In 1994, the marketing minds at Def Jam promoted October as the "Month Of The Man", ostensibly to market two separate artists with the word "man" in their names, but it also served as a cost-cutting measure, since one ad in The Source to promote two separate albums was less expensive than taking up two ad slots. The problem with this idea was that it indicated "Month Of The Man" was the name of an actual album by Reggie Noble and Clifford Smith, which left hip hop fans confused. Considering that, at this point, Meth and Red hadn't even collaborated once together, it was a leap of imagination for anyone to consider a collaborative effort, but after the soundtrack to the hip hop documentary The Show hit the streets, fans took a second look at the ads and demanded an album by America's Most Blunted (their words, not mine).
I remember seeing these ads in The Source myself, and I don't recall there being any mention of the actual albums being promoted, Tical and Dare Iz A Darkside, two albums that, on first listen, sound completely different, but after a few spins connect very nicely with their lighthearted raps and dark production. Def Jam pulled off a very savvy move; it essentially promoted an album five full years before its release, and let the momentum build, with their "How High" from The Show, and then with guest appearances on both their own albums and on other people's records. This partnership would prove lucrative for the two artists, who are actually good friends in real life, and that friendship is what made How High (the movie), Meth & Red (the TV show), and Blackout! believable and entertaining.
Blackout!, their first (and to date, only) collaborative effort (the soundtrack to How High doesn't count), sold over one million copies in less than three months, paving the way for the movies and TV shows, and inadvertently killing their solo careers for the short term. The next albums by both rappers both sounded awful, and their sales and marketability suffered; were it not for their collaborations with their respective groups (Wu-Tang Clan and Def Squad, for the uninitiated), they may as well have fallen off of the face of the planet (and in the Def Jam offices, they actually did fall off the planet, or at least, off of their release schedules). The instant success of Blackout!, followed by their defeats (poor album sales, Meth & Red being cancelled), brought everything into full, albeit hazy, focus for the two biggest potheads in rap, and this newfound focus allowed them to create new, critically acclaimed albums in 2006 and 2007 that, once again, failed miserably on the charts, but now the rappers are in the position of living legends who have earned their respect in the game. And that's always a good place to be.
A word of caution: Red and Meth decided to fuck with consumers inside the album booklet. All nineteen tracks are listed with their credits, but they are all out of order. The tracklisting provided below is in the correct sequence. I bring this up because I just noticed that my Windows Media Player is listing the tracks in the order they appear inside the booklet.
1. A SPECIAL JOINT (INTRO)
Rap album intro. Yawn.
2. BLACKOUT!
A better way to introduce your album, with a bouncy Erick Sermon beat and imaginative lyrics.
3. MI CASA
The camera sound effects integrated in the beat sounded goofy in 1999, but now they sound alright. Too bad the chorus sucks.
4. Y.O.U.
I actually really like this song, with the so-called "Electric Relaxation" vocal sample (actually from an interlude between "Electric Relaxation" and "Clap Your Hands" on A Tribe Called Quest's Midnight Marauders) and the bouncy beat from E-Double. By the way, that Erick Sermon production thing? Pretty consistent throughout the album. I know, right?
5. 4 SEASONS (FEAT JA RULE & LL COOL J)
The only way I can rationalize why James Todd Smith and fucking Ja Rule appear on this album is that (a) they are both Def Jam artists, just like Red and Meth, (b)as such, Def Jam probably forced them to promote both Ja and LL, and (c) Erick Sermon had produced tracks for all four artists involved at some point. If you skip Ja Rule's verse (which is conveniently placed last), the song isn't horrible. Mr. Smith proves himself admirably.
6. CEREAL KILLER (FEAT BLUE RASPBERRY)
Funny. This doesn't sound like a Rza beat, but it's right there in the credits. Huh. Redman's first verse is freaking hilarious. You just have to hear it to understand; just typing the lyrics wouldn't do justice to his delivery. Meth being outshined by Reggie over a Rza beat can't be a good thing for the suits at Wu headquarters. Take that however you like.
7. DA ROCKWILDER
The song that jump-started Rockwilder's career as a hip hop producer, which lasted for exactly twelve minutes. (Where's he at now? Did that Christina Aguilera song kill off his buzz? Because that song wasn't horrible.) I still love the shout-out to Cypress Hill at the end of this short track, as Cypress have passed their blunt torches to the Cheech and Chong of rap, and disappeared from relevancy. (Where are they at now?)
8. TEAR IT OFF
I believe this was the first single, which sounded like every other Erick Sermon-produced track in 1999, so back then I pretty much ignored it. Listening to it now, it has a nostalgic late-nineties feel that is sorely lacking from any Erick Sermon track released today. Vanglorious.
9. WHERE WE AT (SKIT)
Redman's solo albums always come with multiple skits, so why shouldn't Blackout! do the same? I guess cassette tapes were still readily available in late 1999, sice Reggie introduces listeners to "side 2" of "the Blackout! tape" here.
10. 1,2,1,2
E-Double tags in DJ Scratch and sits out this round. With this opportunity, Scratch produces a track that could easily be confused with a Sermon beat in a Pepsi Challenge. And wow, that Buddy Lee reference is dated. Does anyone even remember those commercials?
11. MAAAD CREW
Not content with sitting on the sidelines, Erick Sermon returns for an 'encore' of sorts, before sitting out the rest of the album (the final three tracks are Erick Sermon productions, but they are all taken from previously released albums.) Probably the weakest Sermon track here, and Meth doesn't sound especially good over slower tracks like this.
12. RUN 4 COVER (FEAT GHOSTFACE KILLAH & STREET LIFE)
A depressing listen, in that the second of two Rza productions adopts his "digital orchestra" bullshit sound instead of dusting off some beats from the 36 chambers. To the amazement of nobody, Reggie proves he is able to rhyme to almost any beat, even something by The Rza, so he comes off well here. And Meth should receive kudos for finding a way to get his weed carrier Street Life on this album. Oh, and Ghost is on here, too.
13. THE ? (FEAT MISSY ELLIOT)
Redman decides that he can produce his own fucking songs, thank you very much. Missy's appearance isn't much more than her saying "Hey!" once, and Reggie looping it into the beat. Not bad, but I could have done without the Ja Rule vocal sample, since now I want to slice my ears off with a potato peeler.
