Reader Review: Benzino - Redemption (January 14, 2003)

(Today Sir Bonkers, apparently my go-to whenever there's an artist or a project that I don't want to touch with a ten-foot pole, follows up his Reader Review from last year of hip hop punching bag Benzino's debut, The Benzino Project, with a write-up on his sophomore release, Redemption. Leave some notes for him below.)

In 2003, Elektra Records released Redemption, the second solo album from Boston-based rapper Raymond “Benzino” Scott. The project was chock-full of guest appearances by artists more famous than he was, and it received a rating of four-and-a-half mics in The Source, which should mean that it was an instant fucking classic.

Hold on, you can get three free issues of that particular magazine with the purchase of this album?

Yeah, I'm aware that, at this point in his career, Benzino pretty much was The Source, but still, this is just too much. He's not even pretending anymore? This would be hilarious if it wasn't so pathetic. Oh well, I suppose their lack of credibility saves me the trouble of getting pissed that this generous offer has long since expired.

Anyway, Ray Benzino, the guy notorious for destroying The Source's status as hip hop's bible, recorded four albums of original solo material between 2001 and 2007 on four different record labels, none of which moved many units (even when the sales figures are combined, Benzino never managed to sell all that many albums, so he never earned any plaques to hang on his wall). Everybody and their grandmother knows Benzino is top five dead or alive when it comes to being an asshole, but where his work was concerned, people took his evil deeds into consideration and left his albums on the shelf because, hey, he was known for starting shit, not recording music.

As mentioned above, Redemption was Benzino's sophomore album, and because his debut sold approximately two copies, he decided to take a different approach when it came to selecting his beats. You can say what you want about The Benzino Project, but when it came to the actual music and the guest appearances (and Ray knowing when not to get in the way), it was a very tight set that, unlike most albums coming out in 2001, could be called (save for two or three club bangers) a pure hip hop album. In an attempt to cross over into the mainstream and score a few more radio spins, Ray focused almost exclusively on club bangers and songs tailor-made for the ladies for Redemption. The production team responsible for the music on The Benzino Project sounding really good, the Hangmen 3 (a crew that counts Zino among their numbers, interestingly enough), were appointed as Ray’s gophers for all but six tracks, and for the rest of the project, he hooked up with the likes of Mario Winans, L.T. Hutton and L.E.S., none of whom are known for their massive hit singles, in an attempt to create his own version of 50 Cent's Get Rich Or Die Trying, while having his homeboy Dave Mays (his friend and partner from The Source) strong-arm people into appearing on his album.

Ray followed the 50 Cent formula to the letter. Because Curtis found mainstream success dissing an established artist (Ja Rule) during the promotion of his album, Zino decided to verbally attack the biggest rap star in the world, Eminem, on mixtape freestyles and also on one of Redemption's actual songs claiming that this white man was corrupting a culture that, in his mind, was created for the advancement of Black and Latino artists. I find it interesting when an artist, with a hardcore debut record , changes up his entire style in an effort to sell records; you see this happen on major labels all the time, even with names as big as Nas or Jay-Z (and no, I am in no way putting Benzino in the same league as Nas and Jay-Z). This tactic didn't work for Zino, though, since Redemption failed to stir up any interest and Elektra dropped him from their roster soon afterward.

In many ways, Benzino’s numerous failed attempts at becoming a rap star are a good metaphor for the music industry and how it attempts to sell unexceptional rappers to the general public. The difference between Benzino and most generic rappers, though, is that he used to have The Source backing him up, keeping his career on life support when, had he been forced to prove himself without any assistance, it would have been unlikely that any label would have shown interest, let alone help him pay for all of these hot guest appearances and instrumentals. (The proof that he wouldn’t have been so fortunate without the support of his old friend and partner Dave Mays lies in his fourth album, which was released to the sound of crickets after he was fired from The Source, but all in due time.)

So what do we have here?

