Flipmode Squad - The Imperial (September 1, 1998)

After his former crew, Leaders Of The New School, disbanded, Busta Rhymes decided to clear his head.  He believed that he could only discover himself by leaving behind what he thought defined him as a person, so he rented a Hyundai and planned a cross-country road trip.  He recruited his cousin Rampage the Last Boy Scout to ride shotgun, so that he would always have someone to talk to.  While purchasing supplies at an A&P, (primarily Ozarka bottled water, Flintstone vitamins, and six cans of regular Pringles), a homeless neighborhood boy that referred to himself as Spliff Star to whoever was listening started hanging around Trevor and his cousin as if he belonged, and Busta was too singularly focused on his vision quest to shoo him away.  The night before the trip, the newly formed trio took in a monster truck rally, finding themselves impressed with the man announcing the evening's events, who had named himself Lord Have Mercy because his parents were hippies, and invited him along for the ride. 

The next morning, Busta Rhymes decided to scrap the entire journey, because he had already found what he was looking for: an entirely new crew, which he quickly christened as the Flipmode Squad.  Also, this joke was getting old, so it's better to kill it now.

The Flipmode Squad is best known as our chosen genre's approximation of a revolving door, having cycled through some sixteen motherfucking members before Busta Rhymes essentially gave up his role as the crew's generalissimo and took a position with Puff Daddy's Dream Team instead.  The incarnation that existed in 1998, after two Busta solo projects and a debut from Rampage, consisted of the four artists listed above alongside the unknown Baby Sham and New Jersey's own Rah Digga, the only female emcee that has ever graced the camp (who had experience of her own with being part of a group, maintaining her affiliation with The Outsiderz while being called up to the big leagues). 

The Imperial is the first group album from the Flipmode Squad, promoted solely on the strength of Busta's solo career, which had skyrocketed after his reign as hip hop's cameo king.  As there was only room for six names on the album cover, The Imperial completely neglects the minor contributions of a rapper named Serious, who performed as a part of the group on Rampage's album; he was replaced by Baby Sham.  Replacing people was a hobby of Busta Rhymes: soon after The Imperial hit store shelves, Lord Have Mercy found himself out of a job, having been replaced by Roc Marcy, who is better known now as ex-Flipmode member (and blogger favorite) Roc Marciano.  Actually, Busta eventually replaced everybody in the group, aside from Spliff Star, because every artist has to have his hypeman at all times.

The Imperial was a mildly successful effort, but it clearly didn't work well enough, as each attempt at releasing a follow-up petered out before any interest could ever be truly generated.  Not that it really mattered to the Flipmode Squad anyway: since none of them, not even Busta's own cousin, was guaranteed a spot, everyone just went about doing their own thing, releasing solo albums and making guest appearances at convenience store openings while waiting for the other shoe to drop.  The person most affected by the failure of The Imperial was the ousted Lord Have Mercy: he soon saw his own solo album locked away in a studio vault, never to see a proper release.  I believe he's now an assistant manager at an American Eagle Outfitters.

1. THE IMPERIAL INTRO

This was pointless for every goddamn person involved, and I'm including Busta Rhymes in that assessment. After wasting over a full minute on a nonsensical skit, Trevor takes to the stage and attempts to introduce each member of the Flipmode Squad in an overly dramatic fashion. The problem here is twofold: not only is Busta taking this shit waaaay too seriously (it's just music, dude), he also doesn't allow any of his teammates to speak for themselves. That's right: on the introduction to a group album, the only voice you hear belongs to camera hog Busta Rhymes. There is no need for this horseshit to even exist.

2. TO MY PEOPLE

One of the best characteristics of the Flipmode Squad is that they each have a distinctive voice, so it's extraordinarily easy to tell them all apart. Over a plodding DJ Scratch beat accompanied by a hilariously noncommittal Busta hook, five of the six team members use up their daily allotment of bars in an attempt to destroy the scenery, with only Rah Digga and Busta mildly succeeding. Rampage, the only other member of the Squad to have a solo album in stores at this point, sounds pretty fucking weak, but he does sound exactly as he did on his own Scout's Honor...By Way Of Blood (which is still a horrible album title), even with the infrequent echoes at the end of his bars, so there's something to be said for consistency. It's curious that Lord Have Mercy fails to make an appearance on the first actual song from The Imperial. Oooh, foreshadowing!

3. SETTIN' IT OFF

Lord Have Mercy doesn't appear on this song, either. Busta Rhymes bats first, spitting a verse that seems to take up four times as much space than the other four rappers who appear combined, which only helps my newer readers understand why the Flipmode Squad no longer truly exists. The performances are all a bit stronger than they were on “To My People”, though, thanks in large part to M.D.'s instrumental, which sounds like something Q-Tip might have used post-Beats, Rhymes & Life. Which is to say that it sounded pretty good. Not bad, Trevor.

4. RUN FOR COVER

Lord H. Mercy, Esq., makes his first appearance on The Imperial over this incomplete Swizz beat that sounds like a remnant of an awful Busta Rhymes solo track, which is a terrible way to introduce him. He isn't the greatest rapper in the world or anything, but he has the second-most distinctive flow in the entire Squad, and he performs so rarely that it always seems to be put to good use. Until now. “Run For Cover” is fucking terrible as both a posse cut and as a discernible example of “music”. Moving on...

5. I GOT YOUR BACK

Trevor sends Lord out to get some more munchies and a Diet Shasta while he and the other four members of Flipmode that he actually gave a fuck about relate a fictional tale of a brawl that escalates into a double homicide, all while proclaiming that, basically, they are a family and they will do whatever it takes to protect one another. The jumbled conversational tone of the track lends itself to a few corny excuses for rhymes (mainly coming from Rampage's direction), and the five leads all sound a bit too quick to jump towards murder as a solution to their problems, but at least there is some solidarity present on The Imperial. If you listen closely to the track, you can hear Lord Have Mercy softly chewing and sobbing in the background. The skit at the end was fucking useless, though.

6. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS

Although the end of the preceding skit does lend itself to the title of this track, so maybe it wasn't entirely useless, just really fucking stupid. “This Is What Happens” is a duet between Rah Digga and Rampage, one that actually sounds pretty good in spite of its terrible chorus and the tendency of both artists to use echo effects during specific bars. DJ Scratch's beat has a lot to do with the high entertainment value, as he turns in some work that sounds like a more technologically advanced Beatminerz joint, it's that good. The skit at the end also leads into the next song: I had forgotten that was an inconsistent running theme.

