Blahzay Blahzay are a Brooklyn, NY-based duo made up of rapper Outloud and producer-slash-deejay PF Cuttin'. They had been in the game for several years, helping produce tracks for other artists, and in 1995, they decided to try their hand at their own hit song. The first single, "Danger", hit the streets like a fucking steamroller, burning up the airwaves on radio stations throughout the country, thanks to its commanding beat and Ol' Dirty Bastard vocal sample. It became so goddamn popular that DJ Premier (of GangStarr, another duo made up of one producer and one rapper, who Blahzay Blahzay were influenced by) produced a remix. But when Fader/Mercury/Polygram Records released the duo's debut, Blah Blah Blah, in 1996, nobody gave much of a fuck, and the duo essentially faded into the distance. True, they've continued to work (PF Cuttin' more so than his partner in crime), but not nearly to the same degree.
What the fuck happened?
I honestly couldn't tell you. One usually points to a lack of promotion, and that may be the case here, but I remember seeing at least two videos from Blah Blah Blah on Rap City. "Danger (Part 2)" also took off in my area, possibly because, around the same time, rappers such as Smoothe Da Hustler and Trigger Tha Gambler (who made cameo appearances on the track) were awfully popular. Blah Blah Blah seems to have suffered from a case of lack of interest: none of the other tracks on the album even remotely resembled "Danger", and that may have caused potential customers to look elsewhere. But it's hard to tell when you're talking about the music industry: stars have to align in order for a rapper to get the audience they feel they deserve, and some artists have more pull than others, which is the only reason I can fathom that Soulja Boy somehow garnered two additional hit singles after that "Crank Dat" bullshit.
Blah Blah Blah is currently out of print, which also doesn't help matters. I have to admit, Blah Blah Blah was one of those albums that I overlooked many times in the late 1990s, but when I actually wanted to pick it up, it was impossible to find. I had to settle for a burned disc, or at least I did until last year, when my wife, who is awesome, stumbled across a used copy in, of all places, a fucking mall. And she found it for cheap. I can't guarantee that you two readers will chance upon it in the same fashion, but one can hope.
1. INTRO Typical rap album intro nonsense.
2. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH A good and pleasant way to start an album. The piano keys mix well with the sparse drums, and Outloud comes off as an artist that, while he may not have anything new to say, can at least sound good saying it. This is some good shit right here.
3. MEDINA'S IN THE HOUSE You will either see this as a short interlude, or you'll accept it for what it's supposed to be: a declaration of the East Coast's dominance over the West in this here rap game. (The fact that, on the very next song, the first line you hear is “Now we're 'bout to show you how the East Coast rocks” only proves my point.) Sadly, this proclamation didn't really take, but it's not Blahzay Blahzay's fault: Dr. Dre's influence was hard to beat back in the 1990s.
4. DANGER PART 2 (FEAT DARK MAN, SMOOTHE DA HUSTLER, TRIGGER THA GAMBLER, & D.V. ALIAS KHRIST) It is very strange that the sequel to Blahzay Blahzay's “Danger” would appear in the sequencing before its predecessor, but here you go. A lot of readers may be wondering why it took me so long to mention this song after having already written about both Smoothe Da Hustler and Trigger Tha Gambler. Well, here's why (and this will get long, so you may want to get a snack): I only had a burned copy of this album until recently, when my badass wife happened upon it in a used CD store, as I mentioned above. (My wife likes it when I talk about her within the context of the blog.) All of the online information I could find indicated that the “Dark Man” who is featured was actually Wu-Tang affiliate La The Darkman, and Dark Man's verse sounds nothing like La (and, side note, La had his own record deal at this point in time: dude had that one ad in The Source advertising his 12-inch single, which featured Raekwon on the b-side, running for at least a year when this album dropped), so I needed to find proof. (I told you to get a snack!) Now that I have the liner notes, I can say with full certainty that everybody seems to have it wrong online, and unless La himself contacts me and tells me otherwise, I stand behind my belief that Dark Man and La the Darkman are not the same guy. The liner notes don't name other writers for “Danger Part 2”, but seeing that La was legally obligated to a different label at the time, if it were him, it would make sense that the label would have to be mentioned somewhere, and it wasn't. (It's not as if Blah Blah Blah was an underground album with a cover printed at a Kinko's or something.) Anyway, about the song: it rocks. Everybody sounds fucking fantastic over a beat that is a vast improvement over its predecessor's (even with a random Star Wars reference from Outloud), although the original track isn't a slouch.
5. DON'T LET THIS RAP SHIT FOOL YOU Having that loquacious of a title would usually mean an awkward-sounding hook, right? In this case, you two are correct. This track is alright, but nothing special: don't let the success of the previous two songs fool you.
6. PAIN I FEEL To my knowledge, this was the second single off of Blah Blah Blah, and it was a really good choice. Outloud rides the PF Cuttin' beat as if they were twins equipped with telekinesis. I seem to recall the video taking place in a mental institution or something (possibly because of the pain he feels), but I'm not concerned enough to look it up on YouTube at the moment.
7. POSSE JUMPA (FEAT DARK MAN & MENTAL MAGICIAN) The line deliveries, especially from Mental Magician (great rap name, by the way), who sounds like a slower-paced Smoothe Da Hustler, leave a lot to be desired, but, even though the song is a bit too long, it works, thanks to PF Cuttin's instrumental, which manages to sound both simple and intricate. Not bad at all.
8. MANIAC COP A skit with relatively low production values, but save for the horrendous dialogue at the very end, it lends itself nicely to the next track.
9. GOOD COP / BAD COP Easily my favorite song on here. Outloud takes on the persona of a racist cop who becomes increasingly appalled at the actions of his partner, the titular “good cop”. PF Cuttin' provides a beat that showcases a master at work, and everything from the drums to the vocal sample in the hook help this song fucking knock.
10. SENDIN' DEM BACK (FEAT TANYA BREWER) I found myself nonplussed. Maybe it was the boring beat, or maybe it was the female vocals on the hook, but either way, I would urge my two readers to skip this track.
11. LONG WINDED (FEAT MENTAL MAGICIAN, VERBAL FIST, VERBAL HOODS) It always makes me laugh when a virtually unknown rapper or rap group (at least at the time) includes a song on his/their debut album that heavily features weed carriers. How would they have been able to financially support the entourage prior to copping that record deal? Anyway, this jazzy excursion is actually very nice, and although none of the guests involved should be immediately signed or anything, the track still sounds good.
12. JACKPOT Meh.
13. DANGER Blahzay Blahzay's breakthrough single. A simple-sounding East Coast anthem that slowly invades your subconsciousness, which will inevitably lead to you shouting “Danger!” at random intervals, especially whenever you're in the middle of a meeting with an important client. At the bank. The samples (prominent vocals from Ol' Dirty Bastard and Jeru the Damaja, who appears in the video even though, later, he felt that Outloud stole his verbal style wholesale) are perfectly placed, making this track one of the East Coast's finest from the 1990s. DJ Premier took it upon himself to remix this track with, um, blah results: this original version has an energy level that Primo couldn't match for some reason. Also, the video sucks balls for what is supposed to be some sort of street anthem. But you can't have it all.
FINAL THOUGHTS: It's kind of sad that Blah Blah Blah was Blahzay Blahzay's only album, as it is quite entertaining. Lyrically, Outloud is saying nothing new, and PF Cuttin's instrumentals are truly a product of their time, but I liked that time in music, and when you blend those two elements together, you're rewarded with an unsung gem from the mid-1990s New York movement. The great songs on here will still captivate audiences today, if anybody ever got a chance to fucking hear them.
BUY OR BURN? As I mentioned above, this album is out of print: I was just lucky that my wife was able to find a pristine copy that someone who obviously didn't appreciate the quality (or scarcity) of the product simply cast off. As such, you may not find this one for less than twenty bucks, but you should definitely track this down online. And who knows? Maybe with enough interest garnered with this post, Blahzay Blahzay will see fit to re-release this fucking diamond in the rough. Well, I can hope, anyway.
BEST TRACKS: “Good Cop/Bad Cop”; “Danger Part 2”; “Pain I Feel”; “Blah, Blah, Blah”; “Long Winded”; “Danger”
When you write a hip hop blog, it's inevitable that you will be sent a lot of music from up-and-coming artists. It's hard to find the time in the day to actually listen to everything you get, and a lot of it is bullshit anyway, but one of the reasons I listen is because you occasionally come across projects that surprise you, such as 7 Rings Of Saturn, the second crew album from The Vultures. (The first, From Parts Unknown, was released one year prior, and it clearly reached enough people to warrant some more work by the group, so there you go.) So let this be a lesson for all of you who want to promote your work: I will listen to it, and I will post it if I feel it warrants a mention. So hit me at the email on the right.
Now, I could just cut and paste the press release, but that's no fun, so here's my version: Hailing from San Antonio, Texas, The Vultures aim to "restore balance in the hip hop ecosystem" (their words). They are a collective of solo artists (Jus The Destroyer, Jamar Equality (wouldn't that be great if that were his legal name?), Ruler Why, Ruin, 7ISH, and Stealth Entity, with occasional assists from others), not unlike how the Wu-Tang Clan marketed themselves. All of the production is handled by Ruler Why, who also released this disc on his own Ruler Why Records. They also keep a deejay in the fold, 7ISH, to provide scratches at random intervals, usually when the crew is enjoying their Big Red and their breakfast tacos. The Vultures are also, apparently, part of a much larger crew called Psytology, a German-based supergroup, which explains away the random verse dropped in German that I'll get to in a bit.
