it’s slightly above average) the singers in the background make this sound like a Schoolhouse Rock song, which would make sense if this song followed its own title. Rather than Rakim telling all us ‘youngsters’ (I won’t go that far, he’s not KRS1………yet) how to emcee (per the title), he flips some solidly constructed lines about what is shitty in music nowadays and how good he is. With an alright beat (albeit one that is played very safe), borderline irritating singers, and lack of adherence to subject matter, this is not the song it could (or should) be, given Rakim’s 10 odd year hiatus
WALK THESE STREETS (DB)
Maino? Really? Haters? Really? Make music for the C notes? Really? R&B Hook? Really? See how I could continue this? Really?
DOCUMENTARY OF A GANGSTA (DB)
A bakery/making dough reference? Well, given that Rakim is now apparently a mix of 50 Cent (post-GRODT) and Lil Wayne, you can color me uninterested.
MAN ABOVE (6)
Or we can just do this instead:
“Love backwards is evil”
FUCKING REALLY? I mean, I understand that not everyone won their town spelling bee and went to states in 5th grade like yours truly did (BANG BANG MUTHAFUCKA), but DAMMIT
YOU & I (6)
This ISN’T Rakim’s best song.
This, however, is:
WON’T BE LONG (7)
Do the R&B hooks EVER END? It’s depressing that I didn’t actually like this song, and it’s the second best one so far.
HOLY ARE U (8)
Even though this borders on pretentious and Rakim’s linkings of different concepts of creation have almost no coherent thread, this actually wasn’t that bad.
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED (7)
And we’re back to middling tracks like this.
WORKING FOR YOU (7)
These tracks are not grabbing my attention in the LEAST, hence these stupidass short comments. Seriously, I could just write anything down and the fact that they don’t reference the songs should tell you how little I care about them.
MESSAGE IN THE SONG (DB)
Seriously, this shit is a mess.
PUT IT ALL TO MUSIC(7)
I’ve had three consecutive days of ghost shits. Hooray for me!
PSYCHIC LOVE (DB)
Not to be confused with the Nick Wiz produced Still In Love located one track away
STILL IN LOVE (DB)
Not to be confused with the Nick Wiz produced Psychic Love located one track away
DEDICATED (7)
As a general rule, I avoid trashing heartfelt tracks dedicated to deceased family members, mainly because they’re typically insightful and have a soulful backdrop. This is no different.
EUPHORIA (8)
Any reason the bonus track is the best track on here? Also, any coincidence that the best track is the one with guests?
Insert Question Here.
Thanks for not wasting my time. This review is actually a big event. This marks the first time I have completely trashed a legitimate artist’s ‘hard work’, and inevitably sent it to hell. I’m not exactly sure how to respond to that, but hey, it’s his fault not mine. 99% of the songs on here were indistinguishable from each other, and given that the one they all sounded like was mediocre at best, this was kind of a shitfest. Now,
I know this is two posts in a row where I’m really getting away from the expected topic of this ISSS, but then again it’s an ISSS and I can do whatever I want; I just have to accept that I will be talking to thin air if I do so. So what I mean to say is, if you come here strictly looking for hip hop, bear with me for one more post, because I promise a hip hop album review and a hip-hop oriented ever so slightly insightful post before the end of the week.
Other than that, I’m afraid I’m gonna have to dabble.
Herb Alpert Presents: Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 Album Cover
Now I’m not gonna act like I’m a connoisseur of this type of music, but I will make my own summary of what I understood from the album review. Basically, Sergio Mendes had been popular in Brasil (a place where I may or may not have been) (hint: I was there) for a while, but was having problems crossing over to mainstream popularity, mainly due to his reliance on Brasilian musical dialects. Accordingly, he did what all people wanting to make money in music did, and borrowed pop songs and/or rhythms and mashed them up with his own creations, creating this _______ (I won’t spoil this one). He gained pop acclaim, even some in the US, with an updated cover of an old Brasilian song, Mas Que Nada, and…well I’ll take it from here.
MAS QUE NADA (10)
SHAZAM. This song is so infectious, likable, and any number of other positive adjectives that it’s unreal. This version is MUCH better than the version the Black Eyed Peas did for the last World Cup, which I surprisingly didn’t hate. Maybe that’s because they were ever so slightly before their kajillion copy record selling days.
ONE NOTE SAMBA (10)
At only a minute and 45 seconds, I literally have to replay this song about 10 times in a row just to get enough of it.
THE JOKER (10)
Any one else see where this is going? Oh…and on a side note:
Why is this one a nine? Well I could say that it’s slower than the other ones, but if I’m being completely honest, it’s not the tempo; this one is allllllmooosttttt as good as the last few, and I can’t give EVERY song a 10.
TIM DOM DOM (10)
See: One Note Samba
DAY TRIPPER (7)
The one weak point in the album….and its a 7. To be honest, this cover of the Beatles song doesn’t really fit in well with the rest of the album, and as the second longest song on the album it kind of overstays its welcome.
AGUA DE BEBER (10)
Most of you have probably stopped reading by this point, so I’ll just start spouting random facts on the 10s.
FACT:
Half of Brasilian girls look like Adriana Lima
the other half look like Ronaldinho
SUAVE VIENTO CALIDO (8)
If you want a slower, masterfully done piece, then look no further then here. Also called Slow, Hot, Wind, even Amish with vaginal lockboxes could be seduced by this. Besides the Amish, this could also seduce the Dutch Moravians, who, when they wanted to spend time with their fiances (who typically lived hours or even days away) were allowed to spend the night, but first had to be sewn into a burlap sack for the night so that they couldn’t do anything. True story, just learned it the other day.
O PATO (10)
FACT:
Any self-respecting man will eat at a churrascaria at least once in their life.
BERIMBAU (10)
FACT:
This album is only 24 minutes long, and it just KICKED ME IN THE FACE WITH ITS AWESOMENESS.
I’m assuming this is a buy?
Next question.
Can you tell me what your next post is about?
