Jedi Mind Tricks - Violent By Design (October 3, 2000)

After their full-length debut, Words Strung Together In An Attempt To Be Clever, found an audience, Jedi Mind Tricks, which is made up of rapper Ikon the Verbal Hologram and producer Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind, set about creating the follow-up, entitled Violent By Design. (Well, at first it was allegedly called Polymatrix: Reincarnation of the Hologramic Christ, and while I would never put it past the group to use that title on something else, I truly hope that they actually sat down, read that fucking title, and thought better of it.) During the two-year recording process, they adopted a second rapper, Jus Allah, who would leave the crew shortly after the release of Violent By Design (and would rejoin seven years later). Ikon the Verbal Hologram also took on a different rap name, Vinnie Paz, which is what most underground rap fans are familiar with (although he still refers to himself as the Verbal Hologram on several songs). But the biggest change for the Jedi Mind Tricks was their co-opting of a newer, hyperagressive style, alternating between the quasi-religious psychobabble that pervaded the first disc and ultraviolence, the latter of which would make the group virtually indistinguishable from every other rapper in the fucking universe, aside from the fact that they utilized the word "Jedi" in their crew name. But the changes to the original recipe seem to have been universally accepted: Violent By Design is generally considered to be the group's shining moment.

I remember trying to listen to Violent By Design in my back office at work after having left to pick it up at a mom-and-pop record shop, and let me tell you, this music is not conducive to any sort of productivity whatsoever. Not because Stoupe's production had me geeking out and throwing chairs and shit (although, once again, Stoupe remains, as the bloggers and blog readers call him, a beast behind the boards), but because, not unlike an album from Killah Priest, Hell Razah, or some other Wu-affiliate familiar with theology, Vinnie Paz and Jus Allah kind of demand that you listen to the lyrics, and their many guests pretty much have the same expectations.

Maybe it'll be easier for me to work while listening to this today.

(A note about the release: Violent By Design was originally released on Superegular Records, the group's own label, but was rereleased by Babygrande in 2004. The newer version includes a couple of additional tracks which were unearthed for hardcore fans, but I don't have the rerelease, so I can't comment on those tracks.)

1. INTRO
Sigh...

2. RETALIATION
Wu-Tang fans may dig this, and not just because of the Killah Priest vocal sample that frequently appears. Stoupe's beat goes the extra mile to engage the listeners, but Vinnie's rhymes become almost too comically violent to take this song for more than what it is.

3. CONTRA (FEAT KILLA SHA)
Killa Sha, the rapper whose name sounds as if he should be a Wu-Tang affiliate, but really isn't, provides a really short middle verse over another great Stoupe beat. Killarmy should seriously consider ditching 4th Disciple for one album and hire the Enemy of Mankind. Alas, this is not the homage to Konami's classic video game that I had anticipated.

4. SPEECH COBRAS (FEAT MR. LIF)
The film geek in me has to applaud the use of dialogue samples from Darren Aronofsky's Pi, but the music geek in me dismisses this track as outright fucking boring.

5. BREATH OF GOD INTERLUDE
Leaves you with a bad, pretentious taste in your mouth.

6. DEATH MARCH (FEAT VIRTUOSO & ESOTERIC)
It's been a long while since I've watched WWE Wrestling (I think it was still called the WWF when I last saw it), so hearing a sound bite from The Undertaker was an interesting flashback. This track is actually really good, and it flies by, thanks to the chemistry between everybody involved (Virtuoso and Esoteric were also a part of the Jedi Mind Tricks supergroup side project, Army Of The Pharaohs). The reference to M. Bison was also unexpected, so kudos.

7. WORDS FROM MR. LEN (PART ONE) (FEAT MR. LEN)
Interlude...

8. I AGAINST I (FEAT PLANETARY)
The beat was so pleasant that this song floated right out of by consciousness while it was still playing.

