My Gut Reaction: Blahzay Blahzay - ENYthing Iz Possible (October 16, 2018)

When I wrote about Blahzay Blahzay’s 1996 debut album, Blah Blah Blah, over ten years ago on this very blog, I mentioned that I didn’t come across a copy myself: instead, my wife happened upon it in the used CD section of a Sam Goody in a fucking mall, and gave it to me for our anniversary. An unorthodox gift, certainly, but it was in fantastic condition. She’s always been pretty lucky when locating items known for their scarcity, though, even with the degree of difficulty assessed to a physical copy of Blah Blah Blah.

I have no such heartwarming story about their second album, ENYthyng Iz Possible, however. Hell, I wasn’t even aware that this thing existed until fairly recently.

I’m willing to bet you two had no idea, either.

A quick refresher, because it’s been a while: Blahzay Blahzay is a Brooklyn duo comprised of producer-slash-deejay P.F. Cuttin’ and rapper Outloud. Their sound is blatantly East Coast, which, admittedly wasn't really that impressive of a feat back in 1996: that was just how shit was supposed to sound back then. Blah Blah Blah featured what is still, to date, the duo’s biggest single, “Danger”, which is so New York that it pays $2,400 per month for a 100-square foot “studio apartment” with a hot plate and a drain in the floor. It’s jarring boom bap alerted the masses to what would become a dominant anthem for the streets, and the Jeru the Damaja and Ol’ Dirty Bastard vocal samples dropped into the call-and-response hook were just icing. (It’s worth noting that there were several other bangers on Blah Blah Blah, including “Danger Part 2”, a collaboration with Smooth Da Hustler and Trigger Tha Gambler that brought additional attention to all parties involved; “Pain I Feel”, which wasn’t as successful a single but still slaps; and my favorite of the bunch, “Good Cop / Bad Cop”, which rides its KRS-One vocal sample all the way to the bank.)

Fast forward to 2018, when ENYthyng Iz Possible quietly hit the scene. There were no singles, no fair warning that Blahzay Blahzay was even thinking about popping back up into our increasingly-crowded chosen genre. ENYthyng Iz Possible was released by Smoke On Records, a German label that specializes in releasing projects from hip hop artists who may have fallen off of your radar. Why use a German label to mount a comeback if you’re ostensibly a East New York-based act, at least based on your album’s very title? It’s simple, really: European countries still appreciate the version of hip hop that you may consider to be “dead”. (Hell, pretty much every country outside of the United States feels this way about your favorite artists, if we’re being honest.) Most rappers who found their fame Stateside in the 1990’s and early 2000’s tour extensively overseas to make their bones and maintain their quality of life, and the fans come out in droves.

Why is that, exactly? Does it have something to do with how long it took for the music to make its way out of the United States back when streaming wasn’t a thing, so they simply appreciate it more? (Maybe.) Does our short attention span Stateside frustrate the artists, who couldn’t ever compete with the sheer volume of new product younger cats release every goddamn day? (Probably.) Is it that the record labels here can’t be bothered to invest the time and resources necessary to help nurture an artist’s growth, only seeking out huge hit songs and discarding the talent when their follow-ups fail to reach those same ridiculous heights? (Definitely.) I mean, why the fuck wouldn’t Blahzay Blahzay release a project in Germany if they have the audience there to support it? (Smoke On Records has also distributed current projects from the likes of Das EFX, Killah Priest, Nine, AZ, UGK, and they even put out that unreleased 1993 Hit Squad project from the Knucklehedz, so Outloud and PF are in good company.)

However, it doesn’t seem to me that both halves of Blahzay Blahzay were on the same page regarding a possible comeback. PF Cuttin’ has carved out quite the niche as a boom bap apologist, providing beats for many a New York act up to the present day, and yet he doesn’t produce any of the songs on ENYthyng Iz Possible. (He did mix the album, however.) So the beats were outsourced to other up-and-comers, primarily Avenue Beatz, a Swizz Beatz protegee who handles the majority of the project. That isn’t the only difference between this album and Blah Blah Blah: Outloud now apparently goes by the name of Blahzay Martell, which, I mean, his real name is Martell Ellis, so it’s whatever, but it certainly appears as though he’s taking the Blahzay Blahzay name for himself, doesn’t it?

Anywho.