I’m trying to keep followers any way I can. You’ll just have to see to find out.
Is there anything special about this album that should make anyone reading this jealous?
Well, I don’t mean to brag (hint: yes I do), but I found, online, this album as a vinyl rip, meaning it was recorded not as a CD, but recorded being played off a record player, which surprisingly did NOT lessen the sound quality while simultaneously giving the endearing richness/crackles/awesomeness of vinyl.
Anyone looking for my traditional old school hip hop reviews, turn away.
Anyone who hates mashups, turn away.
Anyone who thinks The Ocarina of Time isn’t the greatest game ever, get the fuck away from my ISSS and never come back.
This shit right here…welp, this is a mashup between a bunch of random hip hop songs and the music from The Ocarina of Time (the N64 game). As far as the game goes, it’s not only a personal favorite, it’s a fan favorite as well, appearing in a multitude of lists as the best video game of all time – and for good reason. I’ve beaten this game countless times, and I still never get bored of it. In fact, with my housemates’ newly ordered plasma bulb arriving, I will be playing the entirety of the game on a TV that’s as big as I am.
Accordingly, I’ve re-prioritized my life in order to be able to do so. My new list of priorities goes like this:
1) Beating Ocarina of Time on a gigantic plasma screen.
2) Everything else.
So, to commemorate the forthcoming awesomeness, let’s get into Team Teamwork’s “The Ocarina of Rhyme”
The Ocarina of Rhyme Mixtape Cover
VIRGINIA LOST WOODS (6)
Admittedly, a mediocre way to start. The Clipse’s (how does the apostrophe work in that situation?) original instrumental, courtesy of The Neptunes, fit the grimyness and darkness of their lyrics much better than the Lost Woods did, and the mashup instrumental crafted here sounds kind of choppy. To tell you the truth, this song agitated me…although that may just be because the Lost Woods are completely obnoxious to begin with.
STILL GETTING TREASURE (DB)
Continuing the shaky start, this is probably the worst crafted of all the songs on this mixtape. In addition to not coming CLOSE to Dre’s original instrumental (Still DRE), the mashup instrumental sounds understandably choppy, given that they’re using like a second long loop in an attempt to create an entire instrumental. Also, Dre sounds much more badass than this instrumental gives him credit for. One positive, though, this song did give me more procrastination methods, including making this picture to go along with it:
Dre and Snoop would be proud.
NO OWL (6)
I swear to everything, if I hear another mashup using Jay-Z’s lyrics to “No Hook”, I’m gonna punch a hole in a wall. ARE THESE REALLY THE ONLY LYRICS ANYONE CAN FIND? Also, FUCK THE OWL:
COMPLETE ASSHOLE
KNOCKIN HYRULE DOWN (9)
This one was suprisingly awesome to listen to after the first 3 songs. The added drums and beatbox add a nice touch, and since the Hyrule Field musical loop is longer, this beat sounds both complete and smooth. Also surprisingly, Pimp C, Lil Keke, and P.O.P. (who?) add some hypeness. Maybe we’ll get on a roll here…
I USED TO LOVE HYRULE (7)
While the beat doesn’t necessarily mesh perfectly with Common’s lyrics, the beat is constructed acceptably and Common’s lyrics here are immortal in Hip Hop, allowing this to get a 7.
GORON JUMPERCABLES (8)
While I do usually have a problem listening to Aesop Rock’s million words crammed into a sentence, the natural groove of the Goron’s theme music meshes well with his upbeat flow, and I have to give credit where credit is due: yelling Catapults up is, for whatever reason, awesome.
BATTLING OVER WORDS (DB)
I’m not gonna lie, I was completely unimpressed with this one. It’s mastered poorly, the battle theme sounds completely unbeatlike, as it’s more of a sound effect than a piece of music, and I don’t think I’d even like Edan’s original song. Pass.
EPONA VOMIT (8)
This, on the other hand, is completely awesome. DOOM’s verses from Vomitspit blend oddly well with the Epona riding song, because, well…let’s face it, DOOM is a freak anyway. Also, he was at one of my good friend’s brother’s friend’s brother’s wedding (insert Space Balls joke here). No, but seriously though:
Wearing the mask to a wedding
IMZD (7)
The beat’s not bad, but I could barely understand a word of what Spank Rock was saying. That may not be the fault of the mashers, but then again it WAS their decision to pick these lyrics.
STILL FOUNTAIN (9)
THIS, on the other hand, is ALSO completely awesome. I actually like this mashup instrumental better than the original, as it somehow makes Mike Jones and Slim Thug’s already ignorantly flashy lyrics even MORE glossy. To be honest, the over the topness of this song is really what makes it for me.
DON’T TOUCH GERUDO VALLEY (10)
What do you get when you cross the best game-tailored piece of music in any video game ever and classic Busta Rhymes hypeness? THIS PIECE OF AWESOMENESS.
It’s an online mashup, so I can’t buy it…but should I burn it?
Well since this is clearly a small interest group (people who love Mashups, Ocarina of Time, and Hip Hop), if this type of thing strikes your fancy you can burn this and keep yourself entertained for a few listens. The novelty level on this mixtape is off the charts, so all but a few of these songs admittedly lose their luster after a bunch of listens. Other than that, though, it’s worth a shot.
Ummm I may or may not have gotten all of the Bottles and all of the Skulltullas and beaten Ganon three times earlier this morning…where can I download it?
Now, before we begin, let me start with this completely gigantic bold preface which is impossible not to see and if someone ignores this preface when trying to destroy me in the comments I’ll probably just delete your comment.
I UNDERSTAND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS ALBUM. I UNDERSTAND THAT RAKIM PIONEERED HAVING INTERNAL RHYMES, SWITCHING UP THE FLOW OF THE HIP HOP UNIVERSE FROM STANDARD NURSERY RHYME METER TO DIFFERENT FLOWS, AND WAS THE INFLUENCE ON HUNDREDS OF RAPPERS CONSIDERED GOOD TO THIS DAY. I UNDERSTAND THAT ERIC B. PIONEERED CUT TOGETHER SAMPLES AND TOOK DJING TO ANOTHER LEVEL. I UNDERSTAND ALL THAT. THAT DOES NOT, HOWEVER, GUARANTEE THAT THIS WILL BE AN EXCITING LISTEN IN THE PRESENT DAY.