7. EVERYBODY ON THE LINE OUTSIDE

The first single from The Imperial finds Busta Rhymes hanging out at the club with Rampage and Lord Have Mercy on some “guys night out” type of shit, or at least that's what I'm led to believe, since all these three talk about is getting pussy and commenting on how long the line to get in has grown. I've always liked the sound of this DJ Scratch-produced track: it sounds enough like one of the better Busta solo songs to help bring in that audience, but throws in some new twists to sound unique, so that the rest of the Flipmode Squad would sound comfortable performing over it, had Busta been charitable enough to allow that to happen. The night at the club ends poorly, though, with someone getting shot during the second half of the skit that frames the song. This makes me want to rescind the E-vite I had sent to the Flipmode Squad to attend my niece's fifth birthday party: they seem to being nothing but violence to the table. Sucks for you, Busta: there was going to be a bouncy castle and everything.

8. LAST NIGHT

Busta's faux-reggae hook is pretty laughable, but otherwise, I enjoyed this duet between him and his hypeman Spliff Star, even though Spliff's flow is so similar to Trevor's that I'm fairly certain there was a bit of ghostwriting going on. At least that might explain why Spliffy turns in one of the best performances of his entire career over this simple Trevor Smith production that is just annoying enough to get stuck in your head immediately after it ends, Some of you two may find the hook insufferable, though, and you wouldn't be wrong.

9. WHERE YOU THINK YOU GOIN'

One of Busta's favorite things to do, aside from driving home drunk, working out to excess, and shouting catchphrases in the hopes that one will stick, is rhyming over string-based samples that lend his music an air of classical reverence (see: “Gimme Some More”, “C'mon All My N----z, C'mon All My Bitches”), so it makes sense that this character trait would make its way to The Imperial. “Where You Think You Goin'” contains a chorus that mostly repeats the question asked in its title (the Flipmode Squad seem to have predicted the reaction of the listener to Busta's shitty chorus on “Last Night”), but it also is the first track on The Imperial that actually features all six members, and it only took working through half of the fucking project to get to this point. Too bad this track isn't so great.

10. WE GOT U OPIN (PART 2) (FEAT. BUCKSHOT)

Of all the places that one would think the sequel to Black Moon's “I Got Cha Opin” would finally appear, five years after the original sprained the necks of hip hop heads everywhere (in New York, anyway), The Imperial would have been my second-to-last choice, ranking right below the new Yanni album. Da Beatminerz supply a dark, early-1990s masterpiece of a beat, and all six members give their all to what is easily the best (and most surprising, mostly because of its mere existence in the first place) song on the entire album. Black Moon's Buckshot provides the hook, but then pulls a fast one on the audience by delivering the final verse, which is just good business, given that the Flipmode Squad had a much wider reach than any project that any member of the Boot Camp Clik has ever and will ever release. This shit was nice, son!

11. STRAIGHT SPITTIN'

Although the “Straight Spittin'” series of freestyles masquerading as songs has found an extended life on Rah Digga solo albums, its origins are found right here on The Imperial, with Digga performing in a virtual cypher with the rest of her crew. The Tony Touch instrumental exists solely to lend structure to the individual bars of the artists involved, so it says out of the way while the Flipmode Squad, um, straight spits. These six emcees have a casual camaraderie that makes their rhymes sound even more enjoyable when performing as a group, but that goodwill only seems to extend to The Imperial, since there are plenty of crappy Flipmode collaborations on the solo projects that annoy the shit out of me. This one doesn't.

12. MONEY TALKS

Well, I figured that streak of hot tracks would end sooner rather than later. On this ridiculous ode to how much money Busta Rhymes the Flipmode Squad has and how everyone else is just jealous and should just admit to it, Busta recruits the three rappers in the crew who ware most likely to actually have some incidental cash: himself, Rampage, and Rah Digga, all of whom have solo careers of varying degrees of success...and his hypeman Spliff Star, who he has to pay to promote him, of course. (Baby Sham and Lord Have Mercy weren't allowed into this exclusive club, as it was already at capacity.) Not only does this song make the listener want to rob the artists involved themselves, just to shut them the fuck up, it also makes you wonder whose idea it was to turn hip hop into something your adult contemporary-leaning parents would want to listen to. Bleh.

13. CHA CHA CHA

“Cha Cha Cha” (no relation to the MC Lyte song of the same name) was the second (and, to my knowledge, final) single from The Imperial, apparently chosen as such because it features the three members of the Flipmode Squad that didn't appear on “Everybody On The Line Outside” (and, naturally, Busta Rhymes, who just can't leave rap alone, because the game needs him). DJ Scratch's beat is radio and club friendly, and more than a bit corny, but the three rappers manage to make it work, turning this into an unexpected delight. Busta's hook is pretty fucking stupid, though. Hey, you can't win them all, especially with a song called “Cha Cha Cha”, but this wasn't awful.

14. HIT EM WIT DA HEAT

This posse cut was fairly weak. Although everyone eventually arrives at this party, Rockwilder's beat isn't as much “engaging” as it is “noisy”: it sounds like a broken alarm clock waking you from a drunken stupor after pulling an all-nighter in Vegas and letting your friend hook up with a pre-op transvestite because you had taken way too many shots of Patron and your judgment skills were questionable at best, and besides, you don't really like him all that much anyway, you keep him around so that you and the rest of your actual friends always have someone to talk shit about and make fun of. Clearly this paragraph has spun out of control, so I'm going to stop...now.

15. DO FOR SELF

I most certainly didn't request a “serious” Flipmode Squad song: was it you? This duet between Baby Sham and Spliff Star (with a cameo from Busta towards the end) features our hosts trying to relate street tales in an attempt to convince their listeners that they should not want to follow in their footsteps, and that they should aim for a better life. The ending is too fucking depressing when matched with The Imperial as a whole: good thing the skit at the end (which leads into the final track) is nonsensical enough to negate any potential impact Sham and Spliff might have had on the audience, which is, admittedly, a slim amount.