1. STYLE & GRACE

ENYthyng Iz Possible kicks off as though we were returning to a program already in progress, or maybe that’s just how I feel, as the sound of immediate scratching threw me off a bit. This is not a strike against “Style & Grace”, nor is the AudioArcade instrumental, which plays as a Pete Rock soundalike produced on cheaper equipment with weaker drums, but still pretty goddamn charming on its own. Outloud sorry, Blahzay uses his three short verses to essentially reintroduce himself to the hip hop community by making it seem like he was never away to begin with, which is as good a tactic as any, I suppose. His bars were never the finest in the land, but his gruff vocals infuse them with a passion that is lacking from a lot of artists within the culture today, so I found “Style & Grace” to be enjoyable enough as an intro, even though I’m not holding out any hope for a repeat of Blah Blah Blah’s high points.

2. SCRUFACE (FEAT. VIZZO)

Avenue Beatz’s, uh, beat is poppy, intrusive, and ill-fitting for the artist in question, although for his part, Blah works pretty well with it. It’s quite the jarring transition from “Style & Grace” to the awkwardly-spelled “Scruface”, but I’m not sure this song could have fit anywhere else on ENYthyng Iz Possible, so it’s probably best to just get it out of the way. The hook is beyond dumb, and guest rapper Vizzo’s verse is fucking godawful, but our host sounded alright, his delivery and voice taking advantage of the instrumental instead of the other way around, at least. Still, I found no discernible reason for “Scruface” to exist, or for me to continue writing this paragraph about “Scruface”, so.

3. NEW WORLD OUT OF ORDER (FEAT. REDDDAZ)

That title is one I’m almost certain Outloud sat in the studio chuckling about, believing it to be clever as fuck, but it doesn’t really make all that much sense: is our host trying to imply that the Illuminati has failed with its New World Order initiative? Because that isn’t what “New World Out of Order” is about. After an overlong sound bite lifted from an old episode of the original G.I. Joe cartoon series that proves that there were definitely some conspiracy nutjobs on its writing staff, Blah delivers bars describing the problems in society while half-assedly pushing for a “new order”, for change, over an Avenue Beatz instrumental that tries to rile up the troops, but its weak drums diffuse the tension before it ever truly takes off. And there’s a second Cobra Commander sound bite halfway through that may have you thinking, “Damn, cartoons were like that back then?” It’s pretty fucking wild.

4. OMG (FEAT. OL’ DIRTY BASTARD)

“You know, Ol’ Dirty Bastard passed away back in 2004 and his estate is holding up the release of most of his vaulted songs, so how did this one get through?”, you may be asking yourself. Good question, Here’s how: “OMG” is a reworked version of “Go Go Go”, a Blahzay Blahzay-featured track off of the Osirus mixtape, with the original Chops production replaced with some goofy-ass boom bap provided by something called a Jahlaeer. The vocals are exactly the same, which means “OMG” makes much more sense as a Blahzay song anyway, since he has more than twice the screen time of Big Baby Jesus. “OMG”, like “Go Go Go” before it, was created solely to capitalize on the goodwill generated by Blah Blah Blah’s breakthrough single “Danger”, which, of course, featured a highly prominent ODB vocal sample, so the entire track plays to an audience who would only be here for nostalgia’s sake, and I’m not convinced that’s an audience that even exists in this dojo. This song believes otherwise, though, and while I’ve heard much worse, it still wasn’t necessary for the culture.

5. REASONS (FEAT. REDDDAZ)

A bit of a misdirect here: during the intro our host is screaming at an unknown party, presumably the listener, talking about how they take their cue from others instead of forming their own opinions and lamenting how memes seem to have replaced “facts”. We could be headed down another “New World Out of Order” road here, but then our host says, “That’s why you’re my ex”, and that’s when you realize “Reasons” is a post-breakup song. Playing the intro back, it’s a little more obvious what he’s attempting with this, but for a couple of lines it really could have gone either way, so kudos to you, buddy. Once the track actually begins, the Avenue beat kicks in, its dusty drums and bass guitar licks approximating an early Wu-Tang atmosphere, and it is shockingly good, even with the “Goddamn it!” ad-libs cutting in every once in a while. (Remember, Avenue Beatz works closely with Swizz Beatz, in case you were having flashbacks for a second.)Blahzay runs through two verses and a rather ineffective, but so much so that it ruins everything, hook, and it all somehow gels. God damn it, I liked this one. Did not see that coming.