Let’s begin.
Paid In Full Album Cover
I AIN’T NO JOKE (9)
Surprised? You shouldn’t be. The upbeat tempo that Rakim takes here (and fails to elsewhere on this album) meshes well with Eric B’s horny instrumental….haha get it? Made of horns?…and while his lines take almost full verses to unfold, they hit equally hard on the line-to-line level, making this an impressive way to start your album.
ERIC B. IS ON THE CUT (DB)
I feel like this is where there’s going to start to be problems. WHILE I ACKNOWLEDGE THE SIGNIFICANCE IN TRACKS LIKE THIS in bringing the art of DJing to another level, this just sounds downright archaic right now.
MY MELODY (6)
I feel like this has a greater tendency to happen on older songs than it does on newer songs (read: a couple of songs on Lifestylez ov da poor and dangerous, a small number of GZA songs, Clan In Da Front, etc.) but it annoys the shit out of me when producers take a sick sample (ie the first 4 seconds of this song) and change it into a garish amalgamation of its former self (ie the next 4 seconds). Damn that was some awesome vocab, wasn’t it? As far as the song goes, it’s not bad but is there any reason for it to be 6:46? ANY?
I KNOW YOU GOT SOUL(8)
Pretty much all of the same positives that came out of I Ain’t No Joke are present here as well…listening to this it’s impossibly easy to picture Rakim rocking a local block party, calling out sucka MCs, and the like. Accordingly, the 8.
MOVE THE CROWD (6)
This beat reminds me of Cruisin USA
Pixelated Girls in Bikinis. Bam.
and I’m not exactly sure how I feel about that. As far as Rakim’s rhymes go, he spits pretty much the same rhymes (topically) that he did in the last track, and the slower pace simply makes this song more boring.
PAID IN FULL (9)
While the drum loop is infective and the bassline decidedly funky, this beat is just missing something…what is it….OH WAIT THAT’S RIGHT. This is the original form, so while the beat isn’t bad, it doesn’t match the remastered form which includes a female vocalist singing some song in Sanskrit (alliteration. Bam.), which takes this beat to a whole new level. In addition to that, Rakim’s line about eating fish just plain irritates me, because it just feels like he didn’t know what to say and/or ran out of rhymes. This song is a near miss.
AS THE RHYME GOES ON (6)
Bury me in the comments section, but this song is too slow, the beat is underwhelming and simplistic, and Rakim declares that he will be kicking knowledge but spits the same rhymes as he has the whole album with no discernible lesson to be had.
CHINESE ARITHMETIC (DB)
Another archaic DJ cut. The influence is understandable, however, as the Chinese invented hip hop:
ERIC B. IS PRESIDENT (7)
Allegedly Phife Dawg’s favorite jam back in the day, I have to ask…really? The track isn’t bad, and is awesome for pioneering/inspiring a bunch of other songs, including anything that samples “The Champ” by The Mohawks, “Ain’t No Half Steppin”, and clearly Phife Dawk himself, but this isn’t even the best song on the album.
EXTENDED BEAT (DB)
Creative title ya got there…
Let’s cut the bullshit…it’s a buy, right?
If I were running a hip hop museum, as a curator I would buy the SHIT out of this. For my own collection, though, I’m gonna be honest and say I have no qualms about just burning the few best tracks.
Fuck you.
Knew this was coming. Random question time? So predictable…
Isn’t it weird how my mood influences the albums I review? (The answer is no.) It’s a Friday night, I should be bumping something upbeat like 3 feet high and rising, right? Aside from the fact that that album is 20+ tracks (meaning I will procrastinate for roughly forever before I get to it), it turns out that there is somehow NOTHING TO DO. Now I’m annoyed, irritated, etc. so I’m gonna dive into some back alley rob you for everything you have just because I’m a malevolent bastard hip hop. You’re welcome.
The Infamous Album Cover
THE START OF YOUR ENDING (41ST SIDE) (8)
I realize that I’m giving this no original context, but I’d like to say that the thing that really sets this track apart for me (apart from what? I don’t know.) is that the production manages to stay artfully jazzy (as alot of hip hop did during this period) but STILL GRIMY. And no intro track!
THE INFAMOUS PRELUDE
Oh wait…here it is. 2+ minutes of straight shit talking? No thanks.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST (9)
Remember my comment on the first track? Same goes here, except the rapping is even kicked up a notch…listening to this song angrily was actually what made me decide to review this album (although it’s not the best on the album…I’m sure everyone already knows which track THAT is)
EYE FOR A EYE (YOUR BEEF IS MINES) (7)
No that’s not a typo on my part. While the instrumental plays its part, lurking and creeping on a NY city alley ready to stick you up the second you round the corner, it’s unfortunately roughly a quarter as entertaining as it is well constructed. Also surprisingly, Nas and Rae sound alright but fail to blow this song out of the water, as one might have expected with them perfecting their grimy styles right around this time. Huh.
JUST STEP PRELUDE (6)
An a capella (freestyle?) track by Big Noyd and Prodigy. That’s all I got.
GIVE UP THE GOODS (8)
Anyone else notice that this is almost EXACTLY the same beat (at least in the very beginning) for The Root’s What They Do off of Illadelph Halflife? It’s GOTTA be the same sample (although I unfortunately can’t verify that because that information is nowhere to be found online). Regardless, this song is understandably much grimier (even though it’s the lesser of the two songs).
TEMPERATURE’S RISING (7)
While the beat starts off overly simplistic (and dives back into that territory at certain points throughout), it eventually builds to a passable backdrop for Havoc and Prodigy to spit some stories to their incarcerated brethren a la Nas’ One Love. My main beef with this song, however, is that the R&B hook sounds completely out of context with not only this song, but everything Mobb Deep have insinuated they STAND FOR throughout this album.