1. STAYIN’ 4EVA

If you actually sat through The Benzino Project, you’ll be somewhat pleasantly surprised by this track. On his debut, Zino was a terrible, terrible lyricist without any sort of flow. On here, though, he’s an entirely unexceptional lyricist with a decent-enough flow. There’s nothing quotable on here, of course (although his line, “I don’t seem to ever learn my lesson”, is strangely self-aware). As usual, Ray scored himself a hot beat: this one rocks a nice piano, a harp and a bomb-ass bassline. He also purchased some good supporting vocals (from a female singer who, apparently, wasn't important enough to be credited properly on the album). This was not a bad way to kick off an album.

2. CALL MY NAME (FEAT. JADAKISS)

The guest star gets to go first over this L.E.S. beat, which grooves along nicely. Despite Ray not embarrassing himself behind the mic, he still gets completely blown off the map by Jadakiss (from The Lox). As a whole, though, this was alright.

3. ROCK THE PARTY (FEAT. MARIO WINANS)

The mandatory “In Da Club”-esque rump-shaker. I really liked Mario Winans’ solo hit single “I Don’t Wanna Know”; I've always wondered where his career went. Anyway, he performs double-duty on here, both guest-starring and producing this Neptunes-ripoff of an instrumental (just like everyone else who wasn't named Dr. Dre was doing in 2003). Unless you’re specifically looking for originality, this track isn’t all that bad. Raymond’s lyrics are a rather literal description of a champagne-drenched, marijuana-laced party attended by a lot of gun-toting thugs, which, while being nothing special, is perfectly functional for this type of song. I believe this was an actual charting single, but the degree of its success is unknown to me.

4. WOULD YOU (FEAT. MARIO WINANS & LISA RAYE)

This sounds like a poor “21 Questions” imitation, and Lisa Raye’s bratty, nasal voice annoys the shit out of me. I guess they couldn’t get Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes to show up to the studio because she was kind of dead at the time, although something as trivial as dying never stopped 2Pac.

5. MAKES YOU WANNA HOLLA

The Hangmen 3 are some of the best and most underrated producers in the game, in my opinion. Although this isn’t their finest hour by any stretch, this was still decent enough. Once again, Zino doesn’t embarrass himself on here, which, considering his track record on The Benzino Project, is impressive, but if he is ever capable of spitting an remotely interesting verse, he sure does go out of his way to hide that fact from the listener.

6. NEVER SHUVIN’ (FEAT. WYCLEF JEAN & M3)

Wyclef Jean both sings and raps on here, stealing the show from our host. The instrumental sounds like he could very well have produced it, too, but the Hangmen 3 are credited for the beat. I'm not entirely sure who the group M3 are supposed to be, but they sound competent and unimaginative. Zino doesn’t do anything particularly good or bad on “Never Shuvin'”, but this is still definitely a highlight of Redemption. It’s too bad that a superior rapper (such as, say, Nas) didn't get the opportunity to utilize this beat, because then, gentlemen, we would have had a classic record on our hands. And for all of you who believe Nas would rather perform fellatio on Jay-Z than record a song with Benzino: Raymond actually produced the title track to Stillmatic. So there.

7. GANGSTA’S TOUCH (FEAT. CADDILAC TAH & BLACK CHILD)

Since Benzino was doing battle with the Shady Records bunch (well, mostly Eminem, but the rest of the label's roster fell into the beef by default) at the same time that Ja Rule and Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. collective were verbally sparring with them, it makes sense that the two parties would team up at some point. I will say that you should definitely consider retiring from hip hop when Mitsubishi Tah & Crack Child out-rap you on your own fucking song, as is the case here. (I wonder why Ja Rule decided to not put in an appearance himself: I doubt it was an integrity issue.) All that said, everyone sounds much better than they should on this song, mostly because of the exotic Hangmen 3 creation, which samples Moroccan singer Cheb Khaled (of whom I am a fan). The lyrics on here are ass, but I suppose that, like a lot of songs on Redemption, you can still enjoy it on simply a musical level.