14. DAT'S DAT SHIT (FEAT JAMAL a/k/a MALLY G & YOUNG ZEE)
Former child rapper Jamal (formerly of the short-lived duo Illegal, with Mr. Malik) turned Def Squad weed carrier appears along with Cheech and Reggie on a Mathematics beat that sounds more Wu than any Rza track here. An uncredited Young Zee (of The Outsidaz, a/k/a Rah Digga's baby daddy) provides the hook, and since I've liked Young Zee ever since his appearance on The Fugees's "Cowboys", I actually like this song, even with the same word misspelled twice in a row in the title.
15. CHEKA
Reggie's boy Gov Mattic provides a great beat for Red and Meth to spit over. Meth sounds reinvigorated here, providing his best vocals for the entire album.
16. FIRE INA HOLE
Meh.
17. WELL ALL RITE CHA
This song is actually a loaner from Redman's Doc's Da Name 2000, a solo album which I haven't gotten around to reviewing yet. If Def Jam's idea was to take a track from both Red and Meth that featured the other artist, I would have personally gone with "Do What Ya Feel" from Reggie's Muddy Waters, which is a better song, even if it is produced by Pras (of all people). Taken as is, though, this song is catchy enough.
18. BIG DOGS
Conversely, this song is borrowed from Meth's Tical 2000: Judgement Day. I already wrote about this track in my review for that album, so I'll just say this: I've heard better from Meth, and Reggie steals the show as always.
19. HOW HIGH (REMIX)
The album credits say "remix", but this is really just the album version taken from The Show soundtrack. Remember when I wrote about The Show, and complained how the version of "How High" on the album wasn't the same as the video version? Yeah. That song. Still a good song, though.
FINAL THOUGHTS: For a Wu-Tang solo album, Blackout! is fucking awful. However, for a Redman album, it's not bad. Wu heads were angry upon this album's release because it sounds more like a Def Squad album then they believed it should. Well, nearly half of the tracks were produced by Erick Sermon, so you shouldn't really be surprised. I was disappointed that The Rza only saw fit to provide two tracks, neither of which sound like Wu-Tang, but if you look at this like a Redman side project and not one for Meth, you'll walk away a better person for it.
BUY OR BURN? Redman lives up to his self-professed "eleventh member of the Wu-Tang Clan" moniker, so based on that alone, you should pick this album up. If you're a bigger Method Man fan than Reggie, you'll be shocked to learn that you'll switch sides after a few listens.
BEST TRACKS: "Y.O.U."; "Cereal Killer"; "Da Rockwilder"; "Blackout!"; "Cheka"; "Dat's Dat Shit"
-Max
RELATED POSTS:
Method Man - Tical
Method Man - Tical 2000: Judgement Day
Redman - Whut? Thee Album
Redman - Dare Iz A Darkside
J-Zone, real name Jeremiah Zonisteinberg, is an underground-but-should-be-better-known producer and CEO of his own company, Old Maid Entertainment. He hails from New York, but the majority of his fan base resides in Europe, which means he spends more time overseas touring his albums than here in the States. This is just more proof that American hip-hop fans often support the wrong artists. Music For Tu Madre , his first album, was released to very little acclaim, as it was never actually intended for anybody's ears. You see, the album was his thesis for graduating from college. As it is, it's one of the best term papers I've ever heard in my life, and he must have gotten a lot of praise from his professors, as he later released it to the public. He uses his humorous lyrics (that sounds too formal; they're actually fucking hysterical) and incredibly creative, offbeat samples (sort of like a broke Prince Paul, but that's still some great company to be in) to open up a discussion on the state of hip hop at the time, either 1998 or 1999 (I can't locate anywhere the exact date this was originally released.) Other than the fact that he has an appreciation for ignorant rap music and basketball, and the fact that he loves his grandmother (that's her reaching for the bottle on the album cover), Zone info is pretty hard to come across, which is for the better, anyway. No need for that messy personal stuff to get in the way of your musical talents. After reading the review, be sure to check out his official website at www.zonesite.net for more information on his various projects.(Yeah, I know I'm tempting fate by placing the hyperlink before the actual write-up. I'll take my chances.)
1. FM BLUESThe saddest part about this introductory track is that the radio actually sounds worse today than it used to in 98-99. That excerpt of "I sell crack/And I know how to rap/From the projects/And I love to bust caps" could be taken from damn near any artist's debut record from 2007. Does this make Zone a prophet? No, it just makes him very fucking observant.2. WHO IS J-ZONE?The actual rap album intro. It's just a skit comprised of random vocal samples.3. THE ZONE MISSIONZone isn't the best rapper in the world, but his flow is a nice change of pace from all of the shouting and repetition heard on the radio these days. As the first real song presented here, it sounds pretty good.4. SO PRETTY (FEAT AL-SHID)This is just funny. Misogynistic, sure, but given the subject matter, Zone and Shid have a point.5. CANDY RAZORS (FEAT HUGGY BEAR, KOBAYASHI, & TRIP)I have no clue who Kobayashi and Trip are, but Huggy Bear (The Great White Hope) sounds like the yin to J-Zone's yang. Which would make Al-Shid, I don't know, the dash between yin and yang? Whatever. This beat makes you stand up and take notice of Zone's production prowess; he's one of the best for a reason.6. I'M LONELY...7. KIZZY'S REVENGE (FEAT LOS)This is the weakest track here. I'm not saying it's out of place, but it may have looked better in the garbage disposal than in the album's sequencing.8. INTERMISSION...9. 5 YEARS (PRELUDE)Where do you see hip hop in five years? Consider the answers given to Zone's survey in this prelude, and then look at today's rap "stars". The responses given here are optimistic compared to today's reality. It almost makes me want to give up and grab my Depeche Mode and New Order albums and start writing about how New Wave Isn't Dead. Almost.10. 5 YEARSYeah, it sounds very dated, but the points made in this satirical song are still valid today. Rappers still talk about money and what they drink and what they wear and all the bitches they've fucked or will fuck; they just don't drink Cristal anymore.11. S.H.I.D. (FEAT AL-SHID)Al-Shid's solo showcase. People, this is how a punchline rapper should sound. Although Shid actually didn't come into his own until Zone's second album, he still becomes the center of attention like the letter "n".12. CATCH 22 (FEAT HUGGY BEAR)Great track. Huggy outshines Zone as the guy who can't even get a job rounding up shopping carts after his arrest. 