The 12 Days of Wu-Mas #5: Deadly Venoms - Still Standing (June 25, 2002)

The Deadly Venoms are possibly the most cursed group in the Wu-Tang family tree. Their 1998 debut, Antidote, never hit store shelves (although bootlegs exist, of course), a casualty of label mergers where their new bosses at A&M had no fucking idea what to do with the quartet. Attempt number two, 2000’s Pretty Thugs, died a similar death at Dreamworks Records, although the second try featured no direct influence from the Wu-Tang Clan, unlike their other debut, which sounded like it had been recorded in the twenty-sixth chamber alongside The RZA himself.

Now down to three members, the Deadly Venoms tried one last time, their third “debut”, Still Standing, managing to make it to store shelves in 2002, only four years after the group had first tried to introduce themselves to the world, and only four years after most hip hop heads had moved on.

Much like the Wu-Tang Clan themselves, the Deadly Venoms was made up of solo artists who joined forces to take on the culture together. The Venoms originally consisted of four members: N-Tyce, J-Boo (the only one of the crew to not have released a solo album prior to joining up), Champ MC, and Finesse. (A fifth member, X-Clan affiliate Lin Que, left shortly before recording commenced on Antidote, citing financial concerns.) The quartet went through the label drama together, getting two albums shelved in the process before Finesse bailed, curiously also citing financial concerns. Undeterred, the Venoms moved on to Still Standing, a title intended to reference their collective feelings on both Finesse’s departure and on being jerked around by multiple record labels over a four-year period.

Still Standing finally saw release through the Deadly Venoms’ management company, Rocks the World, by way of Virgin Records. The two entities had been inseparable since day one, with producer Storm, the head of the monster, handling most of the production on all three of the group’s debuts. The independent route seems like a natural conclusion to the story of the Venoms: it offered at least the illusion of creative control, something that majors such as Dreamworks may have not felt comfortable handing relative unknowns such as N-Tyce, J-Boo, and Champ.

However, a quick listen to Still Standing proves that there are obvious problems that the Venoms may be blind to due to their close association to Rocks the World.

I’ll elaborate.

1. THE PERFECT STORM

Appropriately, “The Perfect Storm” kicks off with the sounds of a downpour, as uncredited guest star Madam Scheez, a Wu-Tang Z-teamer in her own right, delivers a monologue intended to re-reintroduce the audience to the Deadly Venoms concept. This is an actual song, however, so after Scheez finishes up, the Storm instrumental kicks in, which isn’t bad, but could have used a few more passes through the mixing board, as it kind of just floats around, withstanding blows from J-Boo, N-Tyce, and Champ MC (who receives twice as much screen time for some unknown reason). Although reduced to a trio, the Venoms still unleash their braggadocio and shit-talk as though nothing’s changed, but their voices do sound a bit weary, as though even these ladies are tired of having to redo their debut album. The fact that Storm’s beat just… ends was also a bit quirky. Ah well, surely nothing for me to be concerned with here, right?

2. REMEMBER THE NAME (FEAT. RIGGAMORTIS)

Over a questionably poppy Lexx instrumental that couldn’t possibly have been created with any potential audience in mind, our trio use up a verse apiece to get their thugged-out street shit rocks off. Features lots of references to the group name, so at least their camaraderie was still intact in 2002 (N-Tyce even mentions, “Venoms got a new CD in the store, go ‘head and cop that,” so at least she was all-in on the movement). Unlike on “Perfect Storm”, each emcee puts in the same amount of effort, from J-Boo’s opening verse to Champ’s Rah Digga-esque cadence toward the end. Labelmate and guest Riggamortis only contributes the hook, which was wholly unnecessary, but kudos to Rocks the World for still trying to make this fucking thing work the third time around. (Side note: today I learned that the Deadly Venoms released an official remix for “Remember the Name” featuring Kurupt, who, strangely enough, had been a supporter of the group for quite a while, even gifting them guest spots on his own solo, Kuruption!, back when they shared a label. I haven’t heard this version, which shouldn’t be a shock, since I just admitted that I didn’t even know it existed until just now, so if you two have any thoughts, leave them below.)

3. 50 BARS AND BETTER

It turns out that Still Standing is essentially a stealth Champ MC project with multiple guest features, or at least that’s how it feels this early in the evening: she’s the only Deadly Venom that appears on every single track, and as some sort of reward or something, she receives her solo showcase first. Champ throws her all into her writing on “50 Bars and Better”, which could have been, er, better but also aren’t horrible, but the Storm instrumental, weak as it is, undermines her credibility as an, um, champion emcee, its repetitive loop masking all emotion, playing robotically until the end of time. The beat sucked, is what I’m been trying to tell you. So it really doesn’t matter if our host’s fifty bars or whatnot were any good: if the music is this bland, nobody’s going to care to check for the lyrics anyway.