8. REDEMPTION (ROSARY) (FEAT. HUSSEIN FATAL & KID JAVI)

Apparently Fatal (late of 2Pac's merry band Tha Outlawz) was also beefing with Shady/Aftermath/G-Unit/Interscope around this time, since he was featured no less than four times on Ja Rule’s bullshit attempt at warfare with said label conglomerate, Blood In My Eye. So it makes sense that Benzino recruited him for Redemption as well. Ray had been actively trying to appeal to Pac’s fans on the album he released in between his debut and this effort, The Benzino Remix Project (which is exactly what it sounds like) by featuring all the other Outlawz on a track, and even goes so far as to imitate 2Pac while Tone Capone channels the “Hail Mary” instrumental. While the results sound eerily like a lost track from The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, there are better avenues to take if you want to hear some Shakur-esque songs. There’s Tha Realest, Ja Rule, and, oh, I don't know, 2Pac himself?

9. X-TRA HOT (FEAT. DAZ & JEWELL)

Given the guest list, this track was probably intended to emulate Death Row Records in its heyday. However, it sounds more like a half-assed Scott Storch effort, which fits with everything actual producer L.T. Hutton has produced in this millennium.

10. I REMEMBER (FEAT. MARIO WINANS)

I don’t know how many women actually listen to Benzino (although the man sold so few albums throughout his career that breaking down the demographics of those who actually did purchase Redemption is probably scientifically impossible), but this syrupy song for the ladies is so cliché that, despite there being nothing really bad about this musically or lyrically, it’s just boring. Which is a worse offense than actually recording truly shitty music. (Exhibit A: Jay-Z's “I Know What Girls Like”, which makes me laugh out loud for three hours straight when I'm baked.)

11. GET IT ON

This one was boring, too.

12. THE 44CAL KILLA (FEAT. SCARFACE & M3)

I generally have no real opinion on the work of production team the Trackmasters, but this beat is pretty damn fresh. The acoustic guitars have a way of creeping down your spine, which is appropriate, as this song is about a serial killer (who prefers to use a 44-caliber gun, in case you missed the subtlety in the song title). Scarface kills this shit, which makes me wish he’d have gotten this instrumental to himself.

13. HOOLA HOOP

Benzino jumps on both the Sean Paul and the T-Pain bandwagons (before Mr. Pain was even a blip on hip hop's radar), to appalling results.

14. DIFFEREN KIND OF LADY

Meh.

15. PULL YOUR SKIRT UP

Eminem stans, you've probably actually heard of this particular track. This would be the infamous Slim Shady dis record that stirred up a bit of controversy back in 2003. The fact that Eminem actually put this song on one of his own mixtapes tells you everything you need to know about the overall effectiveness of the attack: not one memorable line is dropped, and the Tone Capone beat is easily the worst one on the entire album. I suppose Funkmaster Flex could use this track to back up his claim that Benzino is the worst rapper on the planet, but most hip hop heads are perfectly willing to hate on Ray, so it wouldn't really be necessary.

16. ROCK THE PARTY (YOUNG HEFF REMIX) (FEAT. LIL’ KIM, PETEY PABLO, & MARIO WINANS)

Lil’ Kim’s verse and extended hook are okay, but that still wasn't a valid reason to include two versions of the same song on Redemption. Since Petey Pablo abso-fucking-lutely annoys the shit out of me whenever he makes a non-crunk guest appearance, I would probably stick with the original.

Redemption ends the evening with a bonus track.

17. UNTITLED HIDDEN BONUS TRACK/ I GOT LOVE (FEAT. L.O.)

While he doesn’t spit overly complex bars on here, this is still the most lyrical I have ever heard Ray act. He pulls the song off well, and unknown rapper L.O. also gives a decent performance. Of course, it does help that this track features the best beat (by the Hangmen 3) on the entire album by a wide margin. I wonder why Ray decided to not only use this as a bonus track, but also not mention this on the back cover. Still, it was a good way to end your album.