16. EVERYTHING

Inappropriately enough, The Imperial ends with a posse cut that entirely neglects Lord Have Mercy's quickly-diminishing role in the Flipmode Squad. Busta and his friends use the L.E.S. beat to kick some random verses, and then all five combine like Voltron to trade bars in a single verse at the end, which had to have been the ultimate knife in the back for Mr. Mercy. The energy on this finale was fairly consistent with the rest of The Imperial, but I walked away feeling empty, as I'm sure most of you two would, as well. It just isn't a satisfying way to end things.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Flipmode Squad's first (and, to date, only) group album, The Imperial, holds up surprisingly well today (at least the first two-thirds, anyway), much more so than most of the Busta Rhymes solo albums, mainly because he doesn't have to shoulder the burden of carrying all sixteen tracks (although he appears on nearly all of them anyway). Rampage, Rah Digga, Spliff Star, Baby Sham, and the sorely underused Lord Have Mercy all make perfect foils for Busta's wild antics, as they are able to mostly maintain the same level of energy that their leader possesses: the only aspect of these tracks that generally fail them are the instrumentals themselves, some of which sounds as though they were stolen from an entirely different project. With the exception of the guy who seems to disappear for several tracks at a time, everyone in the Squad receives a proper showcase on The Imperial, some more successfully than others, and the end result is the rare crew album that actually belongs alongside the others in the Busta Rhymes catalog, as opposed to it being a weed carrier compilation recorded by people simply along for the ride. The Imperial isn't even close to being a perfect album, or even a great one, but most of it is pretty entertaining, and in spots it's even quite brilliant. But only in spots.

BUY OR BURN? This is actually a worthy purchase. (Especially at the price listed below.)  Which isn't something that can be said of most Busta Rhymes-assisted projects, so don't get used to this type of praise just yet. I just happened to enjoy The Imperial much more today than I did way back in 1998.

BEST TRACKS: “We Got U Opin (Part 2)”; “Everybody On The Line Outside”; “Straight Spittin'”; “Settin' It Off”; “Cha Cha Cha”

-Max

RELATED POSTS:

Catch up on the Flipmode solo projects by clicking here.

My Gut Reaction: Various Artists - Stomp The Yard: Homecoming (Soundtrack) (October 26, 2010)

Occasionally, reviewing albums that are in my wheelhouse becomes boring, so I welcome opportunities to step outside of my comfort zone, especially when publicists are willing to send me stuff for free.  That would pretty much be the main reason why you're reading about the soundtrack to Stomp The Yard: Homecoming instead of, say, that Big Boi album that I have yet to listen to in its entirety.

The original Stomp The Yard, which I never actually watched, is apparently about a guy who pledges a fraternity at a fictional Black college (possibly the same one used in Drumline), and the stomping of the yard that ensues during the initiation process.  Or something.  As far as I know, Stomp The Yard is the autobiography of Savion Glover, I'm that out of the loop.  Stomp The Yard: Homecoming, the direct-to-DVD sequel, is possibly more of the same, except with a slightly lower budget.

The original flick starred the likes of Columbus Short (a guy who my brother-in-law is convinced will be a big name in Hollywood, as long as he stays away from filming armored truck movies with Matt Dillon), Meagan Good, Ne-Yo, and convicted woman-hater Chris Brown.  The sequel, however, features a cast full of no-name actors and stompers.  

Conversely, the soundtrack to the first movie featured ringers such as E-40, Public Enemy (huh?), Cut Chemist, Pitbull, The Roots, and Ghostface Killah, all of whom submitted previously released songs in an effort to make the soundtrack sound more successful and cohesive than it had any right to.  In keeping with the project's direct-to-DVD roots, Stomp The Yard: Homecoming's soundtrack features more unknown artists and D-list players, although the occasional B-list artist makes an appearance (Columbus Short makes a cameo in the sequel, so this was inadvertently done in the spirit of the movie).

I know what you two are thinking: why would this be the first soundtrack that HHID would choose to cover after an extremely long hiatus? (I think the last soundtrack I tackled myself was for Bulworth.)  I like a challenge, and I was looking to listen to something new and different.  It helps that, having never seen either movie (the second one is already available, although the soundtrack hits Interweb shelves today), I had absolutely zero expectations for what I was about to hear.

So let's see what I got myself into.

1. DON'T GET CAUGHT SLIPPIN (ACE HOOD)

Def Jam artist Ace Hood, one of the bigger names on Stomp The Yard: Homecoming (relatively speaking), spends nearly four minutes trying to justify his deviant actions by blaming the slipping of the victims, hence the title of this song. This Inkredibles beat isn't horrible for what it is: mainstream piffle ostensibly designed to translate into a club theme (or an outright yard stomping), but Ace pulls both a joker and a coupon for one dollar off his next purchase of Bicycle playing cards form the deck, somehow managing to say less than nothing with his verses. That's right, this track would have contained a better Ace Hood performance had he remained completely silent. Oh well. The version of Stomp The Yard: Homecoming I'm listening to is a promotional clean copy (the retail is uncensored, from what I understand), which only hurts Ace even more: the song I just listened to contained more dropped audio than a showing of Goodfellas on AMC. For those of you who care about this sort of thing, this is far from an original contribution: this song first appeared on Hood's second album Ruthless.

2. TIME TO GET (GET COOL)

Get Cool is a rather foolish rap moniker, don't you think? It implies that the artist is either trying to become cool through the sheer will of his performance, of that the listener will become much more popular after having listened to some repetitive threats set to a club beat. While neither option is ever going to actually happen, I'm happy to report that “Time To Get” isn't entirely horrible, even though its very title is an incomplete thought. The instrumental (which I assume is from the artist himself, since he has produced for David Banner in the past and even landed his own song on the soundtrack to this project's thematic brother from another mother, Step Up 3D) isn't bad, and at least Get Cool sounds okay enough over it. He could be one of Timbaland's shitty rap apprentices (see: D.O.E., Sebastian, Magoo) if he plays his cards right. This could have been a lot worse.

3. BOUNCE (JOHN-JOHN)

Give this beat to one of the more popular Southern artists of today, and they would turn it into a hit. (Not a substantial one, but something that could have at least a but of an impact in the club and on radio mix shows.) Give it to John-John, though, and what you get is an interesting failure. The instrumental isn't bad at all: it serves its purpose, at least. But for a song on which the artist is attempting to command the listener to perform the titular action, it's a curious novelty. John-John attempts to add some depth via some clever lyricism, rhyming words together that have no business being told to do so (such as counselors and lobsters), which quickly turns this overlong exercise into a laugh riot. Oh well, at least the beat was decent.

4. EVIL (JASPER SAWYER)

This R&B track isn't bad, although it sounds just a bit too much like a Mark Ronson production for it to sound anywhere near original. Jasper Sawyer has a decent voice, though, and he might be able to swing a hit song during his career if he aligns himself with the right people (hey, it worked for Bruno Mars). This was an enjoyable trifle that was poorly sequenced between two random club joints.

5. WE GOT 'EM (MR. ROBOTIC)

Anyone who almost names himself after a Styx song can't be taken seriously as a rapper.

