My Gut Reaction: Group Home - Where Back (April 23, 2006)

Never the most prolific of rap duos, Group Home, made up of members Lil Dap and Melachi the Nutcracker, managed to take advantage of their Gang Starr Foundation affiliation for two full-length projects: their 1995 debut, Livin’ Proof (which is still considered by me many to be DJ Premier’s finest hour production-wise), and their follow-up, 1999’s A Tear For The Ghetto. That sophomore effort managed to move less than zero units: Dap and Melachi famously had to pay hip hop heads out of pocket in order to convince them to take a copy of the album home with them, and that was even though it featured beats from The Alchemist, Agallah, and Preemo.

I didn’t see Group Home’s name pop back up on anybody’s radar until the passing of Guru, who had put both men on to the rap game in the first place. As a way of paying tribute, the duo reunited to release Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal, named after the phrase Guru had always claimed his rap nickname was an acronym for, and even put some of the proceeds into a trust fund set up for Guru’s son. That project hit store shelves in 2010, so it had been eleven years since Group Home had bothered doing anything with music, which I understood: the industry is a beast, and it chews people up every single day, so I appreciated that these two were able to get away to regroup, ultimately deciding that recording was something they both truly wanted to continue doing.

Turns out, I was pretty fucking incorrect there, because Group Home’s third album, Where Back, dropped in 2008, a full two years prior to their alleged “comeback”. What the hell, am I right?

I admit that most of you two will have had no idea that Where Back was a thing that even existed. I counted myself among your ranks prior to this post, and man, were things simpler in those times. But the reasoning makes complete sense: Where Back is a Japanese exclusive project that Dap and (assuming, but not very likely, given his lack of participation on A Tear For The Ghetto) the Nutcracker gave to their fans there as a one-off. Our chosen genre has given Japan exclusive projects for years at this point: I think I’ve written about at least four of them, three of which were Wu-Tang Clan-related. But I had no idea that Group Home’s brand of boom bap (informed, but not always provided, by DJ Premier) was so huge across the Pacific: if any of you two happen to be based there, I’d love to hear about how the hip hop culture has evolved. You can leave those notes in the comments below.

Where Back consists of ten tracks, but thanks to the fact that this shit isn’t really available for purchase anywhere and I had to listen to this online through, um, dubious means, I have absolutely zero information as to who did what for each song. Production credits simply are not available for this fucking album. Guest credits, however, are, and they consist of the usual suspects that contributed to A Tear For The Ghetto, so it’d be fair to assume that the production teams on both projects are similar. Probably. Again, there’s just no way to know here. Whatever the case, Where Back didn’t make enough noise overseas to ever warrant a Stateside release, so these ten tracks (well, seven songs and three interludes) would have forever been lost to the annals of time, had it not been for my incessant need to write reviews for albums that absolutely nobody wants to read about.

Fuck, is this going to be a waste of my time.

1. INTRO

The only voice you (barely) hear during this rap album intro belongs to Lil Dap, because, well, you know.

2. GHETTO

In case either of the two of you were concerned that Group Home were hoarding some hidden gems to give to the Japanese audience I wasn’t even aware they had, fear not, as the generically-titled-and-themed “Ghetto” is terrible. Dap, who handles this one for dolo because, well, you know, never even had a real shot, his vocals not so much mixed into the unimpressive (and uncredited) instrumental as they were laid on top in a fairly apathetic manner, like a child who fixes his bed by half-assedly throwing a blanket over the unkempt sheets. There was no care taken during the production of “Ghetto”, and this will likely expand over the rest of this project. So, who’s excited for the remainder of this write-up, huh?

3. GET IT

Another weak effort from The Lil Dap Experience Occasionally Featuring Melachi the Nutcracker (who doesn’t appear on “Get It”), albeit one underscored by a shitty instrumental that still had some hints of dramatic flair within. Dap fared better lyrically than he did on the previous track, but I wouldn’t pull out the champagne and balloons just yet, as not only does this sound terrible when pitted against Livin’ Proof (which is understandable, Preemo’s work on that project was simply a force of nature), it also doesn’t compare favorably to anything from A Tear For The Ghetto. Dap should have left this one in the vault.