4. BOYS IN THE BACK

The rest of the Venoms return for “Boys in the Back”, a Storm production ostensibly about female empowerment (the “boys” are kept “in the back” because the women can handle things just fine without them, thank you very much), but you likely won’t be convinced after listening to this. It isn’t that N-Tyce, J-Boo, or Champ MC are poor behind the microphone: taste is subjective, obviously, but they all sounded decent enough (Champ more so than the other two – yeah, I know what I said about her performance on the last track, but in small doses, she’s awfully potent), and hey, at least you can tell each of them apart from one another (which is a huge problem in hip hop, especially these days – fight me, tell me I’m wrong, I dare you), but the beat fails them by sounding like a three-dollar bargain-bin instrumental that fumbles the ball by every conceivable measure. The multiple callbacks to Rocks the World are also starting to grate on my nerves: sure, the Venoms were just doing their due diligence, but the phrase “Rocks the World” doesn’t make up for any lyrical shortcomings. My favorite parts of “Boys in the Back” are the intro and outro, on which an uncredited dude who clearly doesn’t understand what the title means barks at the listener as though that will suddenly change my mind about this piffle. Le sigh.

5. GETS NO BETTER

Storm’s beat contains some vague Wu-ness, but although the music isn’t bad, it grows tiresome during the umpteenth loop. Still, it seems to bring the best out of the Venoms, as all three deliver with their respective verses. J-Boo, who receives the longest chunk of time, even throws in an oblique attack toward former Venom Finesse, so at least someone’s noticed the quartet has shrunk down a bit. The chorus is pretty bad, though: whoever convinced N-Tyce to sing during the hook should be locked out of the studio, because it was a poor choice, as her vocals sound about as monotonous as her rapping voice. Ah well. The verses were decent, though, so there’s that.

6. DON’T CARE

I should have figured the theme of “Don’t Care” would be jettisoned rather quickly: although N-Tyce’s opening bars feature her talking about things she “Don’t Care” about, J-Boo immediately disrupts the paradigm by talking about how much she “don’t give a fuck”. Later on in the first shared verse, Champ switches it up to “I could care less”, which doesn’t make grammatical sense but you get the idea. And then the Venoms abandon the artifice entirely, choosing to just talk mad shit instead of committing to the bit. Which is too bad: even though the framework was corny and poorly-constructed, and Storm’s instrumental made a valiant, if fatal, attempt at a funky sound that is anything but, hearing the Deadly Venoms pass the mic around during their two shared verses was much more fun than I could have imagined – why, it almost seems like the ladies enjoy spending time with one another. What a concept.

7. LOVE ME (FEAT. DAZE)

A bit of a misdirect here, as “Love Me” kicks off with a soulful sample and Champ’s yearning love raps that obscure the fact that she (and the rest of the Venoms) is really talking about her love for our chosen culture and their wish that it will be reciprocated soon. Champ, J-Boo, and N-Tyce all deliver fairly solid performances over Storm’s unexpectedly affecting instrumental, which puts that aforementioned soul sample to good use. Guest Daze’s chorus, which is terrible and irrelevant, disrupts the proceedings a bit, and our hosts’ contractually-obligated requirement to shout out their label during each and every one of their songs has long been exhausting, but overall “Love Me” is a good, entertaining listen. Who knew?

8. ALL NIGHTER

Champ and J-Boo both have aggressive rhyme deliveries that are easily discernible from one another, but N-Tyce’s higher-register, flat vocals make her the most distinctive-sounding member of the Venoms across all three of their debut albums, a statement that shouldn’t be grammatically correct, but is. As such, your enjoyment of “All Nighter” is wholly dependent on how much of N-Tyce you want in your songs, as this is her solo showcase on Still Standing. She can certainly write decent bars and spits them well enough, but “All Nighter” is corny as shit: the hook, especially, is eyeroll-inducing, while her verses, all of which push the narrative of an artist who is so popular and successful that her former teachers want her autograph to give to their grandchildren, but is still so much of a hot piece of ass that her friends refuse to introduce her to their fathers, are more than a bit of a reach. It certainly doesn’t help that the beat (provided by, of all people and I’m not joking here, motherfucking Ski Beatz) is some sort of poppy confection that sounds so manufactured that you can practically hear the “paint-by” numbers calling out to you.