6. HERE TO PARTY (CLASSIC)

Classic sounds like a guy who impersonated T.I. at parties, or at least he'd like to. Unlike T.I., who occasionally slips some social commentary into his declarations of mic and fiscal dominance, this guy only wants to party, and does so over the course of two verses. In hip hop, you can't get more generic than with the party song: our chosen genre was built on feel-good party jams. But “Here To Party” misses the mark. Only the instrumental, which takes a semi-experimental left turn toward the end, held my interest.

7. COLLEGE CHICKS (G-SIDE)

Look, I love college girls as much as the next straight guy, but this Auto-Tuned exercise in overkill does its best to strip away all of their appeal, so much so that you'll be left looking at daytime hookers the next time you're at a twenty-four hour diner and wondering, “What if?” The track hides an afterthought of a beat and an overt reliance on hip hop clichés. However, G-Side goes out of their way to encourage higher education, only wanting to fuck girls who “shake [their] ass but they still go to class in the morning”, which is all you can hope for when you listen to drivel like this.

8. GET YO MONEY UP (SHORT DAWG)

Short Dawg, a rapper whose name confuses me because it's also frequently used as a nickname for Too $hort, sounds too much like Lil' Wayne for comfort. It turns out that this comparison makes sense: Shorty has worked alongside Weezy and his Young Money crew extensively. On this solo effort, Mr. Dawg stresses the importance of bragging about how much cash you carry on you at all times, a tactic that only works for him (and not anybody with even a modicum of common sense) because he's never too far away from his weapon, just in case someone overhears his boasts and decides that he would like to relieve him of said cash. It always makes me laugh when a no-name rapper tries to discuss his financial matters with the audience, as if that's a valid way to grow your fan base, since the listener is typically in an opposing situation. So yeah, this song was boring.

9. NERVOUS (JOHN FORTE)

If you're a longtime reader of the blog, then your reaction to this song will be the same as mine was when I first received the e-mail: “John Forte? What the fuck?!” And you would be absolutely correct: there is absolutely no reason for a Grammy Award-winning artist (and former informal fourth member of the Fugees) to appear within five hundred yards of Stomp The Yard: Homecoming. But Forte isn't exactly burning up the charts after serving his prison sentence for possession with intention to distribute, so this is what we get. I miss the 1980s sound that former friend (I'm just assuming at this point) Wyclef Jean provided for him on his debut, Poly-Sci, but John comes off as rejuvenated over this simple drum-and-guitar loop, addressing his arrest and reflecting on his life, sounding as good as he always has. This has got to be the best song on Stomp The Yard: Homecoming, even though I can't imagine how this would fit anywhere within the film itself. (“Nervous” is also featured on Forte's comeback EP, StyleFREE.)

10. THIRD DEGREE (RAE FEAT. BASKO & NOMADIK)

This sounds like a straight-to-DVD impersonation of a Kidz In The Hall song, but I don't mean that in a bad way: I found this song quite entertaining, as the artists involved all at least sound like they're enjoying themselves. The scratching at the end was a nice touch, too. But the real reason this song works is because of the party-inspired beat which, given the proper push, could actually make waves within the music industry of my mind.

11. ROCK YO BODY (CLOUT CARTEL)

Meh.

12. I'M GROWN (GET COOL)

Get Cool makes an encore appearance in an effort to convince listeners that he could be the second coming of Tim Mosely, but this song doesn't really make his case, since Timbaland has actual talent, even if he is better known for squandering it these days. The instrumental sounds like it was purchased in bulk at Costco, and the lyrics are mostly insipid: surely there are people that go to clubs for more than just the typical materialistic reasons. This song doesn't deserve your time nor your patience.

13. TO THE TOP (B DOUBLE E)

If the guy's name is B Double E, wouldn't that make his rap moniker Bee? Why couldn't he just use that? At least that would set him apart from his like-minded peers. “To The Top” may appeal to T.I. fans more so than anyone else, but it actually isn't that bad. It's better than some of these artists on the radio, anyway. (*cough* Gucci Mane *cough*)

14. STOMP SCORE SUITE (TODD BOZUNG & PETER PLATH)

The last song on Stomp The Yard: Homecoming is a collection of instrumentals from Todd Bozung and Peter Plath that comprise the score of the film itself. Each individual piece is short enough to digest without problems, even if none of them sound particularly memorable. With some more opportunities to work, however, they might do alright for themselves.

THE LAST WORD: Stomp The Yard: Homecoming isn't really the type of soundtrack that I would ever seek out on my own, so the surprising part of this write-up is that there were a toddler's handful of tracks that were actually pretty good. It was kind of interesting to hear from a bunch or relative unknown who, under different circumstances, could actually have hit records (given the (sorry) state of hip hop today), so I'll give some credit: at least most of these guys don;t sound like they're blatantly stealing their ideas from their more famous counterparts. However, the majority of these tracks don't really prove that some of these guys deserve any further exposure beyond this soundtrack. As a whole, Stomp The Yard: Homecoming has some decent-enough moments, some of which may shock you with their entertainment value, but for the most part, this isn't something that I can wholeheartedly endorse. But you two probably already saw that coming when you read the title of today's post.  However, the original Stomp The Yard's soundtrack contains Ghostface Killah's "The Champ", and that song fucking rocks.

However, the label, Artists' Addiction (in conjunction with Sony), has been nice enough to allow you two to listen to the best track from Stomp The Yard: Homecoming without any further obligation. Click the link below to download John Forte's “Nervous”. Hurry: this link will expire in one week, after which you two are on your own.

John Forte - “Nervous” (Sorry, time's up!)

-Max

Reader Review: Various Artists - Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000 (April 27, 1999)

(For today's Reader Review, Sir Bonkers, who last contributed a review on a Benzino album, continues down the path of masochism by tackling Suge Knight's attempt to siphon sales from his former partner Dr. Dre's 2001. Like most people, I had almost completely forgotten that Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000 even existed. So go grab a snack (this is a pretty long write-up), and leave some comments for Sir Bonkers below.)

In 1999, Dr. Dre, Kurupt, Snoop Dogg, the Lady of Rage & Nate Dogg had all left Death Row Records behind. 2Pac, the label's biggest star (both then and, arguably, now), was dead, and the head honcho, Marion “Suge” Knight, was serving a prison sentence. The only guy from the original roster still holding it down for Tha Row at this point was Daz Dillinger, one-half of Tha Dogg Pound, who had released Revenge, Retaliation & Get Back the previous year to an indifferent audience. (He would soon leave the label as well.)