FINAL THOUGHTS: While Benzino's Redemption showcases a man who has grown noticeably better as an emcee since his debut, he still gets ripped a new asshole by each and every guest that Dave Mays bribed for a guest appearance. As a whole, Redemption is plain boring for the most part. The Benzino Project featured some great instrumentals that couldn't really be classified as crossover attempts, with enough interesting guest turns to obscure the host, even if he did manage to drop fat too many clumsy verses. On Redemption, though, he goes the 50 Cent Get Rich Or Die Trying route: club bangers + songs for the ladies + songs for the streets + a beef to get people to pay attention + jumping on every hip hop bandwagon imaginable. Unfortunately, Benzino is too poor of an emcee to actually pull it off. Redemption isn’t even a funny failure (save for maybe the Eminem dis track). However, I must say that this is no worse than any post-The Massacre G-Unit album, and it definitely could have potentially charted when it was released in 2003, had it not been for Benzino's tendency to piss off The Source's global fanbase, because this is a professionally-constructed piece of mainstream rap. Despite the fact that Redemption marked the point where Benzino, The Source, and Dave Mays (who took the odd stance of standing by Ray Dog's side when the beef with Eminem escalated, thereby dooming the respective careers of everyone caught in the crossfire except, well, Eminem) all fell into the hip hop abyss, there are still a handful of songs on here that I feel are worth your attention.

BUY OR BURN: You should burn the tracks listed below and find “Pull Ya Skirt Up” on YouTube. Even though it sucks balls both as a dis record and as an actual song, you should still listen to it all the way through at least once for historical purposes.

BEST TRACKS: “Stayin’ 4eva”; “Call My Name”; “Never Shuvin’”; “Gangsta’s Touch”; “44 Cal Killa”; “I Got Love”

-Sir Bonkers

(Questions? Comments? Confusion? Leave your thoughts below.)

Reader Review: Benzino - The Benzino Project (October 30, 2001)

(Today's Reader Review finds new contributor Sir Bonkers tackling an album that I honestly never thought would grace the HHID page: The Benzino Project, from the former co-owner of The Source, Benzino. I will admit that I never had any interest in listening to this shit, and the fact that it was released after September 11, 2001 might very well mean that the terrorists have won, but after reading through the review, the sheer number of wasted guest spots from established artists might make hip hop's answer to Steven Spielberg's 1942. Pour yourself something strong and enjoy! And I'm also expecting some commentary regarding the review's controversial ending, so now that's out there.)


Like you, Max’s other reader, I am a great fan of this blog. And it has inspired me to review some albums myself. Now, in order to actually contribute something worthwhile, I’d either have to offer some incredible insight that nobody has ever had about a particular album, or, failing that, I would have to find something that, while being interesting, is relatively unknown to most of the public.


The latter is the case with Boston rapper Raymond “Benzino” Scott's solo debut, The Benzino Project. This album was released in 2001 by Motown and Restless Records (a label owned by Dave Mays and Benzino himself ), and it featured some of the industry’s most prominent players (Diddy, Snoop Dogg, Scarface, Prodigy, Raekwon and Cormega), some surprising guest appearances by stars of yesteryear (Foxy Brown, Bobby Brown (no relation), Black Rob, Tha Outlawz, and Teddy Riley), and, of course, his own weed carriers (the Made Men/ Almighty R.S.O. and the Wiseguys). The fact that all these people probably showed up to appease Zino’s mighty ego, and to ensure their continued appearance in his magazine, is pretty obvious, but I'll get to that later on.


Most of the album was produced by the Hangmen 3, who are Ray Dog’s personal production crew (of which he is also a member, go figure), although there was room for a few tracks from the likes of Diddy, Teddy Riley, and the Trackmasters, hired almost exclusively for their ability to craft radio-friendly tracks.