7 Rings Of Saturn (named as such because their city is frequently abbreviated as SAT, so the extension was kind of natural in a "not at all"-sort of way) sounds so unlike anything you would ever expect to hear come out of the Lone Star State (read: rappers from Houston, Port Arthur, Dallas, etc.) that you would be forgiven if, after you got a chance to finally hear this, you thought the guys hailed from New York. But in order for that confusion to happen, I have to convince you that listening to 7 Rings Of Saturn would actually be worth the time.
Is it?
(Note: since it's listed as such on the back cover of the album, I've listed each emcee and the order of their appearance on each song, as a way to help introduce the crew to my two readers.)
1. YOU BEST STOP (EQUALITY, RUIN, STEALTH, TOPCAT)
Not the biggest fan of the hook, but this is an otherwise pretty damn effective intro to The Vultures. The music is much more majestic than you would expect (thanks to the work of Ruler Why behind the boards), and all four rappers featured come across as the missing link between the Wu-Tang Clan affiliates and Jedi Mind Tricks, which I mean in the best way possible.
2. MIND WEAPON (RUIN, DESTROYER, EQUALITY)
This reminds me of something from Killarmy's unheralded second album, Dirty Weaponry. In fact, the rappers on here come off as a bunch of Holocausts with their attention to detail and lyrical clarity, even with the sometimes gory imagery that I'm sure most of my two readers could do without. This isn't bad. (And yes, I realize Holocaust was never a part of Killarmy, but he was a large part of Dirty Weaponry's success with his two guest spots.)
3. KILL THE NOISE (DESTROYER)
The sampled piano keys behind this one-verse wonder by Destroyer is haunting. Well, not so much when the drums and vocals are laid upon it, but it still lingers in my mind. This shit is not bad at all.
4. YOU AIN'T READY (EQUALITY, STEALTH, 7ISH, DESTROYER)
I'm always amazed at how rappers can twist almost any word into an acronym for something. After a lengthy intro that leads listeners to believe that this is an interlude, the rhymes come in fast and furiously. The drums on here are ineffective (I wish they would have hit harder), but this still came off as pretty interesting regardless. The funniest line by far is “We suck no dick here”, an odd, yet very much to the point, way to establish your dominance, I suppose.
6. THE MENACE (EQUALITY, DESTROYER) This shit hits fuckinghard. It sounds as if the rhymes are cut off at the end (even though the beat continues to ride), but this still rocks. I'm finding it hard to believe that this is coming from the same city as the Alamo, as it contains an obvious East Coast influence. Optimistic Max would say that good music transcends territorial boundaries, but when have you ever known me to be optimistic?
7. TRUE UNDERSTANDING CIPHER (DESTROYER, TOPCAT, RICHARD GEIN)
So far, The Vultures have proven that Texas rappers don't always shave to rhyme about driving around, wasting gas, sipping syrup, buying grillz at Paul Wall's shop, and the other shit Texas artists tend to do. I could have done without the throwaway line about eating children (a lyric in the hook explains this away, but still), but this sounds pretty good otherwise. (According to the group's MySpace page, Richard Gein is their go-to guy for horrorcore, so if that's your cup of tea, then you're not invited into my fucking home.)
8. ONES PERCEPTION (EQUALITY, DESTROYER, STEALTH, RUIN)
It's not often that you can listen to a rap song and hear references to Daisy Duck, Randy Savage, and Oscar Meyer products, all within a single verse. I liked the whimsical beat much more than the words presented, but as a whole package, you had best believe I would blast this on repeat.
9. SUPREME THOUGHT (EQUALITY)
The hook is too wordy, but it is just wordy enough to qualify as underground rap, so it works. Barely. You'll probably never hear The Vultures on any Clear Channel radio station, but these guys (Equality, especially, is a standout to me right now) can rap circles around a lot of the bigger names. Lace these guys with some Stoupe throwaway beats and other bloggers will eat this shit up, guaranteed.
10. WAR JOINT (7ISH, DESTROYER, EQUALITY)
Ruler Why's production was moody enough, but this track didn't really work for me.
11. CHECK THE CULTURE (RUIN, DESTROYER) Meh.
12. HEARTLESS MCS (EQUALITY, RULER WHY, STEALTH, DESTROYER)
And now we're back on track. “Real recognize real – if you don't recognize it, you ain't shit”? That's a pretty fucking funny way to start off a song. The hilarity quickly dissipates, though, as The Vultures are obsessed with picking apart haters in increasingly creative ways. Ruin's second verse brings the energy down a bit, but with a different beat underneath, he would sound pretty good. If you told me that these guys have actually been recording for the past twenty years, I'd believe it, with the level of expertise presented.
13. FORTRESS STORM (RUIN, DESTROYER, EQUALITY)
A Timothy Leary reference in a rap song? Can't say I saw that coming. Everyone comes across as pretty awesome over this dark beat, even if the drums sound as though they don't mesh well with what passes for melody.
14. KEEP YA EYES ON HIM (EQUALITY, RUIN, DESTROYER)
Ruler Why's beat is appropriately full of darkness and despair, which I tend to like in my hip hop (unless I'm at a club or drunk or something). The dialogue samples that pop up throughout are jarring, and they don't really add much to the proceedings (they do give the song its title, though), but maybe that was the point.
15. HARDEST CLICK (EQUALITY)
“Flopping like a half-assed album released in '94”? I'd love to hear some clarification on that line, even though it's still pretty funny. The beat gets the blood flowing, and all of the rappers involved rip shit as well. This is just nice.
16. 7 RINGS AROUND SATURN (7ISH, TOPCAT, EQUALITY, DESTROYER)
The final song, which, oddly, does not contain all of the members of The Vultures. The instrumental loop, admittedly, gets a bit boring after a while, but the rhymes all hit their mark. As good a way to end an album as any, I guess.
THE LAST WORD: 7 Rings Of Saturn is not the first album by The Vultures, but it's still commendable that the crew sounds fully realized on here. Ruler Why's production is mostly moody and effective, and everybody involved shows a capacity of ripping shit in a most glorious way. The disc is chock full of dark themes and pop culture references, almost as if the talking heads on VH-1 I Love The '80s marathons were also inclined to beat you to death with their scientific and religious texts. The Vultures not only fit right in to the current hip hop landscape, they have the potential to dominate, if provided the right platform. Fans of Jedi Mind Tricks and Sunz of Man will love 7 Rings Of Saturn, while everyone else that reads this write-up will find at least one track that will end up in shuffle rotation on their iPods (I would probably recommend “The Menace” if that description fits you).
As an added bonus, The Vultures actually want you to have their album for free, so you can instantly hear 7 Rings Of Saturn for yourself. Just click on the link below. This probably won't happen too often on Hip Hop Isn't Dead, so enjoy while you can. And be sure to leave your thoughts below.
In 2005, Sean "Puffy" Combs convinced the other executives at his record label, Bad Boy Records, that releasing a second posthumous Biggie Smalls album, one padded with guest appearances, newfangled production techniques, and recycled verses, would somehow make them some extra Christmas spending cash. What started as a heated board meeting quickly turned into a wrestling match, with Harve "Joe Hooker" Pierre knocked unconscious and rapper G-Dep forced to hold the chair that Puff Daddy had broken over the man's head. Then, everybody in the room decided an impromptu vacation was in order, and they were next seen a few hours later, knocking back drinks at the Gallagher's inside the New York New York in Las Vegas. (All I can say is, that pizza place right outside of Gallagher's is fucking amazing.) And, somehow, Duets: The Final Chapter was born.
Obviously, The Notorious B.I.G. had been dead for several years at this point, and unlike his afterlife golf buddy Tupac Shakur, Biggie didn't have several closets full of unreleased material. His first posthumous disc, Born Again, pretty much used up most of his rare verses, setting them against ineffective instrumentals and alongside guests that Biggie never got a chance to work with in his lifetime, such as Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, and, um, Lil' Wayne. So Puffy had the bright idea of taking some of his older songs (the ones that people actually liked) and, pulling one verse from hither and another from dither, created Frankensongs from the ether, coercing established artists (and employees at his label) to provide guest spots at very nominal fees, lest those blackmail photographs of Jay-Z, T.I., and Eminem at the last Republican National Convention leak to the liberal press.
Duets: The Final Chapter was marketed as the final "tribute" album to Biggie Smalls, news which caused the general public to collectively wipe the sweat from their brows. It sold moderately well (although its first week sales were eclipsed by those of Jamie Foxx and a Teletubbies exercise video), but was trashed in the press. I also don't know anybody who both (a) loves and appreciates music and (b) owns this stupid fucking album.
Except for...
1. B.I.G. LIVE IN JAMAICA (INTRO) I actually shouted at my computer, telling this intro to hurry the fuck up and introduce Biggie already. That's how annoying this shit is. Which is never a good sign.
2. IT HAS BEEN SAID (FEAT EMINEM, OBIE TRICE, & DIDDY) Kind of ironic that Eminem would trash-talk those who piggyback off of 2Pac and Biggie's respective legacies. Two of the main offenders, Sean Combs and Marshall himself, appear on this very track. Coincidence? This also isn't much of a “duet”, as Biggie only provides ad libs from either the grave or from an entirely different song, making this a boring-ass tribute song. Obie, Eminem's former employee, at least tries to display some sort of authentic feeling, even though the chances that Biggie would have worked with him in real life are pretty fucking slim (no pun intended).
