My Gut Reaction: Muggs Presents Soul Assassins - Intermission (June 23, 2009)

DJ Muggs and his merry band of Soul Assassins quietly released Intermission, their third album, to an unsuspecting hip hop public earlier this summer. I say "quietly" because, other than on the hip hop blogs, I didn't read about this project on any major media source; hell, I didn't even realize it existed until I saw its album cover appear online.

DJ Muggs formed the loosely-knit Soul Assassins quite some time ago, and their group efforts so far have resulted in critical praise, if not commercial success. The Soul Assassins crew doesn't really consist of anyone in particular: it seems to be made up of Muggerund's close friends, music business associates, and messengers who arrived to drop off packages at the studio and somehow make the album's final cut. Muggs has used these albums (and his Vs. series, so far consisting of collaborations with Gza/Genius, Sick Jacken, and Planet Asia) to exorcise his Cypress Hill demons, and by that, I mean he uses them to prove that he is a much more versatile producer than folks give him credit for. Which is a true fact: the man is talented (and awfully prolific) behind the boards.

Intermission's guest list doesn't contain the big names that its predecessors boasted, but that was probably done purposely, so as not to draw attention away from the production, mostly provided by DJ Khalil and Muggs himself. As to why this isn't simply called Soul Assassins III, the Interweb rumor is that Muggs intends on quickly following this project up with a true sequel, but I'll only believe that if both Dr. Dre's Detox and Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 manage to come out within the next twelve months.

If that happens, then anything is truly possible.

1. GANGSTA SHIT (FEAT BUN B & M1)
Right from the start, it appears that Muggs has dropped the creepy-as-fuck-but-still-cool female (I think, anyway) vocal sample that repeats the word "assassins", and I have to say, I miss it. A lot. Bun B and M1 (from dead prez) were an interesting pair to select as the first rappers you hear on Intermission: it's just too bad that the production on here is so bland that you end up not caring.

2. CLASSICAL (FEAT SICK JACKEN & EVIDENCE)
This was the first single I noticed on other blogs on the Interweb, and I did not care for it back then. Still don't, to be honest. Sick Jacken sounds awkward over the beat, which in itself is good, but it doesn't lend itself well to a hip hop atmosphere. And I've never been a Dilated Peoples fan, so Evidence didn't do anything for me. So far, I'm not impressed.

3. GUNSHOTS (FEAT CHACE INFINITE & THE ALCHEMIST)
It was awfully nice for Muggs to include Al on Intermission, especially since Al's own Chemical Warfare dropped a couple of weeks after, making that project a direct competitor. Chace Infinite (from Self Scientific) is okay, but the chemist's verse should have been left on the cutting room floor (ha! An Alchemist joke!), and the chorus sucked the balls of all the colors of the rainbow.

4. DO IT (FEAT LA COKA NOSTRA)
I wasn't impressed with this rap supergroup (which consists of Ill Bill, Slaine, and, essentially, every member of House of Pain) and their contribution to Intermission. Ill Bill's flow sounds as if it could have been cleaned up more than a little bit, and Everlast's bullshit appearance could have been performed by anybody. But then again, Everlast has enjoyed a lengthy friendship with Muggs and the Soul Assassins, so he was bound to appear on here at some point. Boston rapper Slaine does sound pretty damn good, though.

5. REP YO SHIT (FEAT P.C.P. (SICK JACKEN & NECRO))
I have a feeling that this pairing of underground stalwarts Necro and Sick Jacken will result in a collaborative album somewhere down the line. If this track is any indication, I probably won't care for it, as Necro's verse sounded fucking awful.

6. GOOD EVENING LOS ANGELES (FEAT SELF SCIENTIFIC)
The scratched-in vocal sample that lends itself to the song's title is annoying. Otherwise, I thought this was really good: Chace Infinite is mad as hell, and he isn't going to take it anymore, but he still manages to get his point across in an impressive way over DJ Khalil's production.

7. MEET YOUR MAKER (FEAT REEF THE LOST CAUSE & OUTERSPACE)
I actually liked this one a lot. The two artists that make up OuterSpace (Planetary and Crypt The Warchild, who are also frequent collaborators with Jedi Mind Tricks) sounds pretty good, but Reef murders this shit as if it were a coldly-calculated premeditated hit. The hook is a bit wordy, but you shouldn't expect anything less from underground rap artists.