Even while behind bars, Marion, the caged Sugar bear, was planning on relaunching his label for the new millennium with an all new team of artists, mainly because he liked to make money and he had alienated every single member of his original line-up. However, he hadn't completely let the past go, or maybe he wasn't entirely confident in the idea of having completely new artists around him, because the people he ended up signing, with names such as Tha Realest, Top Dogg, VK, Swoop G, and Mac Shawn, sounded suspiciously like the people who left Death Row Records high and dry (with a few dirty South rappers, who were popular at the time, thrown in for good measure).

Suge had the idea of releasing a compilation album-slash-label sampler as a way of introducing all of these sure-to-be-household-names to the masses. Also, he wanted to fuck over Dr. Dre yet again, because he was really really mad at him for leaving. As such, there was quite a battle over the name of this project. Dre, who was planning a comeback of his own, had originally released The Chronic on Death Row back in 1992, and by 1996 he had started his own label, Aftermath Entertainment, where he planned on releasing his sequel, The Chronic 2000. However, Suge sued him for the name, a lawsuit that he apparently won, since Dre ended up changing his project to 2001 instead (although there are references to the album's original title in some of the lyrics) and Death Row released Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000 (with the subtitle Still Smokin', which I won't include throughout this write-up because the Interweb doesn't seem to believe that is part of the official title) nearly seven months prior, in an effort to confuse consumers, who are all really fucking stupid (at least according to music industry executives).

Which is how this two-disc project was born. Had it been named absolutely anything else, this would be seen as just a label sampler, but by christening it the sequel to perhaps the most influential hip hop album of all time (production-wise, anyway), Suge Knight created impossibly massive expectations (for himself?). Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000 (why was he “representing” as opposed to “presenting”? Did he do it once before and decide it was so much fun that he needed to re-present it?) was critically panned, but it sold well enough possibly to some of those really fucking stupid consumers and/or people who actually sided with Suge in the battle for Death Row Records: it earned a platinum plaque in its first week (although since it was a double-disc set, that means Suge only sold half-a-million copies). Critical derision doesn't mean anything to me, though, and neither does high sales figures, so here's what I think of it.

DISC ONE:

1. CHRONIC 2000 (VK & TREACH)

Apparently Suge produced this beat himself, under the name “Big Simon” (which is what Kurupt used to call him for some inexplicable reason). It isn't too bad; it features an interesting guitar riff, at least. VK is a Lady of Rage wannabe who, while not sounding very good, doesn’t fuck this song up (although she does make me want to listen to the actual Rage again very soon), and Treach (of Naughty By Nature fame – what the fuck was he doing here?) completely rips shit up. This was decent.

2. GOTTA LOVE GANGSTA'S (THA REALEST FEAT. SCARFACE & RICHIE RICH)

It doesn’t bode well for the rest of the album when the first two songs feature three artists not signed to Death Row Records. Also, goddamn this Tha Realest guy sounds like 2Pac: they must have shared a larynx at birth. Anyway, the beat is inoffensive and so are the guests (although I had expected better from Scarface). The hook is awfully boring and nonsensical, as well. But Tha Realest’s shockingly 2pac-iness distracts the listener from all of this. Which doth not a good song make…

3. TOP DOGG CINDERFELLA (TOP DOGG)

This one’s kind of interesting. Snoop Dogg-soundalike Top Dogg performs pretty much the exact same song Snoop did on his No Limit Top Dogg album of the same year. (Snoop’s version was called “Snoopafella”.) This is by far the inferior version, since Top Dogg, unlike Tha Realest, doesn’t sound enough like Snoop to fool unsuspecting listeners into believing he’s the real thing, but still sounds enough like Tha Doggfather to be perceived as a biter. Also, he lacks Snoop’s charisma. I don’t even care which version is the original: listen to Snoop’s version instead. (Or possibly Dana Dane's original. Just sayin'.)

4. WHO DO YOU BELIEVE IN? (2PAC FEAT. KADAFI) (chk)

After listening to this and checking the credits, I’m still not one hundred percent sure whether this is Pac or Tha Realest (and whether they really are two different people), thanks mostly to Suge’s typical shady business practices. The hook, which is just as shitty and repetitive as “Gotta Love Gangsta’s”, doesn’t help, either. I’m also not enough of a Tupac Shakur fanatic to care, since this song is shit. If this really is 2pac’s song, then it was only inserted onto Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000 to juice some of his fans. (I don't think that last sentence included an intentional pun, but it was funny to me all the same.)

5. I THOUGHT YOU KNEW (MAC SHAWN FEAT. E-40 & DAZ DILLINGER)

Newbie Mac Shawn sounds like a Mystikal clone, which is probably saying too much. Even though the other two featured artists couldn’t have done much to salvage this track, they’re also clearly not even trying. Also, the beat sounds like a cheap Mannie Fresh imitation. Why, Daz, why?!?!

6. CURIOSITY (VK)

Although the beginning of the song promises an uninteresting “gangsta bitch”/ Lil’ Kim/ Foxy Brown-type of track, it actually become somewhat touching, when female rapper VK talks to her father about finding out about her being conceived when he raped her mother at the age of thirteen and never seeing him again, but that's probably included more for shock value than anything else. I also liked the beat. The only downside to “Curiosity” is that I found VK’s voice annoying, but if you can get past that, then you have the best song of its kind since 2Pac’s “Papa’z Song”. I also dug the synth-solo at the end.

7. IT'S GOIN' DOWN (MAC SHAWN FEAT. DAZ DILLINGR & THA REALEST)

Mac Shawn sounds a bit more tolerable on here, but that’s probably due to Daz Dillinger’s instrumental, which, unlike “I Thought You Knew”, actually sounds like Daz had a hand in making it. Tha Realest’s Pac aping grows tiresome, but that tends to happen when gimmicky rappers receive too much exposure on an album. (I like the fact that this song's title can be seen as a direct sequel to “I Thought You Knew”. Also, has anybody ever asked Daz what it was like to contribute to Death Row Records when all of the artists on the roster were actively trying to imitate his old friends or, in the case of Snoop, his own family? That would be a fucking fascinating interview.)

8. DON'T FORGET WHERE YOU CAME FROM (SWOOP G)

I liked Bad Azz clone Swoop G’s verse on “Head Doctor” off the last Death Row-released Snoop Doggy Dogg “album” Dead Man Walkin’, so I was looking forward to this track, but this Snoop dis isn’t very good, probably because Suge coerced him into recording this shit, which is why Swoop doesn’t sound the least bit convincing. Sigh. (Swoop G was once one of Snoop's many weed carriers, which is probably why Suge felt he would be the best vehicle for trash-talking his former employee.)

