My Gut Reaction: Shyne - Godfather Buried Alive (August 10, 2004)

After Puff Daddy screwed over Shyne in court, virtually guaranteeing that he would see the inside of a jail cell for no less than ten years while Diddy ran the city while receiving nothing more than a slap on the wrist, Shyne Po was conveniently dropped from Bad Boy Records, despite the fact that curiosity surrounding the court case (which featured Shyne allegedly protecting his boss and his boss's girlfriend Jennifer Lopez from a naysayer in the club by pulling out his heat) caused his debut disc, Shyne, to actually sell copies, a feat Puffy hadn't witnessed from one of his subordinates in quite a while.

Def Jam Records quietly signed the incarcerated rapper shortly thereafter, so quietly that I didn't even notice the motherfucker was part of The House That Russell Built until I looked on the back cover. Godfather Buried Alive, Shyne Po's second album, was released three years into his sentence, and while it managed to move some units, it failed to compete with his debut. However, that's more than likely due to the Shyne's absolute refusal to promote the disc, because of his status as an "inmate" and because he couldn't "leave".

I swear, the excuses rappers come up with to not go on tour.

Since I was absolutely enthralled during my first listen of Shyne many years ago, I opted against giving a fuck about this disc upon its release. I even went out of my way to avoid reading anything about Shyne Po, lest I become angry at the memory of the debut disc.

Until today, apparently.

1. BURIED ALIVE INTRO
I could use a lot of curse words to describe this rap album intro, but instead, I'll turn to one inoffensive term: "unnecessary".

2. QUASI O.G.
Bonus points for utilizing the term "quasi" in the title of a mediocre rap song. Which brings Shyne Po's current score to...one.

3. MORE OR LESS (FEAT FOXY BROWN)
This track was allegedly produced by Kanye West. If that's true, it's one of his laziest beats ever. Shyne deserves praise, however, for adopting a flow that no longer sounds like the Notorious B.I.G. with a head cold: he now sounds just like your average rapper that fails to stand out in the crowd (lineup?). What the fuck is with Foxy Brown's lame ass contribution on the hook? Besides the fact that she sounds like a dude, which can't do anything but hurt her image, she comes off as one of the most useless rappers in the history of the game, which may not be far off from the truth, but still.

4. BEHIND THE WALLS (EAST COAST GANGSTA MIX) (FEAT KURUPT & NATE DOGG)
As if you couldn't tell from Kurupt's intro, the original version of this song, sans Shyne, appeared on the soundtrack to the HBO series Oz. I seem to remember the original song sounding much more concise than this mess. It's obvious that Shyne was added as an afterthought, in a weak attempt by Def Jam to expand Shyne Po's audience. The end result is pretty blah.

5. SHYNE (FEAT MASHONDA)
I've never been much of a fan of Swizz Beats as a producer (he's derivative and obnoxious as shit, more so than most rappers and hip hop bloggers), but this track actually isn't that bad. I say that because Shyne sounds more animated on here than he ever has, so regardless of the fact that the ignorance that he spits makes the Southern rappers flooding the airwaves sound like fucking Robert Frost, this song is still deserving of a bit of praise.

6. FOR THE RECORD
The only song on Godfather Buried Alive that was actually recorded for the project (as everything else was older material), which should become obvious to you when you realize that he's spitting his lyrics over the phone while locked in the bing. For sheer ambition alone, this is worth a listen, due to the curiosity factor, and the fact that he's dissing Curtis Jackson, which just so happens to be one of my favorite pastimes. However, this shit clearly wouldn't help him get past a parole hearing.

7. MARTYR
I just heard this track, and I can't remember this shit even playing in my speakers, that's how much of an impression it leaves.

8. JIMMY CHOO (FEAT ASHANTI)
There is no reason this song needs to exist. I ask again: who had the bright idea that Shyne needed to appeal to the female audience? Hopefully Ashanti got paid a shitload to appear on this, since she has nothing else really going for her right now.

9. GODFATHER
Here's a switch: Shyne Po doesn't sound half bad on here, but the beat (from Yogi, late of the the three man crew, um, Cru) sounds like crap on a repetitive loop, detracting from the overall experience. It's not like looping a sample and stretching that shit to the full length of your instrumental has never been done before or anything, but it is especially annoying on here.