13. SMOKE THEORYSkit, with a creepy-ass sample at the end, which may sound even freakier while stoned out of your mind.14. PAINNot even a true skit, just a sample, but one that I used to slip into mixtapes just to amuse myself when I was younger. You see, they used to have these things called "audio cassette tapes"...15. INAUGURATION DAYJ-Zone becomes president, and a devilish young man tries to talk him into fixing America by destroying the African American race, in a song which will cause people to compare the track to how minorities are treated (and how they treat themselves) today. Easily the deepest song here, as it approaches a lot of topics that will make you think about society and its ills. Great execution, too. 16. CALAMINE LOTIONThe DJ track. Lots of obscure-ass samples scratched here. A nice way to end the listening experience.There are also versions of Music For Tu Madre that include instrumentals for "Candy Razors", "Kizzy's Revenge", S.H.I.D.", and "Catch 22" as tracks 17 through 20.FINAL THOUGHTS: Music For Tu Madre features poorly mastered tracks, samples that would never survive the clearance process, unpolished rhyming from the star and his cohorts, and an overall sarcastic demeanor regarding the nature of hip hop. In other words, it's really fucking good, even though I believe Zone gets into his, well, zone with his follow up, A Bottle Of Whup Ass. I hadn't heard this album in a while, and it makes me miss the chemistry between J-Zone and the two rappers who would later become the other two Old Maid Billionaires, Al-Shid and Huggy Bear, a/k/a Hug, a/k/a the guy who no longer works with Zone for undisclosed reasons. (I assume it has to do with money, but who knows? Anyone? Feel free to drop a line in the comments.) For a thesis, it's still pretty entertaining, and it tastes good with a smidge of butter.BUY OR BURN? This is a trick question. Music For Tu Madre is no longer available in its physical form. Hell, even I have a burned copy. It is definitely worth your time, though, so I would recommend going through iTunes (J-Zone has made his entire catalog available there) and burning it, knowing that the money will go to support Zone (and maybe convince him to come out of retirement). If you are able to locate a true CD or vinyl copy of Music For Tu Madre, then you probably should have spent your time trying to hook up with the girl (or guy) of your choice, as that would be a better use of your resources.BEST TRACKS: "The Zone Mission"; "Candy Razors"; "S.H.I.D."; "Catch 22"; "Inauguration Day"-Max
After some turbulent times (drug addiction, frequent run-ins with law enforcement, crashing the Grammys), Russell Jones decided he wanted to become a superstar. He would always have ties with the Wu-Tang Clan, especially since the other two founding members were his cousins. However, he wanted to try something different.Upon purchase of N---a Please, ODB's second solo album released on Elektra Records, one notices that a certain production duo who wouldn't normally even be considered to be considered for a Wu project pops up on three tracks: The Neptunes were tapped to bring a more commercial sound to this project. Normally the idea of a rapper whose very name screams "radio friendly" trying to appeal to the masses with a pop hit would sound ridiculous, and that's how I took it when I saw the first video, "Got Your Money", which featured Kelis back when she had big hair and nobody knew who the hell she was. However, after hearing it a few times, I realized that the song was pretty damn catchy, so I guess that experiment worked. Irv Gotti, he of the Murder Inc. and getting-arrested-for-possessing-Viagra-without-a-prescription fame, also provides some of the production duties here, and the majority of the rest comes from Dirty's beloved cousin Robert Diggs, a/k/a The Rza. Other than the Abbott himself, there are no other core Wu members appearing on N---a Please. Some would look at this as a dismissal of Dirty's champagne dreams, but I choose to believe that everyone else was busy churning out terrible sophomore efforts, or in the cases of Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa, they were busy trying to convince The Rza to finally let them release their debuts, arguments that would actually work for two of the three artists involved, with mixed results.N---a Please was a critical and commercial success, surprising since in order for an album to sell as many copies as N---a Please did, white people would be forced to actively seek out an album with the n-word in its very title and purchase it with a straight face. But hey, "Got Your Money" has a good beat, and you can dance to it, so I suppose that was enough incentive to risk looking like a fucking racist at the record store. And who doesn't love that cover, with Dirty doing his best Rick James impression?I don't, for one. But that's only due to how he would later die, of a drug overdose, which was spookily similar to how Rick James passed.1. RECOGNIZE (FEAT CHRIS ROCK & PHARRELL WILLIAMS)I don't remember reading anywhere that the world was clamoring for Chris Rock to rap. (I heard his rap parodies on that Born Suspect album, the comedy CD he released before hooking up with Prince Paul; I was not impressed.) Pookie does his best to not completely embarrass himself, and Pharrell does his falsetto thing on the hook, a harbinger of things to come in Pharrell's (and pop radio's) future. ODB sounds as nuts as he always did, but you immediately miss The Rza's dusty basement beats.2. I CAN'T WAITIrv Gotti takes a sample from TJ Hooker and gives Dirty a track that sounds like he's going to introduce tonight's edition of 20/20. I should mention that this album is much harder to listen to than his first solo release, possibly because the effect of the various drugs in DIrty's system caused his rhymes to be more erratic than they used to be. Just imagine Kool Keith on shrooms, and you won't be anywhere close to what I'm getting at.3. COLD BLOODEDDirty covers the Rick James song to hilarious effect, but I still can't shake that spooky feeling. Thinking of Dave Chappelle helps, though. 4. GOT YOUR MONEY (FEAT KELIS)The first, and as far as I know, only single. It still sounds alright, but anyone who truly thinks this song is better than anything else in his back catalog should be left behind in a Brooklyn zoo.5. ROLLIN' WIT YOUI wonder if Elektra Records had Dirty sign an insurance waiver before they would let him into the studio, because, even if he could blame it on the drugs, the racist comments during the intro would have definitely caused him to get his ass beat down by both black and white people, in a display of racial harmony. That being said, this song sounds ok.6. GETTIN' HIGH (FEAT 12 O'CLOCK, LA THE DARKMAN, & SHORTY SHIT STAIN)So far, this would be the most Wu sounding song on N---a Please, with the beat provided by Buddha Monk, and guest vocals by Russell's brother 12 O' Clock and heavily praised Wu affiliate La The Darkman. However, Dirty doesn't appear on this song, so it doesn't count. Good to see the guy with the worst rap name in the whole of Wu-Tang history still getting work, though.7. YOU DON'T WANT TO FUCK WITH MEAt this point, Ol Dirty's incessant shouting of both his lyrics and his choruses will probably drive you insane. 