9. LIKE IT OR NOT (SOOPAFLY)

I've always liked Soopafly, and the L.T. Hutton beat is really good. It's too bad that Soopafly’s career never really took off, and L.T. became the main producer for Ashanti’s latest album. This was still a good song, though. (I've always liked Soopafly, too, but mainly his lone hit, “I Don't Hang”, from the A Thin Line Between Love and Hate soundtrack. I think I'll go listen to that again right now.)

10. IT'S EASY TO BE A SOLDIER WHEN THERE AIN'T NO WAR (THA REALEST FEAT. SWOOP G & C-STYLE)

Even though this is just another Suge-initiated Snoop-dis (albeit a somewhat cleverly-titled one, since Snoop's new coworkers at No Limit Records prided themselves on being No Limit “soldiers”), it’s still pretty decent. The beat was nice and ominous, and my low expectations of the featured artists (including C-Style, who was also once one of Snoop's friends), were slightly exceeded. Definitely one of the highlights of Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000. (I wonder if Suge regrets that title today, though, since there clearly is a fucking war going on.)

11. BEAUTIFUL LADY (DANNY BOY FEAT. K-CI)

Remember Death Row crooner Danny Boy, late of 2Pac's “I Ain't Mad At Cha”? Suge clearly did. This song was placed on here merely to sell the project to a female audience (which never existed in the first place: how many women do you personally know who actively wanted a 2Pac soundalike in her record collection?) Not only does this shit suck, it also doesn't belong on the same disc as track number thirteen, which we'll get to in a moment. (I had forgotten that K-Ci, from Jodeci and, more recently, the duo K-Ci & JoJo, had some sort of side deal with Suge Knight that required him to appear on these shitty projects. Thanks for reminding me.)

12. STAND STRONG (THA REALEST FEAT. DANNY BOY & JEWELL)

Tha Realest brings listeners his own version of a “Keep Ya Head Up”/“Life Goes On”-type track over an okay beat with a decent hook. (Jewell holds the curious distinction of being the only artist to appear on both this project and Snoop's No Limit Top Dogg. Weird.)

13. WE DON'T LOVE 'EM (TOP DOGG)

DJ Quik gives Top Dogg the most The Chronic-like instrumental thus far, which makes the star attraction sound much better than he has any right to. This was actually tolerable.

14. BECAUSE OF YOUR GIRL (THA DOGG POUND FEAT. THA REALEST)

This song would have been pretty bland had it not been for Tha Realest rhyming “perfection” with “erection” while complimenting an unknown female. That made me chuckle. (A bit of trivia: Kurupt (of Tha Dogg Pound) is the only guy to appear on both Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000 and the project it was trying to overshadow, Dr. Dre's 2001.)

DISC TWO:

1. ROLL WITH US (THA DOGG POUND)

Sounds like one of Dogg Food's lesser efforts, which, in this context, means this is pretty fucking good.

2. DRINK'S ON ME (CAPTAIN SAVE M' FEAT. ANT BANKS)

I might need more than just the one in order to enjoy this fucking album. (Lord knows why West Coast stalwart Ant Banks, who also produced, agreed to appear on this project. Everybody has to eat at some point, I suppose. Also, who the fuck is Captain Save M'?)

3. LATE NIGHT (2PAC FEAT. OUTLAWZ)

This is by far the best song on Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000. DJ Quik, who is one of the most underrated rappers-slash-producers on the left coast (next to Daz Dillinger) provides a way too fonkay instrumental for 2Pac to spit some above-average lyrics over. The version that appears on this album is actually a remix, although it isn't labeled as such: the original track featured both DJ Quik and AMG, both of whom I prefer over Tha Outlawz. This was alright enough, but it was much better in its original incarnation. This song also appears on Pac’s 2002 compilation Better Days, if I’m not mistaken.

4. THEY WANNA BE LIKE US (THA REALEST, TOP DOGG, & DOOBIE)

No, you have it backward: you wanna be like them.

5. O.G. TO B.G. (THA DOGG POUND FEAT. SOOPAFLY)

This was a bomb ass song. It features two verses by Kurupt (who, if I’m not mistaken, had already left Death Row Records a year prior to this release), with assists from Daz and Soopafly.

6. I WANNA BE LOVED BY YOU

Skit…

7. WANNA BE LOVED (MICHEL'LE FEAT. VK)

Dr. Dre's baby's mama-turned-Death Row songstress (who had a couple of hit songs of her own in the early 1990s) reminded me of TLC in a good way, all the way down to VK's approximation of Left Eye (who was also signed to Death Row at one point). Not too bad.

8. I'M COMIN' HOME (THA REALEST FEAT. JEWELL)

This was actually kind of nice, if you can get past the 2Pac biting (which, if you haven't figured out from my writings on the topic earlier, is really really hard).

9. I'M COUNTRY (DOOBIE)

If the chorus wasn’t so abysmal, I might have waited until the very end of this track to conclude that it sounds like ass.

10. PRESENTING MIILKBONE (MIILKBONE FEAT. NAJI)

Apparently, this Miilkbone guy (who is in no way related to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony) was dissed by Eminem on his “Just Don’t Give a Fuck”. Suge Knight, sensing yet another way to earn a dishonest buck, decided that Marshall Mathers, an artist who had absolutely nothing to do with Death Row Records, also deserved to feel his wrath, so he quickly signed another white rapper to dis him. To his credit, Miilkbone drops a few not-entirely-bad lines, but the instrumental is way too fruity to make him sound menacing whatsoever. Also, “Miilkbone” has to be the worst rap artist name ever. (Miilkbone was actually around long before Death Row Records came calling, hence Eminem's reference in the first place. I have his debut album in a crate somewhere: this paragraph makes me want to dig it up. Let me know in the comments below if you two would be interested in reading about that.)

11. THE THINGS YOUR MAN WON'T DO (VK)

This song makes no sense, and the beat was annoying as fuck.

12. NOW WHAT (CAPRICORN)

This Kevyn Lewis-produced track rips off elements of De La Soul’s “Me, Myself and I” and has a different Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes clone spit some inane shit over it. Meh.

13. RIDE OR GET RODE ON (BAD HABITZ)

I'd say that title sums up the album quite nicely. There are some emcees out there who are so terrible that they end up sounding entertaining by default (kind of like a movie that is so bad that it's hilarious), but the cast of characters Suge Knight gathered for this project are just terrible in general: Bad Habitz, for example, throw in every rap song cliché they can think of in lieu of being creative, which demands too much of a listener’s patience.