3. SPIT YOUR GAME (FEAT TWISTA & KRAYZIE BONE) The original “Notorious Thugs”, featuring Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, didn't deserve to be raped and pillaged to this degree. Swizz Beats should be dragged out into the street and beaten in front of his mother for creating this bullshit. Twista's verse would have sounded better if it were included on a different project altogether, and although Krayzie Bone, who appeared on the original, was game enough to cash a check for this track, this song is so frustrating that it will make you want to slit the throat and wrists of hip hop. True fact. (Apparently there's also a remix to this godawful track that tacks on then-new Bad Boy Records labelmates Eightball & MJG at the end, and they didn't get the speed-rap memo, as they spit in the same Southern drawl that won them fans, earning them a shitload of criticism. Not from me, though: I don't give enough of a fuck to locate that version of the song.)
4. WHATCHU WANT (FEAT JAY-Z) Contains some Biggie verses that only diehards would be familiar with, so that's a plus. Danja, a producer who's been programming Timbaland's beats for the past few years, creates an instrumental that actually works for today's audience. The song falls the fuck apart once Shawn Carter takes to the mic, though, which is strange, since Jay-Z actually worked alongside Biggie many times throughout his career. Maybe he hadn't yet gotten his groove back. (You see, just because I'm a Jay-Z stan doesn't mean the guy gets a free pass.)
5. GET YOUR GRIND ON (FEAT BIG PUNISHER, FREEWAY, & FAT JOE) All kinds of morbid, as Biggie had already passed when Pun hit it big. So all this track is missing is cameos from 2Pac, Freaky Tah, Big L, Eazy-E, and every other dead rapper ever. I was buying this remake of “You're Nobody (Till Somebody Kills You)” until Freeway's chorus screeched in my ears, summoning up evil spirits outside of my house, and now I'm afraid to leave. And I have to buy fucking groceries, Beardy! How fucking inconsiderate!
6. LIVING THE LIFE (FEAT FAITH EVANS, CHERI DENIS, BOBBY VALENTINO, LUDACRIS, & SNOOP DOGG) Chris Bridges actually sounds the most comfortable of all of the rappers who have appeared so far on this project, and I'm including The Notorious B.I.G. himself in that assessment: since he's clearly spinning in his grave as we speak, I fear his arm may have gotten caught on a stray nail.
7. THE GREATEST RAPPER (INTERLUDE) Biggie's son, Christopher Wallace Jr., briefly reflects on his father being the greatest rapper ever. He obviously isn't familiar with some of the other players in this here hip hop game. And yes, I realize that the last sentence makes me come off as a dick.
8. 1970 SOMETHIN' (FEAT THE GAME & FAITH EVANS) The existence of this song means that The Game only has one more deceased artist to record a song “alongside” before he earns a free five dollar footlong.
9. NASTY GIRL (FEAT DIDDY, NELLY, JAGGED EDGE, & AVERY STORM) The original “Nasty Boy” (from Life After Death) was cheesy fun, but this remake strips away all of the elements that made the otherwise embarrassing predecessor work, rendering it, well, simply embarrassing. And this was released as a single why? Next!
10. LIVING IN PAIN (FEAT 2PAC, NAS, & MARY J. BLIGE) Yeah...pretty sure Pac wouldn't have signed off on this if the Bad Boy lawyers were somehow able to locate him in the Bahamas. This is a remake of a song that the two hip hop giants actually performed together, so it's slightly intriguing, but that's all. And Nas had issues with both Biggie and 2Pac: who the fuck let him into the building?
11. I'M WITH WHATEVA (FEAT JUELZ SANTANA, LIL' WAYNE, & JIM JONES) You see that guest list? I was predestined to hate this song, and in that respect, it does not disappoint. However, I will concede that Weezy's line “if you don't love yourself, I'll show you your heart” was kind of interesting. But yeah, this song is useless, and Biggie doesn't appear on here, either: I don't even remember hearing a single ad lib. Even from beyond the grave, Biggie apparently has taste.
12. BEEF (FEAT MOBB DEEP) While it's touching that Prodigy (inadvertently) offers to take a bullet for the star attraction, this remake of “What's Beef” is entirely unnecessary. Go listen to the original (from Life After Death) instead.
13. MY DAD (INTERLUDE) Biggie's daughter T-yana also gets a chance to speak.
14. HUSTLER'S STORY (FEAT AKON, SCARFACE, & BIG GEE) Credit where credit is due: the beat sounds like something that Biggie would have actually spit to, so kudos. (Not sure why it took four goddamn people to come up with it, though.) His verse (from "You'll See, a mixtape track also featuring The Lox) even has an effortless way about it. But once Akon starts singing and Big Gee from Bad Boy weed carriers Boyz N Da Hood (really, Puffy? A guy with that name? From your own marketing department? What the fuck?) begins to make me want to give up writing a hip hop blog and take up underwater basket weaving instead, this Titanic hits a fucking iceberg, and the band plays on. Scarface manages to right the ship, but it's too late: Leo has already drowned.
15. BREAKIN' OLD HABITS (FEAT T.I. & SLIM THUG) Would Biggie have rhymed alongside the likes of Slim Thug and T.I. If he were still alive? In the case of T.I., probably, since that guy has, like, eighty songs on the radio right now. But I'd like to believe that he would have flat out refused to spit to a garbage beat such as the one presented here.
16. ULTIMATE RUSH (FEAT MISSY ELIOTT) Missy compares her loving to the sensation of “eating pussy with some pork in it”. That will be more than enough reason for most readers to skip to the next song, but for the masochists out there: the song somehow manages to get even worse.
17. MI CASA (FEAT R. KELLY & CHARLIE WILSON) Meh.
18. LITTLE HOMIE (INTERLUDE) If all of you motherfuckers respect Biggie's legacy so goddamn much, then why would you allow Puff Daddy to dismiss his work with such reckless abandon? Huh?
19. HOLD YOUR HEAD (FEAT BOB MARLEY) One of my most favoritest Biggie tracks ever is “Suicidal Thoughts”. That one-verse wonder is chopped the fuck up in order to insert a Bob Marley vocal sample throughout, which serves as the hook. Also entirely unnecessary, but at least the idea of a “duet” between Biggie and Bob Marley is kind of interesting. If Duets: The Final Chapter did more of this kind of thing, this album could have worked. For those of you two that are interested in that sort of thing, there's the Blue Eyes Meets Bed-Stuy mixtape which pairs up Biggie verses with Frank Sinatra songs: that mixtape is readily available on the Interweb.
20. JUST A MEMORY (FEAT CLIPSE) Unless they're jacking more well-known beats, I'm not a fan of hearing the Clipse perform over non-Neptunes beats. Sadly, the brothers Thornton sound as if they would have fit perfectly with the Notorious one, had he lived. Sigh.
21. WAKE UP NOW (FEAT KORN) The Notorious B.I.G. And Korn? Was Korn even popular when Duets: The Final Chapter was released? With this, Puffy has officially sullied the name of Biggie Smalls. (I suppose it could have been worse, though: it could have been Limp Bizkit. But this bullshit still stinks.)
22. LOVE IS EVERLASTING (OUTRO) Biggie's mother, who also handled outro duties on Born Again, ends Duets: The Final Chapter on a high note. As well as anyone possibly could, anyway.
There are also a couple of bonus tracks that were found on a version of Duets: The Final Chapter that was sold at Target, but I don't have that version of the album. One of the two tracks featured Ja Rule, though, so I won't be going out of my way to listen to it. If you've had the honor of hearing them, leave your notes about them below.
FINAL THOUGHTS: I'll just say it right now: Duets: The Final Chapter is fucking horrible. It's concrete proof that Puff Daddy doesn't have the capacity to leave well enough alone. The beat selection is almost uniformly terrible, the guests involved seem generally confused as to whether they're supposed to pay homage to Biggie or actively pretend that they're recording a song with the man, and the mixing and matching of Biggie's verses actually creates even less coherence than Born Again contained. One of the biggest criticisms of Born Again was that Puffy filled the disc with guest spots from artists whom Biggie would never have worked with in his lifetime, and on Duets: The Final Chapter, he hasn't learned his lesson, as the cameos are even more questionable, especially the ones from within the Bad Boy roster. I hope that karma comes back and kicks the shit out of Sean Combs for making it very difficult to revisit Biggie's two actual albums without my memories of this garbage.
William Paul Mitchell, the producer-slash-rapper known as Large Professor and not the guy who banks off of massive sales of hair care products, is known as one of the best hip hop producers of all time. He co-founded Main Source, a rap group that lasted for exactly the length of two albums (only one of which LP had anything to do with), has produced many classic tracks (including one sort of famous one in which he helps introduce some no-name rapper named Nasir Jones to the world), and infamously pleaded with his fans to buy his solo album The LP when he dropped it (during his guest spot on A Tribe Called Quest's "Keep It Rollin'"). The LP was recorded, mastered, and ready to distribute in 1996, but his label, Geffen Records, suffered from label woes so severe that they called the whole thing off.
Large Pro eventually signed with another label, Matador Records, and recorded a brand new album, 1st Class, in 2002. Sadly, Queens did not represent, and nobody bought the album when he dropped it, even though he had purchased the masters of The LP back from Geffen and burned the songs to promotional discs for each copy of 1st Class that was sold by HipHopSite.com.
The man has been through a lot.
Large Professor has been in the game for a couple of decades now, and even though commercial success has eluded him time and time again, all the man really wants to do is work. And what he does is make some hot fucking beats. He has been blessed with the ability to program instrumentals that sound like soundtracks to hip hop space travel, and has garnered many connections within the industry to make almost anybody sound good over them. He is even available to deejay parties, people! What more do you want?