8. N---A PLEASE (FEAT THE RZA)The best song on the album, with one of the best Rza "digital" beats. ODB sounds like his old self here, rhyming about how cocaine clears out his sinuses, although even that lyric is unsettling now. As the song fades out, The Rza promises us an album featuring "The Abbott & The Crazy Monk", which of course never happened.9. DIRT DOGThis is one of the most plain sounding productions I have ever heard, and both The Rza and Buddha Monk had a hand in it. Dirty sounds like his old self, but the beat doesn't help him at all.10. I WANT PUSSYSounds like a Rza throwaway track, and Dirty sounds pretty fucking terrifying at the end when he states "my mama cannot protect ya'll, bitch". This is how you reach for a broader audience, by crawling up your own asshole?11. GOOD MORNING HEARTACHE (FEAT LIL' MO)I never cared for this song, because Lil' Mo is overrated, and I never liked Dirty's singing, no matter how sincere he was being.12. ALL IN TOGETHER NOWTrue Master provides the sonic backdrop for a song whose title pays homage to the rap group The Rza, Gza, and ODB were originally a part of. Dirty hardly bothers with even the most simple rap music convention, "rhyming to the beat", but this song should appease Wu-Tang fans.N---a Please also features an unlisted thirteenth song that can't be considered a bonus track:13. CRACKER JACKRumored to be a Rza track, and hopefully it is, as it is so much more interesting than Dirty's lyrics. Probably should have been left off the album, but then that would cause bloggers (including myself) to assign a mythical quality to it as a cherished "unreleased track", and I would be forced to scour the Interweb for it. Sigh...FINAL THOUGHTS: As a Wu-Tang album, solo or otherwise, N---a Please is awful. If you had never even heard of the Clan before picking this album up, there is literally no way you could connect this project with the other eight members of the group. However, that's not how this album should be judged. The Wu have always been, and always will be, nine solo artists who would occasionally join forces to release a group effort, so N---a Please should be judged as a Dirt McGirt solo album and nothing more. That being said, this album can be seen as either hilarious or frustrating, depending on your state of mind and any illicit substances you may be under the influence of at the time, because at least on Return To The 36 Chambers, ODB was rapping most of the time. To appeal to as many people as possible, though, you have to branch out, and that's what old Russell did, and in doing that, he secured the throne of Most Mainstream Wu-Tang Member, dethroning Method Man, who probably didn't want that position anyway.BUY OR BURN? Mainstream or not, N---a Please hasn't aged very well, so I would recommend a burn. Hardcore Wu-Tang fans like myself who already own this one will be better off listening to their copies of Return To The 36 Chambers again.BEST TRACKS: "N---a Please"; "Got Your Money"; "Gettin' High"; "Cold Blooded"-MaxRELATED POSTS:Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return To The 36 Chambers (The Dirty Version)The Rza - Rza as Bobby Digital In StereoPharrell - In My MindWu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)Wu-Tang Clan - Wu-Tang Forever
First off, for any of my two readers that I may have lost based on that Kingdom Come write-up, I have to make a comment: I firmly stand behind my Bleek and Sigel statements. Sigel might surprise me later (he did appear on that Roots song "Adrenaline!", which was actually the first time I had ever heard him, so at least he appears to have some taste, and he introduced the rap world to Freeway, he of the awesome beard, so he can't be completely awful), but there is no possible way that Bleek will ever do anything to impress me in his or my lifetime, unless one day he shows up at my house to rescue my cat from a tree, and in the process of climbing said tree he loses his grip, grasps onto a sturdy tree branch, swings around 3.5 times, releases, performs several flips of increasing difficulty, and ultimately hits the perfect landing on the top of an unmanned 18-wheeler, right before it drives off of a cliff, because in this fantasy I live right next to the Grand Canyon. At least then I could say in his obit, "Josiah 'Memphis' Bleek was the type of person who would try, and ultimately fail, at getting your cat out of a tree, let alone making a song that is halfway decent, but at least he wasn't at my house long enough to breathe in all of my precious oxygen. Because I need that to live, you see."
Anyway.
Donnie Shaquan Lewis, known as Skillz (formerly Mad Skillz), was born in Detroit, but calls Virginia home, sharing the title of VA's Contribution To The Rap Game with Timbaland, The Neptunes, Missy Elliott, and The Clipse. Skillz is best known as a battle rapper and hip hop ghostwriter who now releases year-end wrap-up songs, recapping the previous twelve months to hilarious effect. Those songs are good, but Mad Skillz also used to make actual albums. He scored a record deal with Atlantic Records when he placed second in a freestyle contest. (The winner of that contest went on to open his own Quizno's franchise.) His first and only major-label release, From Where???, was released to zero fanfare, and his career quickly tanked.
He went on to work several day jobs but never gave up on the songwriting, and aligned himself with all of the aforementioned VA artists listed above , as well as his own crew, The Supafriendz, whose only real claim to fame thus far is their "Are You That Somebody" remix; they claimed that they rhymed over the Aaliyah beat to prove that real emcees can rap over any beat, even one that Timbaland was inspired to utilize the sound of a baby's cry on. He released a single, "Ghostwriter", around this time, which informed listeners of all of the artists that he has written songs for, except everyone's names were censored. He has threatened multiple times in the new millennium to re-release the unedited version of the song, but has yet to do so. It may not matter anyway; some of the artists he has been rumored to ghostwrite for include Puff Daddy, Foxy Brown, and Ma$e, and none of those artists are relevant anymore anyway, so re-releasing the track would only bring unnecessary publicity for those artists involved. He also later scored a deal with Rawkus Records, but this was around the time that the label was imploding, so everything he's done since has been one-offs on random labels, at least to my knowledge.