9. EXERTIONS REMIX (FEAT VIRTUOSO, ESOTERIC, & BAHAMADIA)
Just as she does on most songs, Bahamadia (also a one-time member of the Army Of The Pharaohs) sounds completely out of place, but her verse still sounds good, so the song still manages to work. This is representative of the traditional "underground rap song that tries to fit as many syllables in as possible but ultimately truly says nothing" that rappers release in an effort to prove how intelligent they are, so in that respect, it's not bad. Esoteric's verse happens to be the standout: it's reminding me that I have the 7L and Esoteric debut album in the pile and that I really should get over myself and write about them already. (Side note: the original version of this track was an Army song called "The Five Percent Exertions", and it also featured Chief Kamachi, who was deleted from this remix but appears elsewhere on Violent By Design. Curious.)

10. THE PROPHECY INTERLUDE
...

11. HEAVENLY DIVINE
I found this to be awfully dull.

12. SACRIFIEC
Other than the random Big Pun vocal sample, this kind of blended together with "Heavenly Divine" for six to seven minutes of sheer boredom.

13. PERMANENT MIDNIGHT INTERLUDE
...

14. THE DEER HUNTER (FEAT CHIEF KAMACHI)
Sadly, Christopher Walken fails to make an impression on this track. In fact, I barely remember his contribution to this weak-ass song, and I just heard it. What do you mean, Christopher Walken wasn't actually on the song?

15. BLOOD REIGN (FEAT DIAMONDBACK, LOUIS LOGIC, & B.A. BARAKUS)
I appreciated everyone's attempt to create a different sound for Violent By Design, but lyrically, this sounds like every other fucking song on the album. Even diehard Killarmy fans will have tuned out by this point. B.A. Barakus is a fantastic rap name, though.

16. WORDS FROM MR. LEN (PART TWO) (FEAT MR. LEN)
Interlude...

17. GENGHIS KHAN (FEAT TRAGEDY KHADAFI)
I can't imagine that anybody saw this collaboration coming back in the late 1990's. (If you did, then why haven't you won the lottery yet?) Tragedy, who was late of Capone-N-Noreaga collaborations and infighting at this point, doesn't truly fit in, but at least Vinnie and Jus Allah do their best to make him feel welcome by referencing shit that Tragedy has repeated in his own rhymes ever since his career rebirth (shedding his Intelligent Hoodlum image).

18. TRINITY (FEAT L-FUDGE & LOUIS LOGIC)
Graciously, Vinnie Paz opts to perform his worst verse on a collaborative track that appears on his own album. The hook is a bit much: was it truly necessary?

19. THE EXECUTIONERS DREAM (FEAT J-TREDS)
While I love the title, it feels artificial, as it seems to have only been chosen because it sounded cool, and not so much because it had anything to do with the fucking song. (See also: every other song on Violent By Design.) That said, Stoupe's dark-as-hell instrumental is very moving, and none of the rappers manage to fuck it up, so that was nice.

20. MUERTE
Meh.

The following two tracks are only found on the CD version of Violent By Design.

21. HEAVENLY DESIGN (REMIX)
I'd put this at the same level as the original. Sampling Alanis Morrissette was an interesting touch, though.

22. WAR ENSEMBLE (FEAT VIRTUOSO & ESTOERIC)
Tagged as an Army Of The Pharaohs track and not a Jedi Mind Tricks song, this isn't that bad, but it's a bit too late. All it truly accomplishes is making me upset that Violent By Design didn't sound mostly like this track.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Violent By Design's hyperaggressive rhymes and borderline pretentious execution turns this album into a literal chore to listen to. Music shouldn't force the listener to earn their entertainment or enlightenment, and it definitely shouldn't feel like work to hear it (although I suppose it is actual work for me, since I'm writing about it and all). While technically proficient, Vinnie Paz/Ikon and Jus Allah fail to engage the listener with their rhymes, and since this isn't an instrumental album, that makes Violent By Design a failure in my eyes. Maybe it's simply because I'm completely over this type of hip hop, but I'm of the mindset that rappers shouldn't take on a holier-than-thou persona (at least, not without the chops to back such a persona up). Stoupe remains a monster on the boards, though. All in all, I'm disappointed that this album failed to hold up.

BUY OR BURN? If one were to somehow locate an instrumental version of this disc, I would recommend that you purchase that. As is, this only deserves a burn. The fans of this blog that are fans of Jedi Mind Tricks will already own this anyway, and anyone who hasn't yet heard of them won't be turned by this disc.

BEST TRACKS: "Death March"; "Retaliation"; "The Executioners Dream"

-Max

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