Clearly, this intro is supposed to lead to something.
1. INTRO W.P. spits one verse over a beat that just sounds good. His rhymes are okay to decent, but the man has never been known as a rapper first.
2. 'BOUT THAT TIME This beat fucking rocks. LP also sounds refreshed, as if he woke up from a four-year catnap. This track, unfortunately, boosts your hopes up for the rest of 1st Class. Just try to enjoy it for what it is.
3. ULTIMATE The music actually sounds like it would have been better suited to a skit or an interlude. I realize that's a bizarre critique, but at least it's honest. Lyrically, LP sounds decent on here, and, thankfully, the track is relatively short.
4. BRAND NEW SOUND It's goofy to hear LP call out “motherfuckers”, if only because it sounds kind of forced. But his instrumental sounds rushed and incomplete, which doesn't really help matters.
5. STAY CHISEL (FEAT NAS) The reunion of Nasir Jones and Large Professor is surprisingly uninteresting. Indeed, I found myself bored out of my fucking mind up until LP's last line, during which he dubs the track as “BBQ 2” (a reference to “Live At The Barbecue”, an early Main Source song on which Nas made his debut), with Extra P rhyming, once again, alongside Nas and...
6. AKINYELE (FEAT AKINYELE) One of the most appropriately-named hip hop songs in recent memory. Akinyele simply goes in on a nice, slightly spacey Large Pro instrumental. This shit is good enough for you to wish that Ak would put the squeegee down and get back to writing.
7. IN THE SUN (FEAT Q-TIP) Regardless of the participation of Q-Tip, I was nonplussed by this track, which wasn't actually produced by LP, but rather by Xplicit. Whenever you have to strain your ears to locate some semblance of melody, that's a sign that you may as well just skip the song. Which is a shame, as I very much liked Extra P's contribution on A Tribe Called Quest's “Keep It Rollin'”.
8. BORN TO BALL At least the beat manages to awaken the listener. This track would have worked better as a collaboration with other hip hop heavyweights, but then we wouldn't have been blessed with LP's final verse, where he strings together the titles of songs he either released or produced during his long and storied career. Groan.
9. KOOL This track wasn't that bad, nonexistent “hook” notwithstanding. I chuckled when LP addresses the hip hop game's “fake 2Pacs” as “fake Gilda Radners”. Can't say I saw that correlation coming.
10. THE MAN After trying to fake out listeners, Extra P reuses the same vocal sample that he utilized when he produces “You're The Man” for Nas, a fact that he sort of cops to at the beginning of his third verse. (I wouldn't be surprised if this version of the beat was the original, which was then tweaked for Nasir.) The beat could pull back on the drums a bit (they threaten to take over Large Professor's world), but otherwise, this shit is pretty entertaining.
11. LARGE PRO I wasn't sure that Large Professor had the balls to title one of his songs after himself, but clearly I was mistaken. The beat is much more energetic than most of what's appeared so far, but I'm actually left wishing for more collaborators, even though, given the title of this track, I'm not sure that they would make any sense.
12. ALIVE IN STEREO The title itself is unabashedly awesome. The song, well, not so much. And I'm not just saying that because LP's repetition of the phrases “No question!” and “Word!” taint the hook.
13. BLAZE RHYMES II I liked the beat, but the lyrics left a lot to be desired, especially the “hook”, which I'm almost positive took Large Pro over four months to write. Also, the title implies that this is a sequel to a song called “Blaze Rhymes”, which is just confusing for all parties involved.
14. ON (FEAT BUSTA RHYMES) I quite liked this one. The beat is much more low-key than what you would expect Busta Rhymes to spit over, but he works it to his advantage. You probably won't bump this shit in your car or anything, but it's enjoyable to listen to.
15. HIP HOP Extra P should either take a correspondence course in how to write a chorus, or he should abandon that idea and just let the rhymes hit the beat uninhibited. That said, this song is really good. The beat (usurped for “Star Wars”, a Nas song that appeared on the ten-year rerelease of Illmatic) will probably be familiar to most folks that read this blog, but even though Nasir did a better job with it (I would certainly hope he did), LP is no slouch.
16. RADIOACTIVE This beat is at least forty-three types of awesome. I can understand why LP opted to keep it for himself, but I seriously think that this could have been a pretty sizeable hit for somebody else, had he been willing to sell it. (Instead, he released this as a single, and my understanding is that it was a just-below-minor hit.) The title is a bit corny, but otherwise I loved this shit. This is how you should end an album, people! The brief instrumental that follows pales in comparison to this one.
FINAL THOUGHTS: 1st Class is a mixed bag. Although he is a veteran in the hip hop game for a damn good reason, Large Professor has never been anybody's cup of teal lyrically, and hearing him perform throughout the entire album (save for “Akinyele”) is laughable in spots. Behind the boards is where the man truly shines, and on 1st Class he doesn't disappoint, crafting extraterrestrial soundscapes (at least for the three-fourths of the album he handles himself) with enough of that New York boom bap to help bring you back down to Earth. I personally think that this project would have been more effective as a Pete Rock Soul Survivor thing, with multiple guests on nearly every song, but I'm sure that's just everyone.
BUY OR BURN? It depends. If you're like me and have a fond appreciation of instrumentals, then pick this one up. If you're from the Ras Kass “lyrics are all that matter” school, then I'm not even sure that you should bother burning this one, as you're destined to be disappointed.
BEST TRACKS: “Radioactive”; “Akinyele”; “Hip Hop”; “'Bout That Time”; “On”
BONUS SOMEWHAT RELATED VIDEO:
"The Mad Scientist", from the never-officially-released The LP:
Street Level is the second album (and first full-length effort) from the three-man collective known as The Beatnuts. It's also sometimes referred to simply as The Beatnuts, because the actual phrase "street level" is printed in a font much tinier than the artist's name, making it appear as though it was an afterthought or a special promotional stamp intended to differentiate this version of the album from those labeled "air level" and "ninth circle of Hell level".
Juju, Psycho Les, and Kool Fashion (and occasional Beatnut The Mighty V.I.C.) headed into this project with the same motivation and fervor that marked their previous release (the word "hedonistic" is used repeatedly to describe the work of the crew on Wikipedia). This resulted in a slightly more successful turn on the charts for The Beatnuts: Street Level actually managed to break through the Billboard 200, even though nobody in mainstream America could name the singles that were released. After Street Level, Kool Fashion ended up leaving the crew, changing his rap moniker to Al Tariq and embarking a solo career. Juju and Psycho Les still do business as The Beatnuts to this very day.
I've always considered The Beatnuts as the East Coast answer to Tha Alkaholiks, two rap crews who try to have fun with their work, preferring a party lifestyle filled with drinking, drugs, and women, instead of mundane day-to-day life. Juju and Psycho Les, however, are both producers, for themselves and other people, whereas E-Swift is the only producer out of Tha Liks. The Beatnuts are also more likely to fuck you up if you ruin their day, whereas Tha Liks are usually too stoned and drunk to bother with the violent acts: somehow, their inebriation helps refine their lyricism, though, as both J-Ro and (especially) Tash are capable of ripping shit alongside the best that ever did it. And Q-Tip (of A Tribe Called Quest) is down with both groups. So why is it that the former Everyday Street Poets (the original name of Tha Liks) have never seen fit to collaborate with their New York brethren, the Beat Kings of yore? (I read that Beat Kings was the crew's original name, but they were rechristened as "Beatnuts" by the Jungle Brothers because, while they were truly awesome at digging in the crates for ideas, the three members of the crew were fucking crazy.)
1. INTRO I wasn't impressed with this mostly instrumental intro.
2. YA DON'T STOP Although the “hook” (really just a few vocal samples) sounds incomplete, this song is still pretty fun. The lyrics don't really go much father than “I like to fuck, drink beer, and smoke some shit, and if you get in my way, I'll kill you, or at least throw my crumpled-up Taco Bell wrapper at you” (except a tad bit more charming than that), so consider yourself forewarned.
3. PROPS OVER HERE The first in a two-part series stressing the importance of “getting props” for your hard work and dedication. The instrumental is simple, and it engages the listener to such a degree that you won't actually mind that Fashion is the only rapper on here that sounds like me may actually have a future in the craft.
4. HELLRAISER Somehow the energy level manages to rise to even higher, um, heights (until the end of this track, in which a smooth instrumental abruptly appears and plays out until the next song starts). The hook is grade school horseshit, and it even gets repeated as part of a verse at one point (I guess the Beatnuts needed to fill some dead air), but the song as a whole isn't that bad.
5. ARE YOU READY (FEAT GRAND PUBA & DJ SINISTER) I liked this track, but nothing really stood out to me. Which is odd, considering the guests involved.
6. SUPERBAD (FEAT DJ SINISTER) Not a terrible song (far from it), but the title alone made me want to watch the Michael Cera – Jonah Hill Superbad. You know, the intentionally funny use of that title.
7. STRAIGHT JACKET I found this to be boring as shit. Folks don't usually look to the Beatnuts for subdued production. The Ol' Dirty Bastard vocal sample was a decent touch, but it doesn't tip the scales one way or another.
8. LET OFF A COUPLE Short and sweet, although Juju's verse ends abruptly, right when you're getting into it.
9. RIK'S JOINT (FEAT MISS JONES) I thought the female vocals were a nice touch. However, I still didn't like this crap, so the crew's love for their many fans is rendered moot by a pointless track.