I think it's obvious that I've focused on what the former Mad SKillz has done since the From Where??? release because there isn't really much that I can say about him. I heard his two singles on the radio, but they never really took off in my area. I saw a video for the lead single "The Nod Factor" on BET (around 1996, I suppose, but I can't really attach the video to any particular memory of '96, it's that forgettable), but never on MTV, and even in my teens I figured out that if Atlantic Records couldn't even bribe MTV into playing a video from Mad Skillz, then his career must be doomed. And it was, for a while. The next time I saw him and paid attention was when he popped up in the video for Timbaland and Magoo's "Clock Strikes (Remix)" (the one that rips off From Dusk Till Dawn), with a video-only verse of his added on for good measure. At that point I thought, okay, if he aligned himself with Timbaland, he should at least have a decent amount of exposure. (Bear in mind, this was before Ms. Jade and Bubba Sparxxx were taken under Timbo's wing, and we all know how that turned out.) These days, I'm happy when I see a new single of his bouncing around the blogs, or when I hear a new album of his is rumored to be released sometime in the next thirty years, because it proves to me that he never gave up the rapping to open up a rivalling Subway franchise.
Anyway...1. FROM WHERE??? (INTRO)
A rap album intro, yes, but it features Skillz and an uncredited Lonnie B. in a cypher, which is always a decent way to start your debut album. Lonnie B. indirectly disses Bone Thugs 'N' Harmony and Snoop Doggy Dogg, which is more interesting than Skillz's rhymes, sad to say.2. IT'S GOIN' DOWN
I guess Skillz's Detroit connect was in full force in 1996, as this song was produced by the late J Dilla. A much better way for Skillz to introduce himself to the masses, even though the hook both (a) sucks, and (b) utilizes an overused hip hop cliche.
3. THE NOD FACTOR
The first single, with production handled by The Beatnuts, who I really have to get around to reviewing. I mean, their debut has been sitting in my 'review' pile for several months now. Since I found out about the production, I've seen this song in a different light, even though as a Skillz song it's pretty weak, sounding like radio-friendly battle raps, which was Canibus's mistake as well.
4. VA IN THE HOUSE
Mad Skillz's ode to the Veteran's Administration, over a beat produced by Buckwild. I'm still trying to figure out how he scored such great underground producers, since he was a rapper from Virginia, and in 1996 that meant jack shit.
5. TONGUES OF THE NEXT SHIT (FEAT KALONJI THE IMMORTAL)
A note for the aspiring rappers who may or may not read my blog: when you release your debut album, it's always a good idea to include a weed carrier or two on a song, just so you can look like a better rapper by comparison. 6. DOIN' TIME IN DA CYPHA
The chorus is very weak, but that's a characteristic of all battle rappers who believe that they can write an actual album. The verses themselves are alright, but I found Buckwild's beat to be very lacking , which didn't help matters.
7. TIP OF THE TONGUEProbably the first song on here that showcases the, well, skills that Mad Skillz is known for nowadays; the beat, provided by Nick Wiz, is the best vehicle for Skillz to flow on. The fact that it comes in as the seventh song on the CD isn't a good sign, though.8. EXTRA ABSTRACT SKILLZ (FEAT LARGE PROFESSOR & Q-TIP)Contains the best guest appearances on the album, which wasn't too hard to do. Skillz proves that he can more than hold his own around rap legends (yes, I just called LP and Q-Tip legends, and I'm sure others will agree with me). Great track overall.9. WMAD (INTERLUDE)...10. GET YOUR GROOVE ONThe chorus is horrendous. I would say that the rhymes are pretty good and that the song is decent otherwise, but I have to repeat: the chorus is horrendous.11. THE JAMThe "Method Man"-inspired chorus over the second J Dilla contribution is appreciated.12. MOVE YA BODY
The second, and final, single released. DJ Clark Kent, who I think I last wrote about on Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt write-up, gives Skillz the most radio-friendly track here. I love the fact that DJ Premier took a vocal sample from this song and used it on Jeru The Damaja's "Me, Not The Paper" ("Ain't no fiends coming in between me and my dreams, see what I mean, black?") The song actually isn't that bad, but when I was younger, I would always get this song confused with Miilkbone's "Where'z Da Party At?" and Little Shawn's "Dom Perignon", since they all sound kind of similar, what with the subject matter and overall radio-friendliness.13. STREET RULESMeh.14. ALL IN ITThe hook is inspired by Gang Starr, which is not a bad source of inspiration, for all of you aspiring rappers out there. Not bad.15. UNSEEN WORLD (FEAT LONNIE B, KALONJI THE IMMORTAL, DR. MYNBENDA, LIL' ROC, & JAVON THE MEDIEVAL)When in doubt, put all of your friends on the same track, and make sure that you outshine them all. It helps if the beat is well suited for a posse cut. 16. INHERIT THE WORLDThe drums are awkward, to say the least, but this isn't a bad way to end your debut album.FINAL THOUGHTS: From Where??? is not the instant classic that blogland would have you believe just because Skillz is well loved in the blogging community. The album sounds like an artist who is struggling to find his place in the genre, and actually succeeding part of the time, which is more than you can say about some of these rappers out today (cough most of the rappers in the South cough). Skillz has given us a decent debut, and leaves the listener wanting more, so hopefully he settles his lack-of-a-label situation and gets some more product on shelves.BUY OR BURN? I would have to recommend a burn, mainly because From Where??? is out of print and sells for more than twenty bucks a pop over at the Amazon z-shops. It's not the greatest thing since sliced bread, but for a rap album, it still tastes good with a smear of butter.BEST TRACKS: "Extra Abstract Skillz"; "Move Ya Body"; "Tip Of The Tongue"; "All In It"-Max
If I ever doubt my own abilities, at least I can say that I finish what I start. Kingdom Come is Shawn Carter's last officially released album to date, and it appeared about three years after he announced his self-professed "worst retirement in history". Most rap fans would argue that we never truly had any time to miss Shawn, since he released two albums and appeared on seemingly everyone's singles while he was supposed to be leaning back in his beach chair. Some compared Jay's comeback to that of Michael Jordan, who never truly regained his spark once he returned wearing the 4-5. Kingdom Come was attacked viciously upon its release, picked apart and dismissed as the work of a "lazy" man who didn't even really try to give the listening public anything substantial; it seemed rushed, and they came to that conclusion because Hov recorded the album while on a world tour. As such, whenever Jay is brought up these days in blogland, it's because he appears on that godforsaken "Umb-A-Rell-A" Rhianna track, or because he's fielding rumors of leaving his presidential post at Def Jam to start up