9. LOOK INTO MY EYES (FEAT. TAUNJA)

The “socially conscious” trope tends to get pulled out of storage whenever rappers are accused of saying nothing of substance and not being relatable, which is odd, in that a lot of listeners look to hip hop in order to live vicariously through the lives of their favorite materialistic rappers, who squander large sums of money that they themselves will never see in several lifetimes, and participate in unattainable sexual relationships with multiple ridiculously-understanding partners. Still, the Deadly Venoms obviously Have Something To Say Too, so comes “Look Into My Eyes”, a serious romp through growing up in the hard knock life, with the violence, desperation, and depression that comes prepackaged. N-Tyce’s opening verse is rather ordinary, but both J-Boo and Champ manage to wring some actual emotion out of the subject matter. I’m not even sure if what Champ raps about is true in the least bit, but it hits hard, so good work. Storm’s instrumental is a never-evolving synth keyboard loop that in no way enhances the track, while guest vocalist Taunja’s chorus is almost laughably terrible. At least most of the verses were solid, though: I, for one, was impressed with how none of our hosts even bother trying to squeeze the name of their label into the mix.

10. LIKE WHAT

Fans of Tha Alkaholiks’ “The Next Level” may derive some extra enjoyment from “Like What”, a Storm-produced exercise that features the same loop lifted from Francis Lai’s “Searching for Jenny” (except on here it’s relatively untouched, unlike E-Swift and Diamond D’s work on that Liks classic), but even the casual listener (of whom there are none – nobody digs this deep into Wu-Tang lore just because they’re bored) will find much to glom onto here, as this was fairly engaging. N-Tyce, J-Boo, and Champ revert back to default boasts-n-bullshit, spitting in short bursts and passing the microphone around as though this really was a recorded cypher freestyle and not a polished facsimile conceived in a studio with four walls and air conditioning. All of the participants breeze through their parts, and the instrumental is catchy, so.

11. CAN’T SEE ME

Another surprisingly solid effort from the Venoms comes in the form of “Can’t See Me”, a Champ-n-Boo shit-talking event on which N-Tyce appears to have been tacked on at the last minute as an afterthought. Storm’s instrumental is a dramatic rush of energy that was much desired at this point in the write-up, and our hosts use their respective verses to dismantle both their opponents and the patriarchy, at least in N-Tyce’s case. Everyone provides entertaining performances here, even with Tyce’s final verse coming across as far less aggressive than those of her partners. I enjoyed “Can’t See Me” overall, and the fact that it’s the most successful Wu-Tang imitation of the evening thus far only had a little bit to do with that. Weird.

12. HUNTING SEASON

Welp, that string of engaging songs comes to a screeching halt with “Hunting Season”, which is far and away the most puzzling inclusion of the project. This Smokin Joeh production, which sounds repetitive as all hell, only features J-Boo and Champ, but it obviously wasn’t intended to be a duet, as there is a blank section where N-Tyce’s verse could have been laid in between two cycles of the hook, and it makes one wonder why they either didn’t just wait until she was ready to record, or if she passed on the beat, why wasn’t “Hunting Season” simply edited down? (Additional question for the nerds in the back: how does N-Tyce warrant a songwriting credit here if she literally isn’t on the song? Discuss.) The only, and I mean only, fascinating aspect of this record is how Champ calls back to the three Venom ladies’ snake alter-egos during the chorus… but that also betrays the fact that N-Tyce was supposed to be here. The fuck?

13. DON’T STOP (FEAT. PEARL & NAISHER)

Alright, Venoms, not bad. Our hosts bounce back with the best instrumental of the evening on the Great Value-titled “Don’t Stop”, which features all three of our leads unleashing hell alongside then-labelmates Pearl (also known as Pearl Handle) and Naisher (both late of the Wu-affiliated crew M.M.O.) over Storm’s fucking great production work. We’re back in boasts-n-bullshit territory, so don’t come around here looking for insight or reflection from the ladies: aside from J-Boo’s curious female rapper rankings, which, according to her, place the Deadly Venoms right up there next to Foxy Brown and Lil Kim in 2002, mind you, there’s nothing to learn about here. The M.M.O. guys merely share a chorus and are included only because Rocks the World was still trying to take off at this point in time – both of the guests could be deleted from the master recording and nothing would be changed. N-Tyce’s opening verse is unintentionally funny, but overall “Don’t Stop” just works. Don’t question it, you two.