UP NORTH TRIP (8)
While this somehow maintains the slightly softened vein of the last track while keeping the same grimy subject matter, the lack of an R&B hook boosts this another point. Guess I’m shallow and pedantic.
TRIFE LIFE (6)
This song suffers from what I like to call Pete Rock Syndrome. Now that’s not to imply that I don’t like Pete Rock instrumentals, because that is FAR from the case; what it DOES mean, though, is that a jazzy instrumental is used (not one that I actually like, but that has nothing to do with PRS…shit I’m off track) and the drum loop is mastered too loud and sounds too clean/polished/borderline metallic and robotic. It just takes away all the grimyness of a track when it sounds overly polished. Ask Wu-Tang…they frequently left mistakes in their music just to make it sound grimier.
Q.U. – HECTIC (8)
YES. Back to some legitimate grimyness over a slightly darker instrumental. This is EXACTLY what the album needed to get back on track (even though it didn’t really fall all that far off).
RIGHT BACK AT YOU (9)
OH YES. Back to back increasingly grimy songs, with this one featuring Rae and Ghost trading verses. I sometimes wonder whether my ratings are affected by the songs surrounding them on the album. Is that allowed? I mean, I AM a proponent of listening to full albums rather than just singles, but is that really justifiable when giving a single song a rating? OR, does contextualization really matter? Anyone got any ideas?
THE GRAVE PRELUDE
Skit.
CRADLE TO THE GRAVE (8)
While the instrumental might not seem like much, if you turn it WAY UP the basslines are awesomely pulsing…almost like….a pulse? Regardless of whether or not that was their intention (I think that’s probably reading too much into it), this song works. It might not be the most entertaining on the album, but the duo actually step their internal rhyme game up here, making this song pretty strong as far as technical construction goes.
DRINK AWAY THE PAIN (SITUATIONS) (6)
Q-TIP? That’s QUITE the choice for an album made to be as grimy as this one is. Regardless, I actually was pretty unimpressed with this song. This contains less grimyness than the rest of the album, and their attempt at hitting on a genuine emotion other than brooding falls short. Also, hearing Q-Tip saying “Shut the fuck up” in an attempt to not get out-grimied on a song where the hosts spit the least grimy of their verses is pretty embarrassing.
SHOOK ONES PT. II (10)
That was easy. This is the best song Mobb Deep will ever do. Another interesting fact: Havoc refuses to reveal the source of the sample he used here, leaving it a potentially forever unsolved mystery. I dunno, I just thought that was kinda cool.
Wait a minute…Wikipedia lists the samples of the track, but I just read an interview as recent as last year where he said noone has yet figured it out. Any explanations?
PARTY OVER (8)
Welp, this is certainly the grimiest party I’VE ever heard of.
How was it?
This album started and ended strong, with them losing their way ever so slightly about halfway through. Typical.
Should I buy it?
Fortunately, reviewing this hailed-as classic went better than I thought; I remember listening to it for the first time a few years ago thinking it was less than stellar, but listening to it now I was pretty impressed. This gets a buy.
Any videos filled with awesomeness that you forgot to include in your last post?
What an oddly specific question. Why yes, yes there is:
I know there’s a lot of other albums on my plate, but I realized I hadn’t posted in like 5 days and I am kind of busy today, so I’ll just bang out an album I know a lot about (aka I won’t have to listen through every song while writing my review). I say I know a lot about it because this was the album that actually got me into hip hop, the reason why Jay-Z was my favorite rapper for a long ass time (and is still one of my favorites to this day), and I even had this in my top 10 list at one point, though it’s subsequently fallen as I’ve discovered better albums. On a good day, though, it plays with the best of them. Oops, spoiler alert. Regardless, this album has been raped and pillaged by mashup makers everywhere, some good and some not so good (I still hate that Jaydiohead mashup), mainly because Jigga released an a capella version of it for just that purpose.
Incidentally, this was also supposed to be Brett Farve’s last game Jay-Z’s last album, but let’s not get into that right now. Let’s get into it. This album was acclaimed because it supposedly held every facet of Jay’s career all rolled into one, with pop tracks, trendsetting, and even a few (as far as Jay-Z’s modern career goes) street-oriented tracks. At least I acclaimed it that way. Let’s see how it sounds NOW, though…
The Black Album Album Cover...redundant, huh?
INTERLUDE
Don’t ask me how this can be an interlude if it’s the first track…and interlude is BETWEEN TWO TRACKS…hence the inter? Regardless, this intro is actually pretty annoying and pretentious, as Jay-Z takes credit for basically every NY rapper in existence today with the metaphor of a tree spreading its seeds. Just a BIT much?
DECEMBER 4th (7)
Although I know a bunch of people who didn’t like it, I like the glossy production here as well as the personal touch Jay’s mom lends to the track. Autobiographical, yes…all that exciting? Not really, although that sycamore tree line is pretty slick.
WHAT MORE CAN I SAY? (10)
This song, however, KICKS IN DECEMBER 4TH’S DOOR and tears the album into a whole different place. While I don’t know why there was a need for an R&B hook on this, because no female will ever want to hear this pumping on the radio, it’s not the worst hook I’ve ever heard, and Jay flows all of his verses so seemingly effortlessly while still throwing in witty lines and modern references, even going so far as to rhyme past the beat, that this track is a thing of grace.
ENCORE (8)
While this track was mainly famous due to his mashup with Linkin Park, I actually prefer Kanye’s instrumental, as the piano on here is just ridiculous (especially at the end)…and the fact that I’m not much of a LP fan, which is coincidentally why I find this video moderately funny:
CHANGE CLOTHES (6)
This is the “grown and sexy” theme Jay decided to come back and explore on Kingdom Come. It’s also the second worst song on the album. Coincidence?