another label.There's no question that Kingdom Come was preceded by one hundred and seventy-five percent of Def Jam's marketing force, leaving Method Man and Ghostface Killah as footnotes on Def Jam's 2006 tax return. For someone who stated previously that he didn't want to make any more solo albums, he pimped his album relentlessly, and he did so in an unorthodox manner: he went after football fans, NASCAR fans, and beer drinkers. No other rapper in history had blatantly embraced this fanbase (even though most rap fans are white people in the suburbs), and as such, it backfired on him; Kingdom Come didn't sell nearly as well as the rest of his catalog. In my city, the two quote-unquote "hip hop" stations didn't even bother adding the singles "Show Me What You Got" or "Lost One" to their respective playlists (although they still play the shit out of "Big Pimpin'" and "Can I Get A..."). Due to the fact that the album was mixed in its entirety by the good Dr. Dre (who received the audio tracks via e-mail while Jay was globetrotting), Kingdom Come also has the most polished sound of any Jay album, which probably didn't help matters much.I'll be honest. As big of a Jay stan that I may be, even I had my doubts about the comeback disc. I was getting tired of the multiple Superman and Jordan references in his guest appearances, and I wasn't too sure that a comeback was even the smartest thing for his career. So, like everyone else who reads these types of blogs, I burned a copy of it two weeks before its release. I popped it into the car stereo while my wife and I were driving to a friend's house en route to a road trip to some carnival or something. I didn't really like the first single, with its Public-Enemy-not-Wreckx-N-Effect horn sample, so I skipped it. Unlike some of the others who were quick to pounce, I wasn't appalled by the lyrical content; obviously, what else was Jay going to rap about? I appreciated the fact that he rapped about his life experiences, even though those experiences usually include sleeping with Beyonce or running his nightclub, because he was telling the truth. (Strange how I never read any rebuttals inquiring if those other listeners would have liked Kingdom Come more if Jay was still rapping about selling drugs, but I guess you can't please everyone.) Overall, I thought "30 Something" was funny, "Kingdom Come" used the Rick James "Superfreak" sample in a most creative way, and that there was something a bit off about the John Legend-featured "Do You Wanna Ride", but I dismissed the rest of the CD as kind of boring. I chalked Kingdom Come up as a "meh" and left it at that.My Thanksgiving in 2006 was really good and fun until the late evening, when some personal stuff happened that devastated me to such a degree that my wife and I went out to a nightclub and I proceeded to get shitfaced. I was supposed to go to work the next day, but I was (a) drunk as a motherfucker, and (b) suffering from a heinous sinus infection, so I called in and rode around while my wife took care of some things. While we were in a Target shopping for some gifts for a friend's newborn, my wife threw the special edition of Kingdom Come in the basket (the one that came with the DVD, not the version with three extra songs from Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt 10-Year Anniversary concert), since she isn't blind and realized that I had purchased every single other Jay-Z album prior, and figured this may help me get out of my funk, since I like reading liner notes and supporting artists whose songs are actually good. After I almost gift-wrapped it with the baby's things, I opened the actual CD and gave it a spin. My initial gut reactions came back to me, but this time, maybe due to the fact that my hangover/sinus infection was causing me to actively pay attention, I heard a different CD, with some of the most introspective lyrics (and, admittedly, some of the most misguided album sequencing) that I had ever heard on a Jay-Z album. After that, I put the CD away for a couple of months, both because of the shitty reviews I kept reading online (not that I believed them, but they were overwhelmingly negative), and because that's just what I do with new CDs these days; sad to say, but new music doesn't really excite me that much anymore, even if I run out and buy it the day it comes out, because the quality is usually lacking.What is the point of this rambling post? I'll get to that below. I will say this, though: the point of this blog was not to review brand new albums before their release dates, but to listen to older albums to see if they still hold up.So, nine months after I first listened to it, here's Kingdom Come, through 2007's eyes.1. THE PRELUDECredit should be given to Jay for bringing on a nobody to produce the first song on a long-awaited comeback album. It helps that B-Money provided Shawn with a great track to spit to (at?). Jay's intros have all been pretty good (except for that Memphis Bleek appearance on "Hold It Down"), and "The Prelude" is no exception. A great way for a rapper to reintroduce himself.2. OH MY GODOh My God, this song sounds, for lack of a better word, doofy. Justin Blaze is not a very good producer for Jay to work with; Blaze should keep his beats and give them to Saigon, since I hear he has an album that's coming out February 32nd.3. KINGDOM COMEThe second best Blaze/Shawn collabo (numero uno being "You Don't Know"). Contains the aforementioned Rick James sample. The chorus is weak, but the song actually sounds better today than it did nine months ago.4. SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOTWhereas this song sounds even worse than upon its initial release. The time you would spend listening to this horrendous first single would be much better spent tracking down your copy of Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, to listen to this song's inspiration. The video is pretty fucking lame as well.5. LOST ONE (FEAT CHRISETTE MICHELE)The chorus still doesn't quite fit. "Sorry I'm a champion?" However, this Dr. Dre-produced track proves that Jay is at his best when he stops rhyming about the glamorous hip hop lifestyle and looks into his past. The first, Dame Dash-baiting verse will cause you to now take up Jay's side in the Roc-A-Fella battle, even if you didn't agree with him before, simply because what the fuck has Dame Dash done in the past few years, except not release the posthumous Ol' Dirty Bastard album? Interweb bloggers have commented that the second verse is actually aimed at Rosario Dawson and not Beyonce, which I suppose would make more sense, since Jay and B haven't actually broken up since 2006, but I'm still pretty skeptical. The final verse is a tribute to Jay's late nephew, who passed away years earlier in a car accident. All in all, probably one of the finest songs he has ever and will ever release, even if the beat sounds suspiciously like Snoop Dogg's Dre-produced "Imagine", from Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, which was released on the same day.6. DO YOU WANNA RIDE (FEAT JOHN LEGEND)Kanye West's sole production contribution (I guess Justin elbowed him out of the Def Jam offices). Look past the fact that it's blatantly obvious that this track, with the John Legend chorus intact, was probably intended as a "song for the chicks" for another artist, possibly Kanye himself. Jay's version of Nas's "One Love" sounds pretty heartfelt, if you ignore the chorus completely.7. 