10. FRIED CHICKEN (FEAT V.I.C.) At first, the blunted beat recalls some early DJ Muggs-type shit, and the three rappers rhyme about a bunch of nothing, albeit commendably (Fashion and Juju especially). Then you realize that the beat remains stagnant for the full length of the song, and it drives you fucking nuts. Although if I were stoned right now, I probably would crave some actual fried chicken, so that's cool.
11. YEAH YOU GET PROPS Part 2 of a two-part series describing the historical significance of “getting props” and retaining said props. You'll probably want to skip this and, instead, watch that months-old last season finale of Entourage that you've been putting off because all of last season was entirely underwhelming. Or maybe that's just me.
12. GET FUNKY Welcome back to the world of entertainment, fellas. The Beatnuts give up on there needless quest to “get props” and decide to create a song that is wholly satisfying, which, coincidentally, earns them props anyway. Who knew that was how that worked?
13. HIT ME WITH THAT Of the two members of the crew that remain, I've always regarded Juju as the more talented (okay, that may be pushing it...let's just say, consistent) behind the mic, and this song may be one of the reasons why. This track would rock even without the Method Man sample in the hook: this is just pure, unadulterated hip hop especially for fans of our chosen genre.
14. 2-3 BREAK (FEAT GAB) The idea of this song is pretty fucking awesome. The individual members of the crew all rhyme to their own beat. However, Gab jumps onto Juju's verse, and Psycho Les threatens to crash this car into an oncoming train with his terrible lyrics. Well, at least the thought was admirable. (And yes, I realize that nobody buys Beatnuts albums for the lyricism, but do you remember my comments about Ras Kass and his hot lyrics but poor production, and how that combination does not make for a good product? It works both ways.)
15. LICK THE PUSSY For a sex rap, this is about as boring as how Paris Hilton looked in her sex tape. Do people really find the idea of banging a blond chick who shows no interest whatsoever in the events transpiring in or around her mouth even remotely sexy? Clearly they do, because her praying mantis-looking ass is still making money. Sigh.
16. SANDWICHES A really good beat punctuates this corny (but good) one-verse wonder from Psycho Les. I knew he had it in him.
17. PSYCHO DWARF Ending your album with one of the better tracks from your debut EP is pretty cool, if you even have a debut EP to draw from. Even if it does end with a loud burp.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Street Level is a mixed bag. The Beatnuts manage to capture lightning in a bottle only a handful of times, with a perfect marriage of (usually inane, admittedly) rhymes and sample-laden blunted instrumentals. The problem I have with Street Level is that most of it sounds boring as shit today. This album won't garner the crew any new fans, and it certainly won't help retain the few that picked up the Intoxicated Demons EP. I respect the fact that this disc was made to satisfy the needs of Juju, Psycho Les, and Fashion, but the fact that it won't appeal to anybody else is a concern. The Beatnuts have much more potential than this.
BUY OR BURN? Burn this shit. If you ignore the lyrics of Juju and (especially) Psycho Les (Kool Fashion is actually pretty damn good) and treat this as an instrumental effort, you'll still find it as dull as a doorknob, but at least it will be a brightly-painted doorknob.
BEST TRACKS: “Get Funky”; “Hit Me With That”; “Ya Don't Stop”
A lot of folks may interpret Tarik Azzogaurh's story as a tale of a stalker who followed his dreams. Tarik, who is of Morroccan descent, by way of the Netherlands, essentially wore down Wu-Tang Clan ringleader The Rza with letters, demo tapes, and unexpected appearances at the Clan's offices in New York. The man even tracked down some of Rza's relatives in an effort to get his point across. But somehow, this story doesn't end with an arrest and charges being filed: instead, we get to read Max's write-up for Cilvaringz's debut album, I, an album which allegedly took the man ten years to create (I'm not personally buying that, but I provide that information in the interest of thoroughness).
Cilvaringz, as Tarik prefers to go by, was the first European artist to be invited into the Wu-affiliate fold, and according to some sites, he has also been positioned as the tenth member of the Clan. (Which explains why Redman keeps referring to himself as the "eleventh".) It's still unknown exactly what the man's status within the crew is, but here's what I got: Cilvaringz is a rapper-slash-producer, one that has shown some talent with his instrumental disc The Mental Chambers, which I'm sure most Wu stans already have a copy of. He has a few friends outside the United States who are now also Wu-affiliated, but this write-up isn't about them. Like most Wu stans, Cilva longed for the days when a Wu-Tang Clan album sounded grimy, gritty, and unlike anything you would ever hear on the radio. A purist at heart, he elected to use the older nicknames of some of his guests on I. The reason Max isn't sure about the man's place in the Wu world order is because he doesn't appear anywhere on 8 Diagrams.
The Rza was impressed enough by the man's work, his work ethic, his lyrical content (informed by his religious beliefs, in addition to the usual "Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuthin' to fuck with" schtick) and his persistence, and as such, Cilvaringz was awarded with a record deal. Cilva immediately closed the studio to anybody that wasn't a Wu-Element in some fashion, attempting to win some fan love by taking it back to the basics. Although I failed to move many units in the United States (possibly for a very big reason, which I will get to below), Cilvaringz has won the trust and loyalty of many Wu followers, and is hard at work recording his sophomore effort.
So, did everyone look past I for a reason, or is it a diamond in the rough?
1. POISON RING CHAMBER (INTRO) Of course Cilvaringz would begin his solo debut album with a sample from a kung-fu flick. All of the references to the Abbott (a nickname The Rza adopted for himself a long time ago) only add to my theory that Cilva is/was a crazed Wu stalker that snuck into the Wu Mansion and hid in a closet for days without food or water while masturbating furiously to Wu-Tang Clan liner notes, though.
2. WU-TANG MARTIAL EXPERT (FEAT PRINCE RAKEEM "THE RZA") Don't get too excited: The Rza only shouts some ad-libs in the middle of the track, but the album credits (and yes, that's how he is credited) lead you to believe that he spits a verse, so they served their purpose. Cilva's flow comes off as a combination of Contribution X and RA The Rugged Man, and he drops more names on here than The Game, but the song does actually sound like the type of thing Wu-Tang stans like myself have been missing, so I have to say: nice work.
3. THE WEEPING TIGER (FEAT SHALLAH RAEKWON, GHOSTFACE KILLAH, & PRINCE RAKEEM "THE RZA") Cool title, but the credits are misleading (this is a recurring theme, by the way). Ghostface and The Rza don't rhyme on here: they seem to have been inserted after the tail was pinned on this donkey. Cilva and Raekwon are the only two on here that spit verses, and Rae sounds surprisingly alert, decimating the verbal attempts of his host: maybe those clinical sleep trials he had been attending have produced decent results (at least, until he recorded his verse for Blackout! 2). Sadly, this track as a whole just doesn't sound very good. Oh well.
4. SHEHEREZAD, MY BELOVED (THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER TOLD – CHAPTER 1) You see, it's easy to tell that Cilvaringz is a Wu-Tang stan (albeit one who managed to get a record deal) because he begins his first verse by repeating some older Method Man lyrics, bending them to his will. The title is too long for its own good (it's approaching Fallout Boy-levels of ridiculousness), but the song itself isn't bad: some of it is awfully sweet. Take note of the fact that it isn't listed below under “Best Tracks”, though.
5. “D---H TO AMERICA” You're motherfucking right I'm censoring the title of this track, also known as “the main reason I wasn't really marketed in the United States”; I'm not looking for any issues with Homeland Security. Cilva oversimplifies the issue a bit, but it is very interesting to hear a completely different point of view, one which most of the anti-war protestors would have adopted, had they listened to this spoken-word track first. Listen at your own risk: America is still a free country, after all. By the way, Cilvaringz does not actually condone the title threat, which is why he put it between quotation marks. Feel better?
6. IN THE NAME OF ALLAH (FEAT PRINCE RAKEEM "THE RZA", METHOD MAN, MASTA KILLA, SCIENTIFIC SHABAZZ, & KILLAH PRIEST) An interesting take on what used to be a Wu solo album prerequisite: the posse cut. (There are too many projects these days on which the Wu-Tang Clan seems to have forgotten that the fans they have left look forward to collaborations like this.) Method Man only drops the intro, and Masta Killa's verse treads that fine line between preachy and annoying (as most of his verses tend to do, admittedly), but as a whole, this song isn't bad. Killah Priest, especially, turns in the best performance I've heard from him in a long while. (Scientific) Shabazz the Disciple only briefly appears, but it's still pretty cool to hear Method Man say his name, essentially acknowledging the man's existence. Bobby Digital is, well, you've heard Birth of A Prince already. (Or maybe you haven't.) The song is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long, though.
7. JEWELS (FEAT GZA/GENIUS) Hearing this a little more than four months removed from the Bush administration, I'm shocked, appalled, and embarrassed that a man that inarticulate was once the leader of the free world. However, I'm supposed to talk about the song, so let me do that. Cilva's verse is decent (I never said the dude was without skill behind the mic), and the Gza (who should have been credited as only "The Genius", in order to fit in with the rest of Cilva's theme) sounds as good as always, but they both perform over different beats: I'm still not fully convinced that the men ever shared studio time, or that Gza/Genius is even aware of his inadvertent contribution to I. Otherwise, the track is alright, I suppose.