14. MR. OFFICER (MICHEL'LE FEAT. CAPTAIN SAVE M' & EL DORADO)

The beat and hook are decent enough, but the guest rappers ruin what could have been a decent way to conclude this project.

FINAL THOUGHTS: So it turns out that the critics are all right. Think of Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000 as a label sampler take on All Eyez On Me, except without the half-dozen classic songs. That leaves you one long shitty album with a few highlights that are only highlights because the rest is so fucking awful. There simply isn’t a great song on here, just a few decent ones and a few good elements within songs that still manage to suck overall. The main problem with a lot of these tracks is that. even when they start off promisingly, one of Suge’s Pac / Snoop / Rage / Mystikal clones comes in to drop a shitty verse that fucks it up for talented Row inmates Kurupt, Daz, Soopafly, Jewell, Danny Boy & Michel’le, who were all thisclose to leaving anyway (or gone already, for all I know). Even decent artists like E-40, Richie Rich, Scarface contribute piss-poor appearances. None of the Snoop/ Dre/ Eminem-disses contains even a single witty line. The songs listed below are the only ones that you could listen to without angering up the blood. But the fact that they won’t piss you off doesn’t mean that you should actually care (except for maybe “Late Night”, but you should track down the original version instead). You should obviously go buy Dr. Dre's 2001 instead: that album sounds more like The Chronic than this could ever dream of achieving. Also, Dre’s album is a classic (with a few bullshit tracks also, but most albums in our chosen genre not titled Illmatic have that problem), while this is a dinosaur from the bygone era of double discs featuring material that was already dated by the time it hit store shelves.

BUY OR BURN? You’re going to have a hard time finding it either on the web or in the stores. (Well, at least here in Amsterdam where I live, anyway. Actual chronic isn’t that hard to come by, though.) And even if you did, it still isn't going to be worth your time or your money.

BEST TRACKS: “Chronic 2000”; “Curiosity”; “Like It or Not”; “Late Night”; “O.G. to B.G.” “I Wanna Be Loved By You”

-Sir Bonkers

(I've always found the rise and fall of Death Row Records to be a fascinating subject. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave them below.)

Erick Sermon - No Pressure (October 19, 1993)

EPMD broke up in 1993, the result of infighting between the two principles, Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith.  Smith accused Sermon of orchestrating a break-in at his home, and even though the police later cleared him as a suspect, the bond between these two was shattered (temporarily, it turns out, but that's a story for another day).  Sermon began complaining publicly about mismanaged funds, and the days of EPMD were officially numbered.  Business Never Personal wound up being the final album released during the golden era of Erick and Parrish Making Dollars.

In the divorce, PMD gained custody of Das EFX and their deejay, DJ Scratch.  Erick Sermon was able to walk away with his dignity, along with upstart rapper Redman, who he would go on to make some big moves with.  (Rap duo Knucklehedz, EPMD affiliates that most hip hop heads have forgotten about entirely, were the lone major casualty of the breakup: their debut album, Strickly Savage, which featured production from both Erick and Parrish, was shelved indefinitely after they disbanded, and they quickly became the tiniest of footnotes in the annals of history.)

E Double was also allowed to retain his record label, Def Jam, although that may be more because The House That Russell Built was more convinced of his talent than that of Parrish Smith, who moved on to RCA.  Nine months after his world changed, Sermon unleashed his solo debut, No Pressure, addressing his concerns in the most ironic way he could think of.  Unlike his former partner, none of Sermon's solo albums feature the word "business" in the title: this could be seen as a sign that our host for the evening was trying to finally have some fun, since he now retained final cut.

No Pressure was the first album conceived in the EPMD breakup, and it was a huge hit, cementing Sermon's legacy in our chosen genre and allowing the man to enjoy a second phase in his career, something that a lot of artists never receive.  Today, it's most notable for featuring the debut appearance of Def Squad cohort Keith Murray, another relationship that would prove fruitful for E Double later on down the line.

Seventeen years out, it's time to see if Erick Sermon's No Pressure holds up as well as everyone thinks it does.

1. INTRO

Useless, useless, useless.

2. PAYBACK II (FEAT. JOE SINISTR)

Erick Sermon clearly intended for this track to be seen as a direct sequel to EPMD's “The Big Payback”, which sounded nothing like this. (The horrible chorus only underscores the obvious.) For the first real solo song on Sermon's catalog, he introduces an awkward flow that sounds fucking terrible, but he's smart enough to know his own limitations: our host is acutely aware that a little bit of him goes a long way, so he recruits Joe Sinistr to join him behind the mic, and he sounds so much better than our host that E Double's contribution to the vocals is somewhat negated. Not exactly how I would kick off my own solo album, but fuck it, I'm not Erick Sermon.

3. STAY REAL

Our host provides some pointed commentary toward hip hop fanatics about how to secure the future of our chosen genre. Sermon doesn't stray too far from his comfort zone, giving listeners what sounds like an EPMD song that PMD simply failed to make the cut of. (Which is one of the biggest problems I have with No Pressure, but I digress.) E Double sounds much better on here, his natural habitat at the time (tons of samples mashed together into a coherent, funky song structure), than he did on “Payback II”, leading me to wonder why this song, which is actually quite good (even though I couldn't make out E's comment about Das EFX before the third verse), wasn't placed immediately after the intro. Hmm...

4. IMMA GITZ MINE

I imagine that a lot of EPMD fans who picked up No Pressure out of sheer loyalty were not entirely convinced that Erick Sermon could actually carry an album by his lonesome. This may be due to his lazy stoner flow, which favors simple phrases and clichés over character development. Sermon isn't an idiot, though: if you pay attention to his lyrics, he'll usually surprise you with some out-of-left-field references and clever wordplay, and besides, it's almost impossible to hate the earnestness heard in Sermon's rhymes. This song was by no means great, but it does its job.

5. HOSTILE (FEAT. KEITH MURRAY & JEFFREY STEWART)

This track is best known as the official debut of the third member of the Def Squad, the combustible anger ball known as Keith Murray. Sermon sounds awkward over his own beat: his violent threats are transparent and seem to exist only because he wanted to be taken seriously when alongside the rookie. But Keith sounds fucking incredible. His verse takes you back to the finest moments of The Most Beautifullest Thing In This World and Enigma, back when he was amazing with the wordplay and not physically assaulting record label employees for looking at him funny. Never has a song title been so appropriate a description for a guest artist. This was really good.