30 SOMETHINGThis song is still pretty humorous. This song is the epitome of why people thought this album was a failure. What the fuck else was he supposed to rap about? His first album came out twelve years ago, people! For people who say they appreciate artistic growth, you should read the lyrics not as a man bragging about his accomplishments, but as the thoughts of a man who realizes that you can embrace your youth while still acting your goddamn age. If Jay was still dressing up with the doo-rag, everyone would talk shit about the elderly gentleman with the bandanna on his head. Oh, this song still sounds decent, but "30 Something" by the Juggaknots, from Use Your Confusion, which was released around the same time, ponders the same subject matter with a fresher approach (and even contains a Jay-Z vocal sample, to boot).8. I MADE ITJay had already done his "I Love My Mama" songs on The Blueprint and The Black Album, so we didn't really need another one. DJ Khalil provides a dull-as-shit backdrop for Jay to perform over. I always skipped this track before; now that I've forced myself to listen to the whole song, I still think it sucks. Whenever you read about this album, this is the song that people forget is even on here, it's that plain-jane.9. ANYTHING (FEAT USHER & PHARRELL)I think this is the moment my two readers who have followed me from the beginning have been waiting for. Shawn Carter has finally topped "I Know What Girls Like". You read that right. This. Is. The. WORST. SONG. In. Jay's. Catalog. I would say that The Neptunes should fucking never produce for Jay-Z again, but this song is actually a solo Pharrell contribution (Chad Hugo was still M.I.A. in 2006). Oh man, this song is so embarrassing, it almost makes me wish that I hadn't started Hip Hop Isn't Dead with a Jay-Z album review, because if I hadn't, then I wouldn't have had to go through the discography, and I never would have heard this song again. Almost.10. HOLLYWOOD (FEAT BEYONCE)This beat is gawdawful, and this song sounds more like Beyonce featuring Jay-Z, even though Jay appears more often. Sure, Jay's lyrics are about being nonplussed with the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, but just because this song actually has some lyrical substance doesn't make this song any good.11. TROUBLEThankfully, Jay inadvertently placed the three worst songs on the album in one continuous block, rendering them easily skippable. This song is the best Dre track on here, even if the beat is relatively simple. I can picture this song playing during the opening credits of a crime procedural show on CBS (and I know, that image isn't gangsta). The third verse is Jay at his most blissfully ignorant, dropping the n-word like a kid dropping quarters into a Mortal Kombat arcade machine in 1992.12. DIG A HOLESwizz Beats is surely one of the most overrated producers out today. This song, which is perceived as Jay's response to Cam'Ron's incessant disses because it is actually a response song, doesn't sound good. For aspiring rappers out there, if you choose to diss someone on a track, it helps if your song is catchy.13. MINORITY REPORT (FEAT NE-YO)Right after a Cam'Ron diss, we are presented with Jay's song about his reactions to Hurricane Katrina and the government response to it. (See what I mean about misguided album sequencing?) Jay-Z is at his most socially conscious here, even though opining that the US Government didn't do enough to help the Katrina victims isn't much of a stretch for anyone to make. (It's like saying you're against the war in Iraq at this point.) "Sure, I ponied up a mil but I didn't give my time/So in reality I didn't give a dime/or a damn/I just put my monies in the hands of the same people that left my people stranded". For Jay, this is pretty deep shit. The song is pretty good overall, but be sure to check for Jay's shoutout to Kanye's political commentary after Ne-Yo's verse ends.14. BEACH CHAIR (FEAT CHRIS MARTIN (OF COLDPLAY))Sure, Chris Martin sounded like a bizarre choice for a rap album in 2006, but now he's appearing on both Swizz Beats's and Kanye West's latest works, so Jay just looks like a trendsetter yet again. The ringleader of Coldplay brings his brilliant Brit-Pop soundscapes to what could be Jay's final song. "I'm not afraid of dying/I'm afraid of not trying"; "Some said Hov, how you get so fly/I said from not being afraid to fall out [of] the sky". Great way to end an album, and possibly a career. Of course, this means that Jay will probably release more albums later on, but we'll pretend that this is the end for now, okay?FINAL THOUGHTS: Kingdom Come, nine months later, has aged a lot better than anyone would care to admit. There are still some horrible flaws, and glaring omissions (no DJ Premier? Timbaland? Jay, you couldn't even get Ski to give you a beat on your comeback?), but overall, for a 'rushed' album, Kingdom Come works pretty well as a swan song, even more so than on The Black Album, which consisted of Jay talking about how great he was. Kingdom Come focuses more on what Shawn Carter has learned in his decade-plus as a rap star, and is all the better for it. (I did not say that this album was better than The Black Album, though.)BUY OR BURN? I admit that I burned this album at first, but I ended up with the deluxe edition in my crates. The good songs sound better as time passes, so I would recommend a purchase. However, the bad songs make you cringe more and more as each day passes, so be warned. Just conveniently forget to upload the shitty songs into your iPod and you'll do fine.BEST TRACKS: "Trouble"; "Lost One"; "The Prelude"; "Kingdom Come"CONCLUSION: After hearing every single Jay-Z album ever released (to this point, anyway), I'm convinced that Jay-Z did not kill hip hop. He certainly hasn't helped much, though: His jumping on to the Puff Daddy bandwagon early in his career just exposed more people to Sean Combs and his annoying ass. His repeatedly professed love for the South has led to a career explosion for UGK and Scarface (which is good), but has also thrusted the Rick Rosses, Young Jeezys, and others like them into the spotlight (which is horrible). He brought us Kanye West (good) and Sauce Money (better, but where the hell is he?), but also subjected us to Memphis Bleek, Amil, and Beanie Sigel (who has yet to release anything that's even remotely good). He's battled with his mentor (Jaz-O), his rap game doppelganger (Nas), Mobb Deep, 50 Cent, Cam'Ron, Jim Jones, and others, and has emerged relatively unscathed. On his Unplugged album (which I never reviewed, as it's not a proper album), he introduced MTV viewers and the world to the instrumental stylings of The Roots, one of the best rap groups working today. For the club heads, he turned them on to the sounds of The Neptunes and Timbaland. He's seemingly turned his back on the producers that made him who he is today (Primo, Ski), but still manages to make good songs, whether they be club bangers for the radio, or street singles for the thugs. Shawn Carter didn't change his style to fit the rap mold, he broke the goddamn mold, and forced everyone to cater to him. And for that, I recommend the majority of his catalog (not everything, though, since some of the below albums still sound like warmed-over shit). It'll be worth your time. This post has taken a lot out of me. Look out for more updates in the near future, though, including the continuations of discographies from Nas, the Wu, and Bow Wow.-MaxRELATED POSTS (IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER):Reasonable DoubtIn My Lifetime, Vol. 1Vol. 2...Hard Knock LifeVol. 3...Life and Times Of S. CarterThe Dynasty: Roc La Familia The BlueprintThe Best Of Both Worlds (with R. Kelly)The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The CurseThe Black AlbumUnfinished Business (with R. Kelly)Collision Course (with Linkin Park)Kingdom Come