DIRT OFF YOUR SHOULDER (9)
I don’t know if anyone remembers (and if you don’t you should go to the doctors because it was only a couple of years ago, retard), but this song was a BEAST when it came out. Everyone was doing it, football players using it as a TD celebration, the like. That may or may not be because this song was just made to flat out knock. From Timbo’s booming instrumental to Jay taking back any and all popularity in rap after a short hiatus after BP2, this song did it’s thing.
One crazy thing I noticed about this song…on Fade to Black (the movie about Jay’s ‘farewell tour’…a pretty decent documentary actually) Timbo puts this beat on and starts dancing to it, and his shirt gets caught up around his shoulder so he fixes it, and at THAT EXACT INSTANT Jay-Z’s eyes light up. Within 30 mins he has a new song about it that started a massive trend. Pretty insanely impressive if you ask me.
THREAT (7)
Although I’m pretty sure noone actually believed any of these threats since Jay was a multimillionaire at this point in time, this DID showcase his ability to make grimy songs while still flipping witty lines with internal rhymes. Not bad.
MOMENT OF CLARITY (7)
While everyone goes crazy for the lyrics in this song (and I do think that might be deserved), my big problem with this track is the beat. Eminem produces a beat that sounds perfect for…well…Eminem, and Jay sounds slightly boring over the bland yet dark production. Fortunately, however, the mashups did NOT do a disservice to this track, as I like this 80’s pop mashup much better:
99 PROBLEMS (10)
I think everyone already knows about this song. In case you don’t, though, I’d like to include a video of Jay-Z using this song to trash Noel Gallagher at the Glastonbury Music Festival.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT (10)
Just Blaze creates the type of beat I go CRAZY for, with high sustained (would you call it organ or keyboard?) that keeps the energy level blasting here. Jay-Z, needless to say, matches the intensity by telling you dude’s what he’ll do to protect this. If you guessed ’shoot at you actors like movie directors’, then you are correct. Wow, two 10’s in a row…that means one more and he’ll be on fire
JUSTIFY MY THUG (DB)
JESUS THIS SONG IS HORRIBLE. MY EARS ARE ON FIRE. THEY’RE BURNING UP. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF
LUCIFER (7)
I know a lot of people who were blown away by this song, but to be frank, the instrumental sounds poorly mastered (you can’t really blast the song because the bass is obnoxiously louder than the rest of the instrumental), the hook is meh, Jay is kind of all over the place with his verses, and because he made this song I had to listen to people talking about how he’s a freemason. Pain in my ass.
ALLURE (10)
For some reason I appear to be the only one who loves this song. Jay goes into detail about all of the lures he’s passed by in his career and how they can ensnare you, and Pharrell brings a soundscape that sounds like it was built out of a stolen child’s dream (that malevolent bastard!). Pharrell calls it (on Fade to Black) his modern version of Dead Presidents II, and while this song isn’t quite as good, I think that’s a fair comparison.
MY 1ST SONG (10)
While this song might sound a little over the top now, seeing as how Jay-Z DIDN’T RETIRE, given its original context this song is incredible. I literally cannot get enough of the instrumental, and Jay’s lyrics are pretty much a microcosm of this album, which is, in turn, a microcosm of his career. BAM This song is good.
Is this still a top 10 album?
Nah, but it is the best album Jay has put out in a long while.
Was this album all that consistent?
To tell you the truth, a lot of these songs were either hit or miss, with five 10’s being impressive but then not all that great of a supporting cast.
Should I buy it though?
Hmmm as long as it’s not like 20 bucks (some random CD’s are…it makes no sense. I can get Cuban Linx for15 and Immobilarity for 21, Huh!?!) I would buy this CD.
Did I catch an It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia reference up there?
To tell you the truth I wasn’t even planning on doing a review tonight but I was just running through Jay Electronica’s Exhibit Trilogy and got so hyped up that I just had to get in on the action. So before my excitement at this 34 year old up and comer (how weird does that sound?) decreases (even though it probably won’t), let’s see if Jay Elec has what it takes to save the game?
Shall we?
Victory Mixtape Cover
Now as a side note, please bear with me…if you download this mixtape not all of the tracks have titles…in fact, most don’t. Accordingly I’ll either call them Track (and then their respective number) or give their name (if they have one). This may be annoying to read, but on the bright side it’ll make sense if you already have it or plan on downloading it.
TRACK 1
Intro track, nothing much to see here.
Exhibit A / Exhibit B (10)
Ugh…why is this edited? This has the potential to annoy me greatly (I got it off datpiff.com), but other than that Jay Elec kicks some ass over a spaced out instrumental. It’s tracks like this that make me feel like Jay Elec has so much potential…there’s nothing gimmicky about it, no speed rap and not even a novelty flow…he just brings it line after line, and even though his voice isn’t the most enthused, you can tell he cares about every track he makes. Also, the movie dialogues are awesome, especially the one serving as an interlude between the first two verses regarding how Jay spits like he was born to do it.
Afterwards, this one fades into another verse from Jay and a verse from Mos Def, meaning that this track fades into Exhibit B, which kicks ass as well. This 4 minute masterpiece is a DAMN good way to start off a mixtape.
SUCKAS (8)
While Jay Elec’s lyrics take a backseat ride shotgun to his acknowledgment of his influences, it is nearly just as much J Dilla’s eclectic instrumental that make this track so infectious. Don’t see what I’m talking about? Well then I guess your third eye vision isn’t 3-D.
WALKING (6)
I had to listen to this twice to tell you anything about this song…that right THERE should tell you something.
TRACK 5 (8)
This is where shit starts to get messy in terms of names. This track (which has a Latin flair to it as far as the instrumental goes, not to mention Jay’s spanglish rhyming late in the track) is pretty much a double edged sword. Some may like the first half, where Jay gets heartfelt/descriptive about his past before rhyming, but I much prefer the second half, where he just decides to rhyme circles around pretty much everyone.