8. BROTHERS AIN'T BROTHERS Cilva acknowledges the fact that he seems to say The Rza's name in all of his songs, all while explaining to the Wu stans exactly how he (either officially or unofficially, it's hard to tell with the Clan, as they don't hold press conferences or anything) became the tenth member of the Wu-Tang Clan. The Bronze Nazareth beat is pretty engaging, except for the beatbox break near the middle, and having The Rza speak at the very end smacks of narcissism, but otherwise, this isn't bad.
9. BLAZING SADDLES (FEAT KILLARMY) This song is only two and a half minutes long, so there is no possible way it can include every single member of Killarmy, but that's how the song is credited, so whatever. Cilva's beat is pulsating in a “you would expect it to be used for a throwaway Ghostface Killah song” kind of way, and Killa Sin, Shogun Assassin, and Beretta 9 compensate for the environmental switchup by ripping the shit out of it. Not bad at all.
10. CARAVANSERAI – CHAPTER 1 (FEAT SHALLAH RAEKWON) This is just a skit, and it's unnecessary, as most hip hop skits tend to be.
11. DAMASCUS Sounds decent enough, but I found my mind wandering at an alarming pace during Cilva's quasi-religious babble over some True Master production that should have hit harder.
12. CARAVANSERAI – CHAPTER II (FEAT SHALLAH RAEKWON & SALAH EDIN) Refer to the comments from the other similarly-titled skit.
13. TWO MISSED CALLS (SKIT) A skit right after a skit? What the fuck? I'm not sure what Cilva was trying to prove by including alleged voicemails from the likes of Pharrell and Ne-Yo, but whatever it was, it ddn't take.
14. DART TOURNAMENT (FEAT KILLA SIN & BLUE RASPBERRY) Cilva's version of “Meth Vs. Chef” fails in its attempt to bring listeners a compelling Wu-sounding treat, mainly because his beat is too busy to follow coherently. Lyrically, though, Cilva and Killa Sin (who's always been the best rapper out of Killarmy and really deserves to be upgraded to a better group) put in work (Cilvaringz even manages to take a shot at Remedy, the resident Jewish member of the Wu-Tang Clan's extended family, which is weird, considering that the two connected for a song previously; I'm sure there's more to that beef, but I don't care enough to look it up). The inclusion of Blue Raspberry's vocals seem to be more about evoking nostalgia than anything else, though, since she sounds awful on here.
15. THE SAGA... Lyrically, Cilva is all over the map, hitting upon topics such as the importance of bling, how rap music sucks (save for a handful of artists that he names), and how he discovered the Wu to begin with, all while making damn sure he mentions The Rza's name yet again. His beat is rather interesting, though, so the package works as a whole.
16. FOREVER MICHAEL (WACKO TABLO) I love early Michael Jackson as much as the next guy (Thriller is the shit, and I still love “Smooth Criminal” from Bad, even though it constantly reminds me of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, the movie with the giant statue/robot thing of himself at the end), but this is still a questionable subject to write a rap song about (essentially defending an “alleged” child molester: what's next, an homage to “alleged” child rapist R. Kelly?), especially if you're part of the Wu-Tang extended family – and you definitely should not have wasted a Rza beat on this. I'll never listen to this shit again (although the man makes some fair points about MTV, a station he will never see any play on), and you'll probably skip this one too, so we'll move on.
17. ELEPHANT JUICE Features another potshot aimed at Remedy, alongside insults thrown at Britney Spears, George W. Bush, Madonna, Whitney Houston, and, curiously, Robert DeNiro. This is exactly the type of song that takes Cilvaringz from the Wu forefront and places him into the bargain bin alongside all of Dom Pachino's solo efforts, a few of the Hell Razah projects, and Bronze Nazareth's album.
18. DEAF, DUMB, & BLIND Meh. (Yeah, I said meh. It's just music, Cilva: if you're trying to get your message across, it would help if the undelrying 4th Disciple-produced music was actually good.)
19. WARRIORS & POETS (SKIT) …
20. VALENTINE DAY MASSACRE (FEAT 60 SECOND ASSASSIN, 9TH PRINCE, SCIENTIFIC SHABAZZ, & BLUE RASPBERRY) The hook (Blue Raspberry again) is completely useless, but otherwise, this long-promised track (which has come up off and on ever since Cilvaringz was first introduced on Wu-Tang Clan fan sites) lives up to its high expectations. This is actually a better Wu posse cut than “In The Name Of Allah” in terms of sheer energy level alone, even with all of the Wu benchwarmers on here. Even Killarmy's 9th Prince sounds pretty damn good, and that never happens.
21. POISON RING CHAMBER (OUTRO) (FEAT METHOD MAN) Couldn't convince Method Man to spit a verse on I, huh? Having him appear on the outro is a cool consolation prize, I suppose. (I'll admit it would be cool to have Meth on my album outro, if I were an actual rapper) He's worked alongside waaaay too many commercial artists to say no to Cilvaringz, though: maybe the money wasn't right?
FINAL THOUGHTS: Cilvaringz's I tries its best to sound like a Wu-Tang Clan album of olde, but as the man clearly has something he wants to say, it almost immediately veers off into B-Team territory. The disc is packed full of every thought Cilvaringz seems to have ever had on any subject ever, and as a result, runs too long. The most successful tracks recall why I became a Wu stan to begin with, but when stretched over twenty-one tracks, Cilvaringz and his number one fan schtick becomes old. Production-wise, I is mostly impressive, and the guests elevate each song they appear on (except for the bullshit cameos by Rza, Meth, and Ghost), but there's a good reason why I will never take off in the States.
BUY OR BURN? This album is for hardcore Wu stans only. If that describes you, you probably already burned a copy of this one anyway, but you should probably hunt down a physical copy. Cilvaringz gets too preachy for his britches often, not unlike Killah Priest on his many projects, but he has better production behind him. If you're not a Wu-Tang Clan fan, then I hope you enjoyed the writing, since you won't be picking this one up anyway. We'll see you next time.
BEST TRACKS: “Valentine Day Massacre”; “Wu-Tang Martial Expert”; “In The Name Of Allah”; “The Saga...”; “Blazing Saddles”
Allegedly, this is the mixtape that secured Jayceon Taylor two record deals: the first, with the help from West Coast stalwart JT The Bigga Figga (on his Get Low Recordz), and the second, much more high profile one, thanks to Andre Young and his Aftermath Entertainment, the former home of such promising acts such as Eve, King Tee (rechristened King T), Bishop Lamont (unconfirmed), and a young whippersnapper named Rakim Allah, who some have dubbed "the best emcee that ever did it" even though his Aftermath debut remains unreleased. So the man was in very good company. (This part of the story makes no sense when you realize that one of the interludes features The Game referencing a beef that his labelmates have, inferring that he was already signed to Aftermath at the time of this recording: I'm not writing the man's biography or anything, so I'm researching the best I can.)
The Game's backstory is that he taught himself to rap by studying some of the classics after being shot the fuck up in a drug deal turned sour. The man never aspired to become a rap artist: it's just something he decided to do one morning, in between his morning shit and selecting which kind of fruity cereal would mix well with the lactose-free milk he had purchased just the night before, while he was at the grocery store picking up some chicken drumsticks, malt liquor, an economy-size bottle of Aleve, some Newman's Own microwave popcorn, one egg, some store-brand Doritos knockoff, and a DVD copy of Air Bud, which, admittedly, only cost about three bucks at the register.
You Know What It Is Vol. 1 is presented by DJ Ray, who, to be honest, I'd never heard of before, and have never heard from since, due to the fact that The Game's career took the fuck off after this mixtape (and his debut on Get Low Recordz, Untold Story) dropped in 2002, and he aligned himself with his friends in the Black Wall Street crew, a merry band of weed carriers he created for himself, and deejay-slash-producer Nu Jerzey Devil, who would go on to assist with the rest of The Game's many mixtapes. You Know What It Is Vol. 1 (which is a risky title: what if nobody gave a damn about the guy after listening to it?) launched a series for Jayceon, which increasingly became about asserting his dominance over Curtis Jackson and the G-Unit, but we'll get to that when we get to that.
(Side note: my tracklisting, which I've taken straight from iTunes after uploading the disc onto my computer, appears to be different than what some websites are posting, but it's simply the titles themselves that are switched: the songs all appear in the same order.)
1. STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON It takes too long for Game to start actually rapping, but his passion is contagious enough. Of course, having one of Dr. Dre's best compositions playing underneath you can help matters tremendously.
2. JACKIN' FOR BEATS (FEAT FABOLOUS) I found myself more impressed with Fabo than with The Game, especially after Fabo references Dick Gregory in his second verse. (For the record, I actually don't hate Fabolous behind the mic. I just wish he would pick harder beats to spit to, but he aims to get all of his songs on the radio, so concessions must be made.) The beats that were jacked just sound lackluster when removed from their original context, though.
3. 1 NIGHT STAND (FEAT E-40) I'm not familiar with the original, Game-less version of this track (if one actually exists: the creators of this tape do go out of their way to announce that this is a "remix", though), but while this isn't the type of beat I would expect to hear E-40 on, the song itself isn't bad. It's not rocket science, but it's decent enough.
4. DON'T MAKE ME KLAP I hated hatedhated Busta Rhymes when he released his garbage “Make It Clap” single, so you can imagine how I feel about Game jacking this particular beat.
5. 100 BARS AND RUNNIN' The first of many hip hop marathons run by The Game, this one over a slightly altered instrumental from Jay-Z's “(Always Be My) Sunshine”. Truthfully, it's more impressive that Jayceon was able to string together one hundred bars without repeating entire sentences, than it is that the song exists in the first place.