Regardless of what you may believe, Benzino was far from a rookie when The Benzino Project came out. He had been rapping since 1988, releasing songs and albums with his groups The Almighty RSO, the Made Men (who were technically the same crew), and the Hangmen 3: he was just never what you could call successful. The Benzino Project was heavily plugged by Ray's homeboy Dave Mays, who just so happened to be the other co-owner of The Source (I can remember there being far too many advertisements for Ray's side projects within the pages of the magazine back when I still read the fucking thing) and, in doing so, Mays flushed the combined credibility of Benzino, The Source (once considered the hip hop Bible, it now continues to struggle on life support in its current Benzino-free incarnation) and himself down the toilet. The Benzino Project, appropriately went triple aluminum, as consumers are not as stupid as the industry would like to believe (the public generally believed that, if Benzino had to rely on his magazine-owning friend to generate hype for his album, then it must completely suck, why even bother?), and Benzino was dropped from Motown roughly four months after the album’s release.


Now, this wasn’t the first nor the last time Benzino generated controversy with practices like these, but it was his solo debut and the first time the public heard him by himself, rather than as a part of a crew.


Now let’s see what this actually sounds like, shall we?


1. 617 (INTRO)
On this rap album intro, Benz gives the requisite shout-outs to everybody in the Made Men and the Hangmen 3 over the same sample that Nas used on his “Just a Moment”, which came out four years later. This intro starts an annoying trend of using great beats for stupid skits.


2. WHO IS BENZINO? (FEAT DIDDY)
This D-Dot/ Diddy production is actually quite dark and ominous in a good, surprising way, as Diddy is best known for producing club bangers. Benzino isn’t on par, though: as a matter of fact, he’s less of a rapper than Diddy himself. They have comparable amateurish flows, but at least Diddy often has good ghostwriters. Not on here, though, as Diddy doesn’t actually rhyme: he just provides his typical ab-libs , such as his tried-and-true “As we proceed to give you what you need”, and gives a shout-out to Dave Mays, which also helps to explain why Diddy is on this album in the first place.  As to why he's credited as a guest artist for a track on which he doesn't really perform, it's due to name brand recognition only.


3. BANG TA DIS
This Hangmen 3-produced beat is fairly dramatic. The moody piano keys and strings almost make Benzo sound like he could be a good rapper if it wasn’t for his below-average lyrics, which sound worse than they actually are because Ray seems to believe that he’s spitting the smartest shit ever. Such a waste of good beat. (That’s actually a feeling I get from most of The Benzino Project and any other Benzino-featured songs, now that I think about it.)  Still, this sounds good, at least.


4. FEEL YOUR PAIN (FEAT THA OUTLAWZ)
Well, those are some unexpected guests. Although I suppose Tha Outlawz, formerly best known as 2Pac's weed carriers, probably didn’t have much else to do at this point in their career. I guess this could technically be considered a “good look”, as The Benzino Project was a major label release (can someone explain how in the fuck a rapper like Benzino managed to get signed to fucking Motown? Anyone? Bueller?) and it probably at least got their name printed in The Source again. Anyway, the Asian-inspired beat, provided by the Hangmen 3, is quite good, but none of the featured rappers does it any justice.


5. WE REPPIN' (FEAT MADE MEN)
This Hangmen beat is really, really nice. The funky guitars, organ, and the humming sped-up soul vocals make this rather mediocre crew sound far better than they have any right to on this posse cut.


6. HALFWAY (SKIT) (FEAT MR. GZUZ)
Although this is labeled a skit, it features some original music and some rapping by a uncredited rapper. I believe it to be Mr. Gzuz of Made Men, which is why I credited him in this review.


7. FIGADOH (FEAT SNOOP DOGG & SCARFACE)
This was obviously created as a club banger, and a strange one at that. I’m actually a fan of Teddy Riley’s older production work, but this song just sucks. This y be the first wack beat on The Benzino Project, but at least the guests turn in some good work. There is also a remix featuring Busta Rhymes, M.O.P. and some annoying shout-outs by DJ Clue: that version is a lot better than this one, as Busta performs in a weird chopped-up flow that actually makes the beat sound more interesting. Regardless, you'll probably want to avoid any version of this song.