6. LET THE BEAST OUT

There isn’t a lot on “Let The Beast Out” for the listener to latch onto, but that’s by design, as our host slips around Avenue’s samples and loops for an old school-tinged song that isn’t meant to be over-analyzed. (Yes, I realize how strange it seems to have a critic say that.) A weird dis to Trump during the intro, likely included so people will know this track was recorded fairly recently, leads into mildly engaging boasts-n-bullshit that are in danger of being overshadowed by vocal samples, but it’s short, so.

7. GIRLS (FEAT. DON ONE & SIZZLA)

Dancehall is certainly not a genre I’d have ever placed Blahzay Blahzay in back in 1996, and Outloud’s insistence on including “Girls” on ENYthyng Iz Possible is puzzling, as it is hilariously awful. As our host is fond of reminding the listener of how hip hop sounded during his heyday, here’s a critique from slightly before that time period: “Girls” is wack. But it’s more the audacity of the concept than it is the execution, as Khan Nuanual’s instrumental is passable, and the guest spots from Sizzla and Don One at least match the overall vibe. Blahzay is the problem on his own damn song: he fails to sound convincing as a character hitting on women in the club, coming across as a pervy robot instead, and during his two verses he makes allusions to Eric B. & Rakim’s “My Melody”, A Tribe Called Quest’s “Electric Relaxation” (this one made me especially mad), and, no fucking joke, his own “Danger”. Ugh.

8. DROP ON EM BLAHZ

Rights the ship to a small degree. The chorus on “Drop On Em Blahz” is Kool Keith-levels of corny, but the verses display an Outloud who is at least a tiny bit self-aware of how own position within our chosen genre, although he masks it with some tough talk, threatening to kidnap the receptionist at his record label if his album release is pushed back again. Sure buddy, okay. Avenue’s instrumental is a simple loop, but it worked within the context of the song, as it sounds like a generic fifth-string Wu-Element product that will cause you to wonder just how our host would sound if he were granted access to the likes of, say, Allah Mathematics. Still, I felt P.F. Cuttin’s absence behind the boards (and, let’s be honest, the planning of the album as a whole) the most here.

9. FROM ENY (FEAT. UNCLE MURDA)

Fucking terrible. I had expected Blahzay Blahzay to reference “Danger” on ENYthyng Iz Possible, since it is their biggest (and only) hit to date, but there was no need for Blah and his guest, fellow Brooklyn stalwart Uncle Murda, to directly quote the goddamn song on “From ENY”, causing an already underwhelming effort to circle the drain. The instrumental conflates “good music” with “sheer volume”, and that experiment doesn’t go well, and Murda’s verse is, again, fucking terrible, his rhymes somehow sounding even more lazy than usual on here. Outloud isn’t let off with just a warning, either: I’m not sure if it’s the presence of the guest that triggered this or what, but his performance tanks the song even more so than every other fucking terrible aspect of it, You can go back and erase “From ENY” from existence at any point, my guy.

10. RIDE OR TIE (FEAT. REDDDAZ)

Wait, is that title correct? (*checks album artwork twice*) Huh, I guess so. The stupidly-named “Ride or Tie” tricks the listener into thinking it’ll fall into the chipmunk soul sample category of rap song, and it does, but not in a way that’ll upset anyone, because once Redddaz hits the chorus, this shit bangs. Avenue’s instrumental hits the hardest of anything from ENYthyng Iz Possible up to this point (aside from “Reasons”, which is just great), and Outloud’s rhymes follow suit, his boast-n-bullshit somehow enhancing its surroundings, even going so far as to make the titular phrase not sound completely fucking stupid, as though it were an obvious typo that our host simply refused to acknowledge, instead crafting an entire song around a nonsensical theme. Huh.

11. READY

The beat is far more unorthodox than one would expect from what has pretty much been a straightforward attempt at throwback boom bap (“Girls” notwithstanding), but even with that vocal sample cribbed from Snoop Doggy Dogg’s “Pump Pump” popping up frequently enough to grow annoying, it’s really fucking good. Our host uses this time to deliver boasts and threats that may not have been menacing before, but they picked up some menace at the grocery store and now they’re ready to fuck you up, pal. He sounds great over what qualifies on ENYthyng Iz Possible as experimental production – hell, maybe Uncle Murda could have even sounded better if he appeared on “Ready” instead of that horseshit from earlier that I don’t wish to name at this time.