6. DO IT UP

Sermon's instrumental is at once familiar and foreign, as he takes samples that most hip hop heads will recognize and combines than into something altogether different. However, Erick most certainly spent more time on the beat than he did with the writing of his rhymes, as his verses are an amalgam of stream-of-consciousness braggadocio and pop culture references. Once again, this sounds like an EPMD song missing the co-star: Erick would have benefited from bringing a plus-one to this particular party.

7. SAFE SEX (FEAT DEBRA KILLINGS)

Corny as fuck, and not only because, in giving listeners a public service announcement, Erick Sermon also insists on protecting the listener's ears from STDs by censoring the song. Hiding the message of AIDS awareness in what was probably a leftover EPMD beat isn't a terrible idea, but Erick leads folks down the wrong path, insisting that everyone have a good time (with the drinking and the oddly uncut drug use that goes with it_ before flipping the switch and commanding everyone to wear a condom. I won't even get into how he tries to pass off the phrase “respect my floor” as a euphemism for “take off your shoes, in English”. Huh? Run that by me again?

8. HITTIN' SWITCHES

The drum beat on here is so overused in hip hop that “Hittin' Switches” automatically sounds like something that you've already heard at least twenty times over, even if you're only two years old and this was your first bit of exposure to our chosen genre. This isn't entirely a bad thing: the instant familiarity with this song goes a long way towards enjoying it. Erick's random rhymes sound pretty good over the simple instrumental, and the track contains enough of a feel-good vibe that you're left with a smile on your face. Or maybe that's a snarl. A smarl, perhaps?

9. INTRO

An introduction to the second side of the cassette tape. Well, that was nice of him.

10. ERICK SERMON

E Double decided that he didn't want to make the same mistake as his peers, so his self-titled song appears on his very first solo album, just to get it out of the way. The chorus is awful, as it exists only so Erick can sing his own name, but if you look past that, this is fairly interesting. I'm still not convinced that Erick Sermon absolutely needs to have a solo career, though: as with most of the other songs on No Pressure: I was left wishing that a guest star would make a surprise uncredited cameo. Alas, no such luck here.

11. THE HYPE (FEAT DERRICK CULBREATH)

Erick Sermon wastes a Beastie Boys vocal sample on a simplistic tale (in both structure and delivery) that devolves into a PG-rated letter to Penthouse toward the end. E Double spends the majority of this tale obsessed with the power his own celebrity brings, which is never a good way to appeal to the general audience. Also, he ends the song by having a three-way with two sisters. Isn't that fucking gross for the sisters? Does any girl ever really get off by watching her sibling get fucked? I've never understood that shit. If they were best friends, I would believe the hype, but Sermon spins this into some kind of pseudo-incestuous nightmare, and the presence of a shared bloodline is what kills it for me.

12. LIL CRAZY (FEAT. SHADZ OF LINGO)

The instrumental on here is actually pretty dope, but Erick's opening verse is fucking terrible. Thankfully, he steps out of the room as the crew Shadz Of Lingo (who were teased at earlier on during No Pressure; oooh, foreshadowing!) attempt to rip shit the fuck apart. Kolorado doesn't provide the best verse in the world or anything, but it was highly enjoyable: it's just too bad that his partner, Lingo, screws everything up with his performance, switching back and forth between your speakers in a highly annoying manner. (I might have possibly gotten the order of the Shadz emcees incorrect: I'm not really familiar with their work.) This was interesting as a glimpse into an alternate universe, one in which Erick Sermon never collaborated with Redman and Keith Murray in the first place.

13. THE ILL SHIT (FEAT. ICE CUBE & KAM)

Fulfilling the need for a batshit collaboration for his solo debut, Erick calls upon West Coast stalwart Kam and, of all people, Lottery Ticket's Ice Cube, who sounds uncomfortable over a Sermon instrumental, even though E Double goes out of his way to craft a Left Coast beat. Kam sounded as authoritative as he always does, but otherwise, there wasn't much to recommend on here.

14. SWING IT OVER HERE (FEAT. REDMAN & KEITH MURRAY)

To my knowledge, this is the very first Def Squad track, and by that I mean this is the very first song that featured Erick Sermon, Redman, and Keith Murray together. Too bad it fucking sucks. Let me extrapolate a bit: the beat is weakly constructed, and Murray, so good on “Hostile”, sounds like he was in way over his head, so his performance may leave you two wondering why he's even in the Def Squad in the first place. However, Sermon sounds rejuvenated, and the almighty Reggie Noble (who receives his own grand introduction right before his verse starts) steps into the restaurant and clears out the buffet, even though he was still in the midst of his "sounding like Erick Sermon" period. This is in no way a good song, but at least two of the three verses were alright.

15. INTERVIEW

The beat playing in the background was re-used by Erick for Keith Murray's “Make It Hot”. That's the only fascinating aspect of this skit, really, since this is truly just an interview with E Double.

16. ALL IN THE MIND (FEAT. SOUP)

Sermon's instrumental explores much darker territory than anything else present on No Pressure: it sounds like some of the bleaker stuff from Keith Murray's debut. That is to say that it's really fucking good. The verses on here aren't all that hot, though. Guest star Soup does his best, but E Double's shitty hook and awkward performance hammer the nail into the song's coffin fairly early on. Sigh.

17. FEMALE SPECIES

Erick Sermon devotes an entire track to the opposite sex, but he has enough sense to tack it on at the very end of No Pressure, so that listeners (such as myself) can eject the disc and pretend that “All In The Mind” was the finale. How thoughtful of him, right?

FINAL THOUGHTS: Although it was fairly popular, Erick Sermon's No Pressure was criticized for sounding too much like another EPMD album. While that is a valid point, my biggest issue with No Pressure is that it's about as engaging as the shittier songs in the former (current) duo's catalog, although it should be noted that this is not an album made up entirely of hip house garbage. Sermon seemed convinced that he didn't need his former business partner to record successful music, and financially he was correct, but most of these songs lack heat, as E Double simply coasts on his prior life instead of establishing a solo identity. Not every song on here is bad, though: in face, a few of them are quite good, and the Green Eyed Bandit goes a long way toward proving to the hip hop audience that he held the majority of the talent in EPMD, as evidenced by his continued success in the game. However, Erick Sermon shouldn't have rushed out the product just to appease his fans: had he taken his time and honed his craft a bit, the end result could have been much more entertaining. Instead, we have No Pressure. Groan.

BUY OR BURN? No thank you. Look up the tracks listed below and come back when Sermon attempts to redeem himself with his sophomore effort. Will that one be worth it? How would I know? I haven't actually written about it yet.

BEST TRACKS: “Hostile”; “Hittin' Switches”; “Stay Real”

-Max

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You can catch up on Erick Sermon's career thus far by clicking here.