8. GOT NO WEED (SKIT)
Once again Benzino let’s a perfectly good beat go to waste.


9. NOBODY LIVER (FEAT PINK)
Today we know Pink as an unconventional, thoughtful, feminist, interesting singer (regardless of if you actually like her music). Back in 2001, though, she was just another L.A. Reid doormat marketed as another generic R&B pop singer (the white version of Brandy, if you will). Which helps explain why she slavishly serenades Benzino on the hook, a redudnant effort as our host is serenading himself in an equally generic and witless fashion. The beat actually kind of saves this from being annoying.


10. PHONE (SKIT)
Why does he keep lacing useless skits (or useless songs for that matter) with hot beats? Why?!?  And why are there so many of them?


11. PICTURE THIS (FEAT FOXY BROWN)
Benzino + Foxy Brown + Trackmasters = bullshit. Moving on...


12. ANY QUESTIONS? (FEAT BLACK ROB)
I guess Black Rob was a free gift with the purchase of Diddy. Over this ominous, piano-based Hangmen 3 creation, Ray-Dog actually manages to sound both menacing and not entirely useless. It’s Rob, however, who completely kills this shit. Fans of Black Rob should definitely track this down.


13. NO PART OF US (FEAT PRODIGY & BOBBY BROWN)
On this track, fellow Bostonian Bobby Brown, who was busy beating on Whitney Houston while they both were on cocaine somewhere in the city when Ray spotted them, provides both a hook and a verse, and he actually does quite a good job. His coked-up vocals contrast nicely with Prodigy, who drops a decent verse while sounding both menacing and calm like only he can. (Wait, so he turns in a better performance on here than he has in the past fucking decade? Weird.) I really liked this interesting, up-tempo guitar and percussion-based beat: it’s too bad the Hangmen rarely produce for more worthy artists. Fans of Bobby and/or Mobb Deep should check this out, but Benzino stans should pass, as his contribution is easily ignored.


14. ROADRAGE (SKIT)
Well, at least they didn’t waste an instrumental on this.  Perhaps this could be considered as informative, but I wouldn't get into a vehicle driven by Bobby Brown anyway.


15. GHETTO CHILD (FEAT BOBBY BROWN & MR. GZUZ)
And when Bobby’s high finally came down, he recorded this. The calm but funky beat forms a nice contrast with Bobby’s gruff vocals. Mr. Gzuz returns to drop a verse, but our host is nowhere to be found (is this a good or a bad thing? Discuss below). Fans of Bobby Brown may want to track this down, as it beats anything on his latest album (which was released more than a decade ago). Matter of fact, if Bobby Brown and the Hangmen hooked up for an entire album, I’d run to the store to buy it. Of course, I would probably be the only one, but at least I'm being honest.


16. JB'S FLOATING (SKIT)
This is just an instrumental break with no skit over it. Although they should have made this longer and hired somebody to actually rap over it. Sigh.


17. G-A-N-G-S-T-E-R
Even after you completely ignore the flow, the rhymes, and the content of this shit, I still find fault with the chorus, which, for the sake of punctuation, should have included a bit of dead air as a “blank space” between spelling out the word “gangster” and his own name. But at least the beat is hot.


18. BIG TREV (SKIT)
Please refer to my notes for “Roadrage (Skit)”.


19. BOOTTEE (FEAT TEDDY RILEY & MR. GZUZ)
This Teddy Riley beat sounds like computer generated belching in a bad way (yes, as a matter of fact there is a good way: see Ginuwine’s Timbaland-helmed “Pony”.  Side note: Teddy produced a similar-sounding pseudo-futuristic beat for "2000 Watts" for Michael Jackson's Invincible). Teddy’s verse is better than expected, and Benzino and his friend Mr. Gzuz sound exactly as can be expected. However, because of its awkward rhythm, it is nearly impossible to actually dance to what is supposed to be a club banger. Once again, there’s an official remix that is far superior: it features Fabolous, G-Dep, and, once again, the annoying DJ Clue. (G-Dep? The hell? Was he like the bonus bag of chips you get in the vending machine when you order a stuck Black Rob and two fall out?)