4. SKIT

…

5. REAL BROTHER NEVER DIE

That title is no typo – that’s how it appears on the back cover, even though it’s obviously incorrect (and, when you read it out loud and consider the intended audience, seems to be a bit racist). “Real Brother Never Die” is yet another rap song promoting the concept of “realness”, but it isn’t without its charms: the instrumental was mixed in such a manner than its sound overwhelms the performances, but it could have been worse, and Dap’s bars (and basic hook) at least fit the tone. The real surprise comes from the Nutcracker, who swoops in with a surprise verse that was in no way foreshadowed by the first four tracks on Where Back: this is literally the first time he’s bothered to engage with his partner, and folks, he actually sounds good. By “good”, of course, I mean he doesn’t sound like a fucking idiot over the beat provided, not that his writing has significantly improved or anything. Still, though, huh.

6. RASTA (FEAT. AGALLAH)

And just as quickly as he had appeared, Melachi vanishes again, although at least Dap’s frequent A Tear For The Ghetto collaborator 8-Off Agallah is here to pick up the slack. If I heard him correctly, 8-Off’s verse references Lil Dap's solo album I.A. Dap, which is “out now”: this is interesting to me because while "Rasta" also apparently appears there, Agallah most certainly does not. "Rasta” is merely okay, although that description renders this the most entertaining track of the evening thus far easily. I mean, if you have to like something from Where Back, “Rasta” is a fine way to go, even if its title has to do more with weed consumption than its overall sound. Sigh.

7. DOPE GAME (FEAT. AGALLAH & IKE ICE)

A fully-realized song about a clichéd topic within our chosen genre. Lil Dap, alongside guest stars 8-Off and Ike Ice, discuss the “Dope Game” with the specificity of people who have, at the very least, witnessed someone buying and/or selling drugs on television somewhere, but all that means is that these guys bring nothing new to the table content-wise. That doesn’t make “Dope Game” a bad song, however. Ice ended up sounding the worst of the bunch, but Dap and Agallah do what they can with the material over a dramatic instrumental that carries the track. Not exactly a must-hear, but for what it is, shrug?

8. WHAT THEY WANT DO (FEAT. BLACKADON & KIBBE)

Meh.

9. BK (DJ DECKSTREAM REMIX)

If anyone’s aware of where the original version of “BK” stems from, let me know, as I have no fucking idea, and I don’t wish to pore through Group Home’s back catalog. All I have to work with is this remix handled by DJ Deckstream (yeah, I don’t know either), whose smooth instrumental sounds like the background music from a 1970s Blaxploitation film edited for television. Whatever “BK”’s origin, it features both Dap and the Nutcracker, although the latter only appears for a brief period of time, and Dap’s performance is buried underneath the beat, because again, there was no thought or care put into this quickie project. I liked the music, though.

10. OUTRO

Fin.

THE LAST WORD: Given the review that preceded this paragraph, this shouldn’t be all that surprising, but Group Home’s Where Back is trash. It’s an effort that feels as though it were literally shitted out and flung at Japanese hip hop heads. Lil Dap’s unintentional dry run at a solo effort (which isn’t what this was, mind you, but I have to rationalize this in my head somehow) is corrupted by bland instrumentals, clichéd writing, and a rushed product that is nonsensical to me: there was a nine-year gap between albums, so I strongly doubt there was a need for Where Back to hit store shelves quickly. I try to find at least one positive aspect of everything I’m reviewing, because I’m not the type of person who enjoys wasting their time, so I am happy to report that “Rasta” wasn’t terrible. But the fact that Where Back exists in the first place makes me feel for the Japanese hip hop heads out there: hopefully they took to the streets in protest of Lil Dap and Melachi the Nutcracker once word got out that they had planned to unleash a bunch of bullshit from the vault upon their country like so many yūrei. I cannot with good conscience recommend that anyone actually track this one down: in fact, I may have shortened my own lifespan by writing this review in the first place. Where Back is such a lazy piece of work that it may change your opinion on their previous projects, or at least it did that for me. That’s it, I’m done.

-Max

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Don’t know who would even want to continue following Group Home after this shit, but here’s a link anyway.