7. .40 CAL I actually really like this freestyle over Snoop Dogg, C-Murder, and Magic's “Down 4 My N----z” beat: to me, this sounds better that the original song, thanks especially to the references to The Last Dragon at the end. There's a version of this freestyle that doesn't use bullshit sound effects over crucial lyrics, though (and yes, I realize I just used the term “crucial lyrics” while referring to a Game song): you should try to find that one on the Interweb, but it goes by a few different titles, so good luck.
8. .44 MAG The beat for Baby's/Birdman's “What Happened To That Boy” (produced by The Neptunes) has been described as “sinister” and “creepy”, and I can accept those descriptions. Game sounds decent over this, so of course he would never actually utilize an original Neptunes beat of his own for his actual albums. (My theory is that Pharrell and Chad are priced out of his league, even though those two haven't have a huge hit in, what, five years?)
9. INTERVIEW (PT 2) Actual real-life journalists should be offended by the bullshit “reporter” that is conducting the bullshit “interview”.
10. WHO SHOT ME? Game's wholesale theft of the Notorious B.I.G.'s “Who Shot Ya?” takes too long to get started, mostly because the gimmick involved (Game's allegedly rapping on a pay phone while locked up) needs to be introduced, lest folks get confused by the fact that Game was just sitting down for an “interview” one track prior. Because of this, his vocals are in a lower register than usual, making it really easy to ignore the lyrics and just listen to the classic beat.
11. STREET ANTHEM (FEAT CAM'RON & JUELZ SANTANA) As a rule, I'm not a fan of Dip Set, or the Diplomats, or whatever the fuck you want to call them today. I used to think that Killa Cam was alright (I ran out to buy his Confessions of Fire the day it dropped, I'll admit), but he isn't very good on here. Juelz Santana and Jim Jones (who doesn't actually appear on the track but warrants a mention, since he is Dip Set and all) don't impress me at all, though, and Jimmy's tendency to constantly ad-lib behind his lyrics always makes him sound like he's his own hypeman, which just makes him come off as insecure. Anyway, the bastardizing of Scarface's first lines from the Geto Boys classic “My Mind's Playin' Tricks On Me” should earn all of the rappers involved a fucking beatdown in front of their respective children.
12. INTERVIEW (PT. 3) Wow, Game was overconfident and cocky right from the start. It is interesting that he basically states on here that he doesn't care about the artists firing shots at his labelmates: shouldn't that have been Curtis Jackson's first clue that the G-Unit partnership might not work?
13. CAN'T UNDERSTAND If I were Raekwon, and I found out that my beat for the classic “Ice Cream” was reappropriated by some no-name (at the time) rapper called The Game, who proceeded to do a really shitty job with it, I would have some words with him, with the aid of a baseball bat. But I'm not Raekwon, so it makes complete sense that Rae would eventually make a guest appearance on Game's L.A.X. I guess cooler heads prevailed. That, or the Chef has never actually heard this track.
14. SHERM STICK Can you imagine how much shittier Curtis Jackson's Get Rich or Die Tryin' would have sounded if his collaboration with Lil' Kim, “Magic Stick”, actually made the album as promised, instead of being used for Kim's album? God, that song was embarrassing. As is this shit.
15. HOW U WANT THAT (FEAT LOON) Kelis appears on the hook, but for some reason, didn't warrant a credit on the mixtape. Loon's original song, if I recall, didn't do that well on the radio anyway (maybe I'm just not in the right part of the country), so I found it strange that Game was willing attach himself to such a suck-ass song.
16. OUTRO This is just the deejay sending shout-outs to all of his friends. Nothing to see here.
SHOULD YOU TRACK IT DOWN? I wouldn't,but it depends on your personal taste. You Know What It Is Vol. 1 was released prior to Game's Aftermath debut The Documentary, so he comes off as a rapper that had something to prove, as opposed to all of his subsequent mixtapes, which were mostly centered around beefs he accumulated after he became successful. His name-dropping gene is still present even on this early project, but otherwise, Game comes off as a halfway decent gangsta rapper who, with some tweaking, could be really good, but I wasn't impressed with his subject matter (not unlike Seinfeld, Game raps about absolutely nothing on here) and most of the beats either made me feel apathetic or angry (there was no reason for Game to jack Biggie or Raekwon except to prove that he was aware of the existence of those superior tracks). I don't recommend this to anybody besides Game obsessives.
I loathe the fact that the Jurassic 5 are considered to be an "alternative" rap group simply because they don't rhyme about drugs, violence, or bitches. Anyway, Quality Control, the second album (and first major label effort) from the combined talents of rappers Chali 2na, Zaakir, Akil, and Marc 7, and producers-slash-deejays Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark, hit store shelves in the summer of 2000 amidst a barrage or attempts to get the crew airplay. I remember seeing the video for the title track on a regular basis all over MTV (I think it was considered "buzzworthy" or something), and the Jurassic 5 even managed to get some play on my local radio station, which today would never happen, as they are awash in a wave of crappy Soulja Boy songs.
My wife actually picked this up for me at a Best Buy for six bucks (I suppose that was Interscope Record's way of promoting Quality Control: cheap enough to become an impulse purchase, like a pack of gum or the National Enquirer). I played this fucker from start to finish for at least a month: I thought it was that good. But then, inexplicably, I threw it into one of my boxes and hadn't come across it again (until today, anyway). I'm still not sure why. I once believed that I was subconsciously disappointed in the fact that the Jurassic 5 weren't able to fulfill all of their commitments on the Vans Warped Tour that year because of the bus crash that left Chali 2na with a metal plate in his head, but that's a truly fucked up and selfish reason (but at least I'm being honest with myself). I'm sure the true story is that I moved on to another disc, as I am apt to do.
I heard somewhere that Quality Control managed to move over five hundred thousand copies worldwide. If that's true, kudos to the late group, who broke up a couple of years ago and have yet to produce any output of substance (except for Chali 2na, who appeared on Prince Paul's Dino 5 project, which everybody reading this should run out and purchase right now.)
1. HOW WE GET ALONG A passable rap album intro, since someone had to actually dig to find those dialogue samples.
2. INFLUENCE The first song on Quality Control is just a fun listen, an atmosphere that the rappers do nothing but contribute to. This ends up being a pretty good foreshadowing of the rest of the album.
3. GREAT EXPECTATIONS I was worried about the sound at first, thanks to the weird samples utilized, but once the beat actually kicked in, everything was all good. Other than the occasional cursing, this is some shit that you can blast at home without your parents getting upset, except at the bass and the BPMs. Unlike Hip Hop Isn't Dead itself, which is all cursing and BPMs.
4. QUALITY CONTROL (INTRO) A relatively short interlude that sets up the next track.
5. QUALITY CONTROL The lead-off single, which sounds good enough to warrant its selection as the only song positioned to sell the album, but unorthodox enough to establish that Jurassic 5 are unlike most of the other rappers in California, in that they're not talking about killing anybody. This song was where I first heard Chali 2na's distinctive voice.
6. CONTACT Not an actual rap song, but a deejay cut, which, while it is pleasant to listen to, is short enough to not distract attention away from the rest of the Jurassic 5.
7. LAUSD Jurassic 5's ode to Los Angeles, in which they essentially state that it's not for everybody, kind of like Tae Bo, waterboarding, and Indian food. The drop by Sherman Hemsley was a nice (and unexpected) touch.
8. W.O.E. IS ME (WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT) This is weakest track on Quality Control so far. Sorry, but that's all it deserves.
9. MONKEY BARS Getting back into the groove, “Monkey Bars” returns to the fun-loving shit-talking that the Jurassic 5 are best known for. The beat incorporates a seemingly infinite number of samples, resulting in what is simply a great fucking track.
10. JURASS FINISH FIRST With a title like that, I suppose it's only appropriate that the beat sounds like something that one would listen to while running in a marathon. Or is that just me?
11. CONTRIBUTION Actually very depressing, and the hook makes you question your very existence. Not exactly what I look for in my hip hop, but when Jurassic 5 decide to get serious, they get serious.
12. TWELVE This song sounds alright (great title, by the way), but it's not very memorable.
13. GAME So whatever happened with Chali 2na's solo album? I know he released that Fish Market mixtape, but if anybody in this crew deserves a record deal, it would be that guy. I don't mean to single him out specifically, though: all of the rappers sound really good over this track.
14. IMPROVISE This song originally appeared on the Jurassic 5 LP (an expanded version of their debut EP that was released everywhere except in the United States) and, as a result, sounds a bit dated, but it still works. Because everybody else in the world already heard "Improvise", they received "Concrete & Clay" instead, which is alright. This explains why there is mention of "Concrete & Clay" in the jewel case inlay of my copy.
15. SWING SET This is another deejay cut, and at over five minutes long, it overstays its welcome, so much so that you'll be tempted to fake a yawn and shout to nobody in particular that it's late and you have to get to work early in the morning. (This isn't a DJ Shadow album, so tracks such as these at ridiculous lengths are unnecessary.) It is a pleasant enough way to end an album, I suppose, since not enough rap albums conclude with an ode to swing music.
Readers in Australia (I'm sure there's at least one of you) received a two-disc set of Quality Control, with the second disc containing the instrumentals of all of the songs on the album. Bastards!