12. WE CONNECTED (FEAT. LIL’ FAME)

Oooh, I hope featured guest Lil’ Fame (or ‘Fame from M.O.P.’, as he’s credited) recites a line from “Danger”, in case the audience forgot that was the only song Blahzay Blahzay is known for! (SPOILER ALERT: He says two!) Kleph Dollarz’s instrumental does a pretty convincing job imitating the rowdy energy the Mash Out Posse thrive over, and, unsurprisingly, Fizzy Womack sounds pretty fucking great over it. Sadly, “We Connected” comes to a screeching halt every time Outloud steps behind the microphone: he’s just not as amped up as his guest, nor can he be bothered to pretend to give a shit, so he delivers his lines in the same cadence and flow as everything else on ENYthyng Iz Possible, while those in the pit stop what they’re doing to check the time on their phones and to question their life choices. Swap our host with Billy Danze and we could have had a late-game M.O.P. gem, no lie. Oh well, you can’t always get what you want.

13. WINDOWS

Because Blahzay Martell is trying to open your eyes: he wants the listener to look out and “see”. This is what you choose to end the album with? The Avenue instrumental wasn’t bad, blending soul samples with some slabs of 1970’s funk in a way that plays much better than it reads, but our host squanders the opportunity here, delivering rhymes about mic dominance when he doesn’t sound convinced of his own abilities at all, which is a strange critique for me to write when there were quite a few tracks on ENYthyng Iz Possible that I thought were decent enough. Just not this one.

ENYthyng Iz Possible comes with the following bonus track if you purchase the compact disc from Germany. Or if you just look it up on YouTube, as I did.

14. FREEBIRD (FEAT. GRAND PUBA)

In a rather questionable marketing move, Blahzay Blahzay shunts the biggest-name guest star to the bonus track, “Freebird”, but at least Grand Puba’s voice is the first you hear over this uncredited beat. Of course, it’s possible that Blah held off on including “Free Bird” in the regular program because it sucks, and I will admit, this wasn’t very good, but I kind of liked the actual music, polarizing as it may be with its annoying chirping sounds laid within. Neither Puba nor Outloud seem all that thrilled to be sharing studio space, whether physically or virtually, so any sort of inspiration the listener is expected to derive from the chorus is null and void due to the negative vibes emitting from your earbuds. It is what it is.

THE LAST WORD: If you treat ENYthyng Iz Possible as a comeback album, it stumbles terribly: Outloud Blahzay’s rhyme skills remain exactly the same as they were back in 1996, and his overall worldview hasn’t changed much, either, although the backing music certainly has, and not in favor of the group. This project fails in every conceivable way when compared to Blah Blah Blah.

However, that’s only of you look at this as a comeback album. As a proper follow-up to Blah Blah Blah, albeit one that was twenty-two years too late, it works much better for every party involved. Well, for our host, anyway – he wouldn’t have been expected to improve upon his writing skills that much in the interim, as fans of Blahzay Blahzay would have wanted more of the same. So with our expectations lowered considerably, ENYthyng Iz Possible turns out to be much more entertaining than it has any right to be.

It’s not a good album, mind you – there are far too many throwaway moments, lazy instrumentals, and rudimentary bars to ever stand the test of time, and what’s worse, nothing on here is as catchy as “Danger”, so our host’s attempts at securing his financial future with royalties generated from another anthem all go to waste. The over-reliance on featured guests makes ENYthyng Iz Possible play as a compilation curated by Outloud at times, and PF Cuttin’s stamp is nowhere to be found. But some of this works fairly well: “Ride or Tie”, stupid fucking title aside, was enjoyable, and “Reasons” is the best song on the project and it isn’t even close.

The production, mostly handled by Avenue Beatz, fails to update the Blahzay Blahzay sound for the new millennium that isn’t even “new” anymore as we’re damn near twenty years into it at this point, and some of the creative choices are questionable (Grand Puba, arguably the biggest name on the album for hip hop heads of a certain age, being shuffled off into bonus track territory is a headscratcher, and don’t even get me started on the recycled Ol’ Dirty Bastard performance). As such, ENYthyng Iz Possible is far from required listening, even if you grew up with 1990’s-era boom bap scoring your everyday life. Sometimes it’s okay for rappers to live off of their one hit without forcing their creative muscles to stretch – at least Blahzay Blahzay has a hit record that won’t be forgotten anytime soon. Those are fine laurels to rest upon.

-Max

RELATED POST:

The other Blahzay Blahzar write-up can be found by clicking here.

-Max