10. THE GANG (FEAT FOXY BROWN)
Seriously? This song sounds so much like Raekwon's "Verbal Intercourse" that I'm not entirely convinced that The Rza and Raekwon shouldn't sue. To add insult to injury, Shyne sounds boring on here, and Foxy Brown comes off as entirely undeserving of her record deal.

11. EDGE
Not entirely terrible, but nothing to write home about, either.

12. HERE WITH ME
Meh.

13. DIAMONDS AND MAC-10S
What passes for a "hook" is hollow and painful to hear, but the lyrics are mostly decent. The real star of this song, surprisingly, is Just Blaze's impressive beat, which sounds better than anything he's ever given to Shawn Carter.

THE LAST WORD: Godfather Buried Alive surprised me just a tiny bit, as Shyne actually doesn't sound like Biggie all that much. However, this album still fails to establish Shyne as anything except for a generic gangsta rapper. This isn't entirely his fault, though, as he couldn't have had any true creative input onto the project while behind bars. This ultimately comes off as a cash-in project by Shyne's new employers, Def Jam Records, in an effort to pimp out their employees by any means necessary. As a result, this album actually sounds worse than his debut, and because of that, I won't ever need to listen to this shit again, thanks.

-Max

RELATED POST:
Shyne - Shyne

Shyne - Shyne (September 26, 2000)

One of the many things that upset me regarding our chosen genre is its insistence on repeating history instead of actively aiming for something new. Hollywood does this often as well, and as a filmmaker and film goer, my intelligence isn't insulted any less. But when it comes to hip hop, it's especially puzzling, since the acts almost always sound more like a label creation and less like an actual artist trying to work.

After the untimely deaths of Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace, hip hop mourned its loss by elevating the status of these two decent rappers to that of fucking gods among mortal men. It's no wonder that record label executives tried to pimp these deceased artists for as long as possible. Not only was it bad enough that 2Pac's unreleased tracks from the vaults (most of which feature him seemingly repeating the same sentiments in different combinations) were being pimped out by his own mother (I hope all that money is funding fucking college scholarships or something), Suge Knight, the then-head of Death Row Records, tried to capitalize on the loss of its most controversial artist by signing some guy named The Realest, a straight-up Pac clone that makes a living playing his hero at bat mitzfahs. This comes off as straight overkill, considering that 2Pac releases a new album every six months, but that's the rap business, kids!

On the other end of the spectrum, the loss of The Notorious B.I.G. left Bad Boy CEO Puff Daddy without his biggest selling artist (and his closest tie to the streets), and while he tried to fill the gap by releasing albums by the likes of Black Rob, Ma$e, and himself, he ultimately caved and signed Jamal "Shyne" Barrow, a young rapper from Brooklyn by way of Belize. Much was made of the fact that Shyne sounded exactly like Biggie Smalls, and Sean Combs, to my knowledge, never really disputed the fact: he opted to let the music speak for itself. After a few cameos on some R&B tracks (and a feature on Puff Daddy's "Reverse", a bizarre collaborative effort that also featured contributions from the likes of Redman, Cee-Lo of Goodie Mob (and Gnarls Barkley), Busta Rhymes, and Sauce Money, of all people), he recorded his debut album, the simply stated Shyne, for release in 2000.

Unfortunately, Shyne soon found himself in the middle of a media circus, trying to protect his boss and mentor (and his then-girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez) in a nightclub shooting that he alleges was in self-defense. Released on bail, he attempted to turn the focus away from his court date by promoting Shyne, but this effort ultimately fell on deaf ears, not because folks weren't curious about the album, but because everyone wanted to know more about the case, since two of entertainment's biggest stars (relatively speaking) were involved. Ultimately, in 2001 Puffy's legal team helped him get off the hook, and Puff (allegedly) (yeah, right) left Shyne Po to rot in prison, a sentence which he is still serving as of this writing (although I understand he's getting out soon). Shyne was released to the public in late 2000 and ultimately sold more than five hundred thousand copies, but he has yet to reap the rewards of any of his royalties, thanks to that Son of Sam law that prevents him from profiting from his crimes while incarcerated. (Apparently the judge that ruled on that action had his own opinions about Shyne.)