TRACK 6 (7)
Jay starts this track off by saying “I dedicate this to all you wack muthafuckas rappin…go get a job”, so this should be my favorite track…..right? Unfortunately, the instrumental holds Jay back a little bit, and line after line isn’t enough to bring this song out of the slightly above average range. Ya gotta have production, people.
TRACK 7 (7)
While the production is better here, Jay Elec sprinkles in some recycled famous lines to pay homage along with some punchlines that Lil Wayne fans would go crazy for (damn New Orleans heritage), like “I’m hot like a sauna”. Take that as you will.
TRACK 8 (8)
The production here is downright PIMP, and Jay insinuates that he did it (which he probably did given that he’s a polished producer as well), which is DAMN impressive. Other than that, this one verse track is pretty much the stereotypical ridin’ track, which isn’t a problem.
TRACK 9
An interview/interlude in which Jay decries how shitty most people are today and explains how regardless of what you rap about substance-wise, it’s still possible to be good at it (his example – OB4CL may have been about drugs, but it was done in an theatrical way with slick rhyming), yet rappers nowadays still decide to SUCK. This made me happy……and then I deleted it.
TRACK 10 (6)
As a story/set of rhymes, this song was halfway decent. As a track? I’m sorry, but this was all over the place. I know he was trying to be experimental with a completely abstract non-beat, but this just didn’t work for me.
COOL, RELAX (9)
The jazzy production on here was MUCH better, and both Jay and Naledge (I guess this is supposedly Naledge’s song…no clue who he is) spit their flames, with neither coming out the victor…..in a good way.
TRACK 12 (DB)
Jay gives his attempt at OLDDDDDDDDDDD-school MCing….as in toasting (back before hip hop songs actually existed). After about a minute, though, he switches up to kick a single verse. Sorry, but I’m not enthralled with him to the point that I want to hear him cheering for a minute and a half just yet.
TRACK 13 (6)
I’m not gonna lie, I actually deleted this song off my computer, something I don’t typically do with 6s. Why? The lyrics aren’t bad, but the instrumental is OBNOXIOUS. Not Stroke of Death obnoxious, but pretty damn close.
TRACK 14 (9)
Over an equally jazzy instrumental, Jay swipes Nas’ famous “Whose world is this” hook wholesale but does it justice, ripping the SHIT out of this instrumental. With double entendres like “You’re over the HILL like Wyclef and Praswell / I’m over the hill like UFO’s in Roswell”, this track will kick the average radio rapper in the balls and then laugh as they crumple to the ground.
TRACK 15 (7)
The required track for the ladies. Is it bad? No, but I’ll pass.
TRACK 16 (7)
Nothing much stood out here. You know what that means? Awesome video time:
VICTORY IN MY CLUTCHES (8)
Over a soulful beat, Jay shows just how adaptable he can be, flipping his flow to spank the hell out of the first minute of this beat, with lines like “I tumble like the dice do, stay on the humble like Christ do, I piss stanzas and shite haikus”.
Color me impressed.
Jay Elec flipped his flow well
And I reviewed it.
TRACK 18 (6)
Jay Elec gets his Immortal Technique on. Eww.
JUST BEGUN (9)
While this track is originally from the free Reflection Eternal mixtape The Re:Union that I have yet to review, Jay pretty much takes this and makes it his. Am I a little biased? Maybe, but you can’t blame me because Jay mentions my favorite basketball player of all time:
UZI WEIGHS A TON (DB)
I didn’t say he was perfect. Jay’s attempt at gangsterisms while still trying to kick knowledge just flat out doesn’t work, as those two have a tendency to clash. The hook doesn’t exactly help matters either.
LOVE CZARS II (DB)
Now for this one, I’m not sure where the burden of the crappy song lies. While Jay Elec does a good job at adapting to songs he’s being featured on, is it his fault for adapting to/getting on a shitty song, or is it the fault of the original hosts for asking him to be on a shitty song?
POSERS (7)
Jay Elec spits a short verse about how the entire industry goes downhill once everyone starts to copy each other. Other than that, has anyone else noticed how many billion Star Wars references he’s thrown in throughout this mixtape? I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he had a Chewbacca mask like Dale in Step Brothers.
CROSS MY HEART
Wondering why there’s no rating? Jay Electronica is actually nowhere to be found on this song, as this is a Billy Stewart song which fades into…
EXHIBIT C (10)
THIS BANGOUT. Goddamit I LOVE when an original soul song fades into a soul sampled hip hop song. Just do yourself a favor and get this goin…
GOOGLE EYES (8)
The shitty sound quality of this track makes me think that it’s from a live show, and whoever was there was lucky, because you just don’t hear rappers entertainin at live shows like this anymore. Is it world-changing? No, but it IS entertaining.
HOLIDAY (7)
Sorry, but this was pretty boring Mos (it was, after all, his original song). Jay Electronica DOES make it slightly worth your while, however, with another one of his DAMN IMPRESSIVE intellectual references, saying that he “splits more wigs (whigs) than British Parliament”. I think I’m in love. He’s the man.
TRACK 27 (DB)
Wait a second…Jay Electronica doesn’t even appear on this? And what are these other clowns doing on here? This was a disappointing end, I’m not gonna lie.
Should I buy this?
No, silly. You can always buy Exhibit A and C on Itunes, which I’m sure would make Mr. Electronica very happy, but you can download this free mixtape here or here without getting in trouble.
Well should I download it?
Well, with 15 of the 27 tracks (and don’t forget, a bunch of them are skits or interludes) ranging from solid to brilliant, I’d say it’s a worthwhile investment of your time.
So is Jay Elec the future?
If I were making a statistical graph of the probability of every rapper in becoming a top 10 rapper of all time (which I may or may not be doing) (hint: I’m not doing it), then I would have Jay Elec right up around where Lupe is right now, which is pretty impressive seeing as how the man’s never dropped a proper album. But who knows? It could all be hype. Let’s hope not.
Any spitfests lately out of an artist you wouldn’t expect to hear quality music out of?