20. THE JUMP UP (HANG 'EM HIGH) (FEAT RAEKWON, CORMEGA, & SUPERB)
The high-energy beat is good, and the three guests turn in the best lyrics on the album. Benzino also manages to drop a not-completely-inane verse. (I'm just wondering how Ray blackmailed the Chef and Lord Superb, but not Ghostface Killah, into appearing on The Benzino Project. I guess Ghost has much more swagger than everybody thought.)


21. SHINE LIKE MY SON (FEAT RAY-RAY & CASE)
A sweet-as-sugar song which has Benzino talking to his (then) seven year old son, who is also a featured guest. It contains some of Benzino’s best lyrics, mainly because there is an actual theme for him to stick with, rather than a bunch of humorless arrogance for no particular reason. Even (failed) R&B singer Case’s hook fits well in this context.  Still, this is too weak for my tastes, as it reminds me of that Will Smith song. 


22. I'M FUCKED UP (FEAT MIKE MCNEIL)
Mike McNeil of the Boston rap group the Wiseguys spits a verse on this glorified skit. Although it isn’t a very good verse, it at least puts this beat to better use than most of the other skits on The Benzino Project.


23. NATE'S PLACE (SKIT)
I sure as fuck hope this wasn’t supposed to be Nate Dogg on here, because putting him on a skit to talk about uninteresting shit would be the biggest waste of all.


24. THROW THEM 3'S UP (BOSTON N----Z) (FEAT MADE MEN)
Somehow, this song sums up the entire album, in that it has a pretty great beat but contains no lyrics that are worth hearing, unless they come from outside of Ray's extended family.


FINAL THOUGHTS: The Benzino Project holds up surprisingly well for an album from an artist who is supposedly without talent. And I'm not talking about individual tracks: I mean the entire disc holds up. Of course, Benzino is extremely limited as a wordsmith, but he has a pleasantly gruff voice and a kinda-interesting delivery. His is probably the quality of rhymes that Eazy-E, Diddy, Dr. Dre or Timbaland would spit if they bothered to write their own verses. If Benzino wasn’t such a jackass (he proved that, even in gangsta rap, you can go too far in your hustle, and did so several times over, which is quite an accomplishment) and had a good ghostwriter, he’d be perfectly fine. Like the people on that short list, the man's real talent lies in producing (with the Hangmen 3) and/or being a record executive. There is no bad instrumental on The Benzino Project, save for the Teddy Riley and Trackmasters contributions. The guests, who probably only showed up for some good reviews and/or Source covers, mostly sound pretty good. The combination of these factors make for a very entertaining album. If only he used his considerable talents to produce other people’s albums while staying in the background, Benzino may have had a much different career, but instead he Suge Knighted The Source and started a smear campaign against Eminem. But we’ll get to that with his next album.


BUY OR BURN? You probably can’t buy this as it is out of print, and you shouldn’t go out of your way to find it. Should you stumble across a used copy somewhere, though, then you should buy this, as it is well worth your money. (There is also an alternate version entitled The Benzino Remix Project, which is essentially the same album except for that “Bang Ta This”, “Figadoh” and “Boottee” are replaced by their superior remix versions.) If, however, you really, really resent supporting Benzino financially, then you should at least snatch a copy from the Internet, like I did.


BEST TRACKS: “We Reppin’”; “Any Questions”; “No Part Of Us”; “Ghetto Child”; “The Jump-Up”


-Sir Bonkers


(Wow. Never thought I would ever see a positive Benzino album review. Well, outside of The Source, anyway. Leave your thoughts for Sir Bonkers below.)