This would be the last Jay-Z album I can write about before I'm forced to finish up his discography. Since I like procrastinating, I choose to go with the last flat-out awful album in his catalog.Shawn Carter and Linkin Park were brought together by the terrible, terrible folks at Music Television in an effort to legitimize a burgeoning art form: namely, the mash-up. At this point, mash-ups were reinforcing their position in the mainstream subconscious: Jay-Z himself benefited greatly from Danger Mouse's Beatles mash The Grey Album, an album that most people find to be a better listening experience than the actual Black Album. As so happens every time the mainstream tries to force itself into the art house crowd, this project fails miserably. You may be fooled into thinking that Collision Course, the Jay-Z/Linkin Park/presented by MTV Ultimate Mash Up Album, is actually decent, especially since the first single, "Numb/Encore", won a Grammy. Don't believe the hype. You should know better than that. This album is straight trash.Even the use of that word is suspect in this case. This isn't really an 'album'. Collision Course comprises of only six songs over the course of twenty-one minutes. Which wouldn't be bad, if it were marketed as an EP, or at least a maxi-single (remember those?). Instead, the MSRP of this CD is around twenty bucks. True, it comes with a DVD featuring some live performances, but you shouldn't care about that. If you're paying twenty dollars for a CD, in this day and age, it better be worth it, and Collision Course, unsurprisingly, is not.The best mash-ups out there are made by artists who are forced to maximize their creativity in an effort to grab the ears of the listener. They actively try to make a new sound emerge from two or more sources, usually because what they're doing with these songs is, um, illegal. Collision Course, however, reminds me of Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky, wanting to listen to two different albums at the exact same time. The aforementioned "Numb/Encore" is a perfect example, using generally the entirety of Linkin Park's "Numb" as the basis for the song, save for some medium drum hits from the original "Encore". However, the effect is that of some sonic monstrosity, instead of some elaborate creation by two artists. I mention only two artists, even though there are...actually, I have no idea how many people are in Linkin Park (I'd look it up, but this is a hip hop blog), but this is mainly the Jay-Z and Mike Shinoda (a/k/a Fort Minor) show, with Chester Bennington (a/k/a Screech) in tow, although he doesn't seem pleased to be there. It shouldn't shock anyone that they only brought their respective "hits" to the table for the mix-up (for anyone who was jonesing to hear a rock mix of "I Know What Girls Like", why the fuck are you reading my blog?), but I was shocked to see three separate Timbaland-produced joints thrown in the collective blender. ("Jigga What" was a hit?) "Dirt Off Your Shoulders/Lying From You" is a frustrating listen, mainly for Screech's misplaced vocals. (How has he not shredded his vocal chords tenfold?) Fort Shinoda isn't the worst rapper in the world, and I'm sure he leapt at the opportunity to hear his voice over actual rap beats (Collision Course begat Fort Minor's The Rising Tied). Timbo should be happy to hear that the songs presented here don't even come close to touching the original Jay-Hova hits, as should Kanye West and Rick Rubin, the only other two Jay producers represented.Some of the ideas presented here will make you scratch your head. Jigga only seems to have re-done his vocals for one song, "Jigga What/Faint" (which should actually be called "N---a What N---a Who/Faint", but whatever...), but the rest of his contributions are culled from album tracks, some directly lifted from The Black Album Acapellas, which every blogger who ever even contemplated the thought of dreaming of producing has a copy of somewhere. (Before you ask, mine is in a crate somewhere.) I found it odd that "Izzo/In The End" only uses Kanye West's "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" beat, without any Linkin Park interruption, save for Fort Mike's second verse, which just sounds off. I also could have done without Mike Minor's reinterpolation of the first verse on "99 Problems" (on "Points of Authority/99 Problems/One Step Closer"), especially since he sounds like he's rapping about Jay-Z, to Jay-Z. I assume that Rick Rubin was extremely pissed about how "99 Problems", which he produced for Jigga, was so badly mistreated, and therefore chopped Shinoda's role significantly on the new Linkin Park album, Minutes To Midnight, which he also produced. Just my theory, though. I could be completely wrong.All in all, your twenty bucks would be better spent on a nice dinner, or a bag of weed, or a half-assed blowjob on the strip, or, oh yeah, buying a better fucking album. I would say 'avoid this at all costs', but you already know that. My two readers are so smart!That said, there is now only one album left in the Jay-Z discography (I'm not counting the Streets Is Watching soundtrack, because it's not a true Jay album, and besides, Ja Rule's on it, and I can't support that). One of the original intentions of this blog was to dissect how the quote-unquote "best rappers" out there have reached their respective peaks in hip hop, and whether or not their titles are deserved. As such, Kingdom Come is coming soon. Then I'll do something constructive, like focus on the discography of Afroman or something.-Max
In 1994, the marketing minds at Def Jam promoted October as the "Month Of The Man", ostensibly to market two separate artists with the word "man" in their names, but it also served as a cost-cutting measure, since one ad in The Source to promote two separate albums was less expensive than taking up two ad slots. The problem with this idea was that it indicated "Month Of The Man" was the name of an actual album by Reggie Noble and Clifford Smith, which left hip hop fans confused. Considering that, at this point, Meth and Red hadn't even collaborated once together, it was a leap of imagination for anyone to consider a collaborative effort, but after the soundtrack to the hip hop documentary The Show hit the streets, fans took a second look at the ads and demanded an album by America's Most Blunted (their words, not mine).