Why yes, what an oddly specific question.
JR Writer will smack you with the Grey Goose…..’blame it on the alcohol’
Aside from the fact that this is the sickest album cover I’ve ever seen, I think we can get going. One thing to bear in mind while reading my review is that out of the Clan, I appreciate GZA’s lyrical complexity, but his monotone voice and simplified flow have the potential to bore me. This means two things….
1) If I don’t like your favorite song on the album, don’t come crying to me
2) If I say I like a song, then it’s a DAMN GOOD SONG.
I’m not gonna lie, the main reason I was putting this off was because I wanted to give it a chance to grow on me, lest I make a mistake calling out what many people declare a top 10 hip hop album, but now the time has come. Let’s do it up.
LIQUID SWORDS (10)
Some people will claim that the intro dialogue from Shogun Assassin is too long and unskippable because it is merged with the actual song. I call these people whiny pussies. If you’re trying to skip a kung fu sample on a Wu album, then you’re in the complete wrong place. In addition to the track’s general awesomeness, it also comes with this spanking video:
DUEL OF THE IRON MIC (9)
You know what’s a pity? The fact that Inspectah Deck could never put together a well-rounded/complete album. I always thought he had one of the sickest flows/styles in the whole Clan, yet somehow his albums were almost all panned completely across the board. Regardless, he bats cleanup here and indeed cleans up the song with the best verse, though GZA gives an admirable attempt of his own.
LIVING IN THE WORLD TODAY (8)
GZA flips up his flow from line to line on here, and maintains his punchlines, making these some of GZA’s most agile verses as of yet. My one beef with this song, though, is the hook (as well as the annoying horns on the hook). Also, question….why did RZA switch up the beat from the original sampling sickness contained in this songs intro and outro? That makes two songs where he did that (this and Clan In Da Front).
GOLD (8)
Use this as a talking point? Why yes….yes I will. The production up to here (and rest assured, throughout the rest of the album) has been like no other album ever created. It’s atmospheric, haunting, and grimy all at the same time, which means RZA did a damn impressive job. When you add that to GZA toying with that kind of grandiose scheme with his lyrics, well you’ve got an incredibly interesting album. While GZA could have just turned this into a song about being a drug dealer, he instead takes a step back and looks at the effects of drug dealing on the fiends, the actions a drug dealer could be forced into, keeping all of the above intensely bleak. So no, this doesn’t sound like a typical drug dealer song, it sounds like a chess master moving pieces around, with the pieces selling drugs to the opposite side and turning them into zombies. Yea.
COLD WORLD (9)
Literally the only thing holding this song back is the hook, which is completely unnecessarily sung by an R&B singer who sings like he’s crying over some dumb breakup bullshit. GZA absolutely abuses his verse, and Inspectah Deck spits a verse thats hot enough to not be completely outshone. Also, this song has a music video that I hadn’t seen until now.
LABELS (8)
In which GZA takes digs at pretty much every hip hop label that existed at that point in time for not agreeing to sign Wu-Tang as a group act but not them individually as well (a business model that RZA ingeniously invented…unheard of at that time). While the song is clearly lyrically complex, the beat leaves something to be desired. Also, although this may be the most relevant of GZA’s name dropping songs (he’s had a few throughout the years), for my money Fame (GZA dropping celebrity names on Legend of the Liquid Swordz) is the better song.
4TH CHAMBER (9)
Although I should never feel like I have to explain myself giving a 9 as if it’s too low a score, on this song I do. Don’t get me wrong, this song is SICK, but it’s just a tad too slow and over 4 minutes, which cuts down its replay value a little bit, and the fact that GZA has the worst verse on his own song (even though it’s still a solid-to-good verse) lends me to give it a nine.
SHADOWBOXIN (8)
I expect this to be the first song I get a negative comment due to my rating for. Goddam that was horrible grammar. The fact of the matter is, this song sounds out of place with how laid back it is compared to how hectic every other song is, and GZA’s verse just didn’t blow me away. That’s about the size of it. Oh, also, this and the last song are combined into one music video. Bangarang.
Even over the course of re-listening to this song for the last 10 minutes I realized I should have given it a better grade than I did.
HELL’S WIND STAFF/KILLAH HILLS 10304 (6)
Well, I can GUARANTEE I’m gonna get some hate for this rating, but I really didn’t hear anything truly endearing out of this song.
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS (7)
RZA would make a good baseball manager. On what do I base this? The fact that he executive produced this album and picked the right batting order everytime thusfar (with the exception of 4th Chamber). I mean, he played no favoritism toward his cousin (GZA) and instead let the best verse (Ghostface) cleanup this song. Other than that, my only other comment is that this song is solid. Pretty shitty reviewing, I know.
SWORDSMAN (7)
GZA thankfully brings some energy back into the picture, but the beats have unfortunately fallen off on this second half of the album. This one is nowhere near as atmospheric or imaginative as anything on the first half, and while GZA seems rejuvenated this ends up being just another solid song.
I GOTCHA BACK (6)
The simple descending instrumental here actually sounds downright lazy, which is a first for RZA on this album, and GZA seems like he’s kind of packing it in. This album has officially started to slump (compared to the first half).
B.I.B.L.E. (BASIC INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE LEAVING EARTH) (9)
Some may ask what the hell this song is doing on here. It is, after, all a 4th Disciple-produced Killah Priest solo song, meaning neither GZA nor RZA had anything to do with it. I would like to tell these people to shut the hell up, because this borderline saves the second half of the album with how much of a genius bangout it is. This thoroughly impressed me.
That’s it?
Yup, at only 13 tracks this is a relatively short album, but that’s never really a point of malcontent…I mean, try and think of a classic that extends beyond 15 songs. Hard, isn’t it?