FINAL THOUGHTS: Quality Control is still an album that I genuinely enjoy listening to. The charisma and chemistry between the four rappers, and the work by both deejays, all mesh to create a fine final product. Musically, this shit is just fun, and even the “serious” songs have playful elements to them. If I had one major complaint, it would be that Chali 2na is the only rapper that really stands out, with a deep voice that sounds like he woke up with a sore throat and decided to run with it. The other three rappers kind of blend together, but all four are capable emcees, so that's not as much a problem as you may think.
BUY OR BURN? I think you should buy this. Why the hell not? It's entertaining, and isn't that what music is supposed to do?
That's not the album cover that I have, but it's the one that you're most likely to find in stores, so we'll run with it.
On Halloween in the year 2000, Big Boi and (the former Dre, rechristened officially as) Andre 3000 released their fourth album, Stankonia. With this disc, they were finally able to break through the glass ceilings of mainstream radio, with three ridiculously huge hit singles and sales of over half a million copies in the first week alone. (Stankonia would eventually move more than four million units.) It was met with overwhelming critical praise and is listed as one of the best albums (not rap albums, but albums) of all time by many publications. Which is not bad for what is the most bizarre album in the duo's catalog thus far. Yes, even more bizarre than ATLiens and Aquemini.
Stankonia is notable because of its many musical influences: Outkast have certainly come a long way from the straight-up Southern hip hop from their debut Longasstitle. Stankonia combines elements of funk, rock, gospel, jungle, samba, there's a kitchen sink somewhere, R&B, drum-and-bass, spaghetti western scores, polka, metal, new wave, and Broadway musicals. Oh, and rap. Can't forget about that.
Big Boi comes through with his typically pimped-out flow, albeit one much more well-informed than his peers in the game, while Andre is just fucking nuts, building upon his ideas from the past two discs. All of this occurs throughout the span of this one album, while the duo give back-and-forth testimony regarding the concept of "stank". The disc was mostly produced by the production team Earthtone III, made up of Big Boi, Andre, and Mr. DJ, with longtime friends Organized Noize handling the remainder. Due to the possible huge influence from Dre, the album is so far out there that it has been compared with some of Prince's better work, which is probably the best compliment that anybody could give these guys at this point in their career.
But how does Stankonia hold up nearly nine years later?
1. INTRO This is the kind of rap album intro that critics hail as “organic” and “innovative”, thus validating the artistry attempted, but people who listen to music for entertainment purposes hate this pretentious shit. Max falls into the latter category.
2. GASOLINE DREAMS (FEAT KHUJO) A high-energy, and, yet, incredibly weak, way to start off Stankonia. I always thought the song was decent and forgettable in the past, but I realize today that this is a master class in misdirection: it's all loud noises and shouting, diverting audiences from the fact that all three rappers sound off.
3. I'M COOL (INTERLUDE) …
4. SO FRESH, SO CLEAN (FEAT SLEEPY BROWN & RICO WADE) At least Stankonia seems to pick up steam early on. Single number three was an interesting choice, as there was nothing like it on the radio at that point in time. This track remains cooler than sipping a milkshake in a snowstorm. There's a remix for this song featuring Snoop Dogg (featured on the soundtrack to Calvin's horror flick Bones) readily available on the Interweb: that version is hardly worth the price of admission. (While writing this part of the review, I also discovered that there's a Fatboy Slim remix of this song that was commercially released. Has anybody ever heard that version? Let me know if it's worth my time.)
5. MS. JACKSON This second single also sounded absolutely nothing like anything else on the radio at the time. Hell, it didn't even sound remotely related to Stankonia's first single. It's altogether pleasant, and the inclusion of the wedding march hidden behind Big Boi's final verse was a nice touch. However, while it is a good song, it's not essential Outkast. Yeah, I said it.
6. SNAPPIN' & TRAPPIN' (FEAT KILLER MIKE & J-SWEET) The outro is entirely unnecessary, but this collaboration between Big Boi and Killer Mike (who would later win a Grammy alongside Outkast for “The Whole World”, a track which only appears on the duo's greatest hits compilation) is infectious otherwise. Andre 3000 is nowhere to be found, though: I assume he drew the short straw.
7. D.F. (INTERLUDE) …
8. SPAGHETTI JUNCTION The beat only barely evokes the feeling of starring in a Sergio Leone classic spaghetti western, but it's still pretty dope. The back and forth between Dre and Big Boi reminds me of how they sounded on their debut album, the one with the long title that I don't feel like spellchecking right now. Anyway, this song is pretty good.
9. KIM & COOKIE (INTERLUDE) Already there are too many fucking interludes on Stankonia.
10. I'LL CALL BEFORE I COME (FEAT GANGSTA BOO & ECO) This song is silly, but ultimately unnecessary. This track was recorded before Gangsta Boo (formerly of the Academy Award-winning group Three Six Mafia (I love the fact that the crew will always be known for that now)) found Christ and stopped rapping about fucking and fighting, at least until she realizes that she won't make any money rhyming about the Lord.
11. B.O.B. (FEAT THE MORRIS BROWN COLLEGE GOSPEL CHOIR) The first single, which was originally given the unfortunate title “Bombs Over Baghdad” before it was amended (by the label? by the United States government?). I seem to remember reading about a twelve-minute version of this track: whatever happened to that song? This is still really good, and incredibly musically ambitious for a rap song, but you can easily get sick of it if you heard it every single day.
12. XPLOSION (FEAT B-REAL) I loved this song upon Stankonia's original release, thanks to the unadulterated hip hop and the left-of-center guest spot it provided. Today, it's still really good, and B-Real (from Cypress Hill) actually sounds fantastic, but the song is overshadowed by the classics that Stankonia produced. The hook is pretty weak, though. A marked improvement over the last time Outkast and B-Real worked together, on Tash's “Smokefest 1999” from his Rap Life. 13. GOOD HAIR (INTERLUDE) That's also the name of a documentary Chris Rock directed (that should be released to theaters later this year) that supposed to be pretty good. Also, Chris Rock used "B.O.B." in his directorial debut, Head Of State, in which his psychic powers predicted the first African-American president of the United States. I include that tidbit just so you don't think I went off on a tangent while completely ignoring this boring-ass skit.
14. WE LUV DEEZ HOEZ (FEAT BACKBONE & BIG GIPP) This sounds as if it were recorded as a joke. If you look past the corny musical backdrop and the hook, Big Boi's rhymes, at least, are decent, Backbone sounds terrible, and Big Gipp (from Goodie Mob) stumbles through admirably.
15. HUMBLE MUMBLE (FEAT ERYKAH BADU) This track, which I'm sure is beloved by Outkast stans the world over, is run into the ground by Erykah's singing, which makes this song sound as if it's reaching for too much. The message in the hook is a good one, though, and the beat switch when Andre starts rapping is an unexpected plus.
16. DRINKIN' AGAIN (INTERLUDE) …
17. ? This is really more of an interlude than a song, but it's appealing in the same way that A Tribe Called Quest's “What?”, an obvious influence, was. “What could make a n---a figure he ought to be a pimp 'cuz he don't like love?”, indeed. It's a valid question.
18. RED VELVET Can't say that I remember anything about this one. Oh well.
19. CRUISIN' IN THE ATL (INTERLUDE) …
20. GANGSTA SHIT (FEAT SLIMM CALHOUN, T-MO, & C-BONE) This is actually my favorite song on Stankonia. The slow groove literally drives your car for you while you cruise around the ATL (or wherever you happen to live). A lot has been said about Andre's verse (which begins “'Outkast' with a 'k'/Yeah, them n----z are hard”), but everybody involved with this posse cut pulls it off. The chorus is repeated at least three times too many, though. I believe there may be a remix of this song on someone's compilation album, but I don't have any more information than that.
22. SLUM BEAUTIFUL (FEAT CEE-LO) A pretty sweet ode to the female half of the population. Cee-Lo's contribution is especially touching. It leaves you wishing that the musical backdrop were a bit more appealing, though.
23. PRE-NUMP (INTERLUDE) …
24. STANKONIA (STANKLOVE)(FEAT BIG RUBE & SLEEPY BROWN) Big Boi must be an awfully good sport to allow Stankonia to end with this bizarre and polarizing final track. I can't imagine that anybody has ever heard this song more than the once, and I'm including the artists themselves in that sentiment.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Stankonia starts off strong, yet falls apart midway through the (overlong) album. It expands on the basic concepts introduced on Aquemini (Andre 3000 and Big Boi are two completely different artists that choose to work together, but have very different musical tastes) and, as a result, a lot of Stankonia sounds like an experimental art installation piece (that would be Dre's influence). The outright rap songs on here sound good, but this album is definitely not for a mainstream audience. Which is funny, considering how many copies of Stankonia flew off store shelves. Definitely not the best work from the duo: that would be either ATLiens or Aquemini, depending on your preference.
BUY OR BURN? There are enough hood songs on here to warrant the separation of cash from your wallet, but consider yourself warned: this disc is more avant-garde than you would expect coming from a couple of guys based in Atlanta who began their rap career sounding like a couple of pimps. Don't take it too seriously, and you'll be just fine.
BEST TRACKS: “Gangsta Shit”; “Xplosion”; “B.O.B.”; “Snappin' & Trappin'”; “So Fresh, So Clean”
B-SIDE TO TRACK DOWN: "Speedballin'", which sounds like it was recorded at the same time (or at least during the same mindset) as "B.O.B." (and features Cee-Lo), was eventually released on the soundtrack to, of all things, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. The song takes the drum-and bass influence and twists it onto its ear, and in doing so, manages to be much better than "B.O.B." The dirty version is tough to find, but if you have faith in the Interweb, good things will come.