14. REAL HARDCORE

Completing the trifecta, J-Boo’s “Real Hardcore” serves as a proper showcase for the Queensbridge rapper, whose home base is mentioned so often during the chorus (by Champ, making this not a true solo effort, but that’s just me being petty) that Storm’s instrumental started to sound like an admirable Havoc imitation, which, given Mobb Deep’s ties to QB, was fine by me. Boo’s concise, breathy flow fills three verses with slang, shit-talk, and a third thing starting with an ‘s’, our host’s braggadocio sounding convincing as she commands the microphone without the need for her rhyme partners. No complaints.

15. REAL N----Z (FEAT. 40 GLOCC, ILL KNOB, & WHITEBOY)

You may recall earlier when I wrote that Champ MC is the only member of the Deadly Venoms to appear on each and every track of Still Standing. Well, “Real N----z”, another one of those songs whose title was selected by throwing darts at the Urban Dictionary, doesn’t feature J-Boo or N-Tyce in any capacity, their spots having been usurped by the likes of labelmate Ill Knob, Mobb Deep quasi-affiliate 40 Glocc, and Whiteboy, whose presence on a song entitled “Real N----z” is made far less interesting when you realize that he isn’t, in fact, a white boy. Or if he is, then he deserves to get his ass beat immediately. Smokin Joeh’s instrumental is pure posse cut fuel – it’s enough to get you by without drawing too much attention to itself. Ill Knob sounds the best here. As he’s the only participant that seems excited to be here, while Champ only vaguely evokes Venoms imagery by referring to herself as Scorpion. Everything else about this one was mid. So why weren’t the other ladies invited?

16. CHASING DREAMS

Still Standing ends with a cloying Storm instrumental that is too precious for this world, one that definitely doesn’t belong on what is ostensibly a hardcore rap album, but at least our hosts choose not to waste it. N-Tyce deviates once again from the rest of the clique, actually choosing to talk about “Chasing Dreams”, while J-Boo and Champ actively choose to talk about the ups and downs of the Deadly Venoms as a group, Boo tackling the previous two failed debut albums while Champ addresses the departure of Finesse without naming names. It’s clear that these ladies were tired of having to consistently prove themselves behind the mic and were bewildered as to why it took so many attempts to finally get a project on store shelves. (To be fair, their first debut, Antidote, was swallowed up by a record label merger, so it wasn’t the group’s doing). I get it: it must have been frustrating as hell to be in their position. I ultimately didn’t care for “Chasing Dreams” because the music overpowers everything else on here for me, but you can’t walk away from Still Standing without hoping that something finally goes right for the Venoms.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Even when reduced to a trio, the Deadly Venoms manage to record and release consistent product. The problem I have with Still Standing lies in just how nonessential the vast majority of it sounds: the music is plain jane, for the most part, and the bars from N-Tyce, J-Boo, and Champ, while decent, don’t have that extra spark needed to get most of the readers on board. Still Standing is ostensibly a part of the Wu-Tang family, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by merely listening to it: the Venoms, along with the Rocks the World label, seemingly went out of their way to distance themselves from the Wu-Tang association in an effort to allow the ladies to stand on their own two feet, and I have to say, they should have leaned in to the affiliation, because without the backstory, the Deadly Venoms are simply a trio of female rappers who weren’t able to support themselves as solo artists, and that’s a tale as old as time. There are some pretty entertaining tracks to be found on Still Standing, but they pale in comparison to the better songs from Antidote, which, of course, is when they were so about the killa bee movement that the fucking RZA even did some work on their project. Whereas you would never know that Still Standing was related to the Clan without my insistence on including it in my holiday stunt blogging.

In short: the Deadly Venoms deserve a better shot at making this group thing work. Storm, who produces the majority of this album, provides his artists with bare-bones beats for the most part – only a handful of instrumentals sound like they could have been contenders. But those bare-bones beats don’t lend themselves to much in the way of inspiration for our hosts, and their generic boasts-n-bullshit sound like retreads even if you’ve never listened to a Venom track before today. I know it took them fucking forever to finally release this debut, but I’d be willing to erase Still Standing from my memory bank if these ladies were offered the chance for a do-over with another producer, and I’d bet a lot of you Wu stans feel the same way, given how… ordinary Still Standing turned out to be. It is what it is.

BUY OR BURN? A burn is sufficient even if this is your thing, since the Venoms’ Wu-Tang ties became more and more tenuous with each debit album, but the tracks below are certainly worthy of some love.

BEST TRACKS: “Don’t Stop”; “Like What”; “Can’t See Me”; “Love Me”

-Max

RELATED POSTS:

Catch up with the other two Deadly Venoms debut projects by clicking here.