All in all, the album is good and deserves your purchase based on the first half alone, but it is not immaculate by any means. You don’t have to kick it off the pedestal, but I do think it may be slightly overrated on the whole based off of how much better the first half is than the second half. Also, 36 Chambers and OB4CL are both better albums. Sorry to tell ya. Finally, if this is your first or one of your first few times listening to it, I would suggest listening to it with the lyrics in front of you…it makes the experience all the more enjoyable since GZA’s sentences/ideas often take several bars to unfold.
Alas, it’s not my Liquid Swordz review, but I promise that it will be out before the end of the week.
Instead, I will now grace you all with a review of Lloyd Banks’ newest mixtape, V5. I realize this may polarize some readers who think that anyone out of G-Unit is hot garbage (I personally wouldn’t go that far), but there’s two simple facts to the matter
1) I’m trying to be well-rounded and cover multiple aspects of the genre
I don’t know what it is, but I ALWAYS like when rappers put movie sound clips into their songs, and Full Metal Jacket isn’t a bad place to start. That said, this IS still an intro.
MY BAD (9)
“Most hated I don’t give a fuck”…..and with that opening line we know EXACTLY where Banks is gonna be with this mixtape. Regardless of whether you think he’s awesome or not, I’m pretty sure everyone can agree that he’s pretty much 2 dimensional. He’ll either make a song about rolling with or without you,
Picture Me Rollin
(and yes I know that’s Tupac not Lloyd Banks, go back to my Tupac post if you don’t get the reference) or a song about flossing and other radio friendly shit that always comes out poorly. For this mixtape, it appears he’s gonna stick to rollin, which is a good thing, and the shrieking instrumental, an altered version of the song made famous by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra helps this song kick some ass and take some names. And numbers.
SHITTY CITY PT. 2 (7)
While Banks aggression keeps this song passable, I have a tendency to get bored with his slurred mumble when he slows it down on songs like this. Whatever, at least it’s not as bad as this, aka the worst collection of sounds to make your ears bleed:
WHO’S YOUR FAVORITE (7)
Not bad, but consider this your first warning Lloyd. If all of these songs on this mixtape sound exactly the same I’m going to start getting bored of it pretty soon, so let’s speed something up or throw some multis in here or I’m gonna hafta throw you a DB or two. You CAN keep up the aggression, though. I appreciate it.
WE REMAIN (8)
Better. Thank you. Banks hits hard with the multis here, and this is one of those songs where his slur makes it sound like every word rhymes, which is always sick. In addition to that, his first couple of lines make you feel like he’s walking down the street past the shit he’s rapping about (like every single music video ever) which is a cool effect if he can do it without having to physically show it to you.
BETTER YOU KNOW ME (6)
A more boring Shitty City Pt. 2
I DO (DB)
A less aggressive, more boring Better You Know Me. Yeah.
IT’S GOING DOWN (LIP SERVICE) (DB)
Remember that atrocious radio friendly type song I told you Banks makes before? Yeah.
LOOK MA (8)
Even though the hook is kind of shitty, this is much better than the last three songs. Banks somehow finds a way to blend the flossing shit talk of the last two with the aggression of the first four songs of the CD, which, in addition to the fact that this makes not sound like every other song on the CD, helps his score out.
RATHER BE ME (8)
I know I’ve been focusing mainly on the rapping aspect of the last few tracks, so I guess I’ll just use this song as a talking point for the production. The production on this CD has actually been pretty impressive. While a lot of the beats sound somewhat similar, they match Banks’ persona perfectly. While the beats aren’t incredible, they’re somehow both equally slick/smooth sounding and gritty, which is exactly what I think of when I think of Lloyd Banks. While the dubbed sound effects remind you that this is a mixtape, they’re not distracting, and all of the beats are album quality.
POWER BACK (7)
Very funny, Lloyd. Right after I make a statement about the production, he switches it up and makes that last comment seem temporarily erroneous (even though it isn’t). Regardless, I love the chipmunk soul, and the record-player crackling sound effect is one of my favorite little things a producer can do to a track, so this gets an acceptable grade.
ONLY HUMAN (7)
While the hook is decent and actually EXPLICITLY MENTIONS RIDIN’ (I know I said rollin’ before, but it’s close enough), Lloyd Banks slows it down, which brings the score down. Sorry to say it, but when it’s slowed down his slurred unenthusiastic voice becomes really boring. And as we all know, boring people are obnoxious:
So it is inevitably only his multis and aggression that save this.
NO ESCAPE (8)
Over a positively knocking instrumental, Banks has one of his best flows (not necessarily verses) on the mixtape yet, where every line actually has at least something to do with the last line but is also a punchline in its own right. Tony Yayo threatens to derail the train (as he always does), but Banks rights his own ship. Seriously, what good has Tony Yayo brought to the world other than that hand shake thing he does (which I still do on a regular basis)
THE GET BACK – SOUTHSIDE IN THE HOUSE (7)
While the first minute is painfully slow and boring, if you can make it past it you’ll be granted with a much better second verse from Banks and some multis/slurred parts where everything sounds like it rhymes which make this song acceptable.
PROBABLY WANT ME DOWN (8)
Banks speeds it up a little bit here, which is a welcome return, and even though the beat changes from incredible sounding to only decent sounding (why did they do that?), this song returns to the riding motif I enjoy so much.
GREENDAY (6)
This song is meh, but neither the true host (Cormega, this was from his CD) nor Havoc or Lloyd Banks add anything of that much substance. You know what WOULD be a sick collabo, though? Lloyd Banks and Clipse. THAT I would listen to.
BIG BULLY (10)
Now THIS is the type of track I was expecting from this mixtape. Fucking SICK punchlines, vicious pop culture references, a stolen beat (New Wu), hookless….this song MAKES this mixtape. HOLY SHIT EVERY WORD IN THIS SONG RHYMES. I’m writing this while I’m listening to it and I can’t keep up with the punchlines…every new line I hear I want to write about it but it’s impossible to write that fast. Oh shit my mind just exploded. LISTEN TO THIS NOW.
How was it?
Much better than I expected actually, Banks came with it on this mixtape, and if I like this then I can’t imagine what Banks diehards will think about it.