8. INTERMISSION (FEAT THE RZA, REV. WILLIAM BURKE, PLANET ASIA, & B-REAL)
The centerpiece (literally) of Intermission is also its title track. Planet Asia sounds out of place alongside two hip hop legends and one weed carrier, and as such, contributes the weakest verse, and Funny People's The Rza, arguably the biggest star on the entire album, has an opening verse that reads well on paper, but the goofy flow he adopts (and his hilarious pronunciations of the words "bars" and "cars", which, admittedly, are rhymed with each other as a part of Prince Rakeem's scheme) is distracting. Rev. William Burke (we have officially run out of rap names, everyone), Rza's personal assistant and the guy responsible for picking up the man's kung fu DVDs and his honey-dipped pornography every Tuesday, actually sounds really fucking good on his two verses (why he got two verses, though, I can't figure out), and Cypress Hill's B-Real gets the best pre-verse introduction (it's just a sound bite of the word "assassins" again, but it was laid in perfectly) out of every single person on Intermission, as well he should, since he's the guy who has put up with the bulk of Muggerund's shit. This was really fucking entertaining.

9. CHAMPIONS (REMIX) (FEAT PRODIGY & BIG TWIN)
I haven't been able to figure out where the original version of this song is from, but it doesn't matter, as it was truly weak anyway. Cellblock P and the former Twin Gambino trade verses that you won't remember while you're hearing them performed, let alone after the fact. It was kind of weird that one of Prodigy's lines from here was sampled on La Coka Nostra's "Do It" five songs ago, though.

10. LET GO (MY LIFE) (FEAT FASHAWN)
I'm pretty sure that Muggs and Khalil could have given this beat to almost any other rapper in the universe and they would have done a better job with it. Gza/Genius comes to mind, actually: why isn't that guy on Intermission? He was on the other two Soul Assassins projects! What, was he busy?

11. LIKE THAT Y'ALL (FEAT PLANET ASIA)
Planet Asia redeems himself for his "Intermission" verse on here, but the beat is so scattershot and loopy that it gave me a fucking headache, rendering the performance useless.

12. WORLD WE'RE IN (FEAT CYNIC)
Cynic, the Street Platoon rapper who also shared mic duties (and a album cover credit, but only barely) with Sick Jacken on his Legend Of The Mask & The Assassin project with DJ Muggs, gets solo duty on a track that I didn't care for at all. The annoying high-pitched vocal sample on the beat and the dull lyrical delivery work together beautifully to create a truly terrible song.

13. CALL IT LIKE I SEE IT (FEAT CHACE INFINITE & KRONDON)
The hook is almost comical in how threatening it attempts to be. The beat isn't bad, though.

14. MATCHBOX (FEAT DUST)
The last true song on Intermission is an out-of-left-field trip-hop song that tries its best to sound like a blunted Portishead track. Fans of DJ Muggs who actually ran out to buy Dust, his trip-hop effort, won't be surprised, but gangsta rap aficionados will be thrown for a loop. This isn't bad, but it still doesn't fit, and this was a really strange way to end your album.

The final song on Intermission is labeled as a bonus track of sorts.

15. FIGURE IT OUT (YOUNG DE FEAT XZIBIT & MYKESTRO)
This song has gained a reputation on other blogs as being relatively awful, but with an awesome accompanying video clip. While the video is actually pretty well done, the song itself isn't bad. Don't get too excited: Xzibit only handles hook duties on here while the other two cover the field. It was still entertaining weed carrier music, though.

THE LAST WORD: Intermission was definitely more entertaining than The Alchemist's Chemical Warfare, but it doesn't hit as hard as the first two Soul Assassins efforts. DJ Muggs, the de facto leader of the crew, relies too heavily on guest appearances from artists who sound out of their league, leaving this project in the, um, dust when compared to the lyrical giants who helped shape the other efforts. One thing is for certain: these were certainly not leftover Cypress Hill instrumentals provided for your enjoyment. You're left wishing that the rappers did more with them, though. Oh well, maybe next go round.

-Max

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