That isn't the best ending for the story of a budding rapper, but sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. The bizarre thing about this tale is that, had Biggie survived his shooting (or never got caught in that fracas to begin with), Shyne would never have been signed to Bad Boy, which means that he never would have gotten involved in fighting Puffy's battles. Hell, none of us would have even heard of Shyne until he decided to post videos of himself rapping on Youtube, and even then, all of the hip hop bloggers in the world would have probably derided his rhyme style as derivative of Biggie (or, worse, Guerilla Black, another artist that piggybacked off of the flow).

1. DEAR AMERICA (INTRO)
As Shyne performs a half spoken word/half shit-talking rap album intro, Max rolls his eyes and hits the skip button.

2. WHATCHA GONNA DO
You can't tell me that Puffy signed this guy based on any tangible talent. As Guru would say, it's mostly the voice. And regardless of what Shyne Po thinks, he fucking sounds like Biggie. Now that we have that comparison out of the way, it's important for me to mention that I don't think Shyne is purposefully aping the Notorious one: it's just comes off as such. The beat on here is pretty damn ominous, so much so that I'm not sure if Biggie would ever have picked this track to spit to. Shyne also manages to sound alright, but the similarities make it hard to not hold any bias, although I'm doing my best here, my two readers.

3. BANG
I'm pretty sure Busta Rhymes performed essentially the same hook on Ma$e's "N----z Wanna Act", which was also a Bad Boy release. Coincidence? Or was Puffy going back to the well?

4. BAD BOYZ (FEAT BARRINGTON LEVY)
I remember not giving a fuck about this song, Shyne's first single, upon its initial release, but it isn't that bad today. The beat creeps up on you like a shifty process server, and Barrington Levy's timely drops punctuate the rhymes perfectly. Not bad.

5. LET ME SEE YOUR HANDS
Meh.

6. GANGSTA PRAYER (INTERLUDE)
...

7. THE LIFE
The obligatory "I was a drug dealer and now I'm a rapper, but don't get it twisted, I'm still a drug dealer, and somehow I juggle both of these full time jobs while your girl juggles these balls in her mouth" song. (Did that visual go too far?) The beat isn't that bad (although I expected better from Nashiem Myrick, of Biggie's "Who Shot Ya?" and Capone-N-Noreaga's "T.O.N.Y. (Top Of New York)" fame), but Shyne's story gets old very quickly, since it comes off as completely implausible (not unlike every other rapper ever). Logistically, this tale doesn't hold up: it's almost like James Frey rocking the mic on the set of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

8. IT'S OK
Seriously? Who the fuck let Shyne in the club? (That was actually not a joke at the expense of the reason Shyne is in the clink, by the way, although it can certainly be construed as one. Max may be an asshole, but even I have limits, although I'm not even sure what those limits are anymore.)

9. N----S GONNA DIE
An early, wildly unimaginative Neptunes beat envelops some generically violent piffle, which you probably assumed the song was about anyway, given it's five-star-rated title.

10. EVERYDAY (INTERLUDE)
...

11. BONNIE & SHYNE (FEAT BARRINGTON LEVY)
I kind of like this track, but it's more for the beat than anything else. It's obvious that even Shyne wasn't sure why he needed to make a song for the ladies (because so many chicks listen to Shyne, you know), so kudos to him for making the mandatory radio-friendly track as convoluted and fucked-up as possible. Misogyny takes a front seat when Shyne says that "Bonnie" (not her real name) is so fine, he's "gonna wait till the second night to fuck (her)". Get ready to swoon, ladies!

12. THE HIT
At this point, it's obvious that Puffy was structuring Shyne to sound like the follow-up to Life After Death that never happened. "The Hit" sounds like a "N----s Bleed" retread, except not nearly as entertaining, since Shyne seems to have no sense of humor.

13. THAT'S GANGSTA
Puff Daddy "produces" a song that is comprised primarily of Shyne Po rapping over the beat to The D.O.C.'s "It's Funky Enough". I can't help but hope that Dr. Dre got paid a boatload of money in royalties for this fucker.

14. SPEND SOME CHEESE
Shyne does at least try to keep up with the unorthodox beat, but ultimately fails (he even seems to admit defeat, as evidenced by his unnecessary cribbing of Sisqo lyrics toward the end). That's a damn shame, because the beat is interesting enough, and I'm sure that there are tons of other rappers that would sound just fine over it.

15. GET OUT (FEAT SLIM FROM 112)
Remember Yogi from CRU? Yeah, I don't either, but he produced this song, which can only be described as akin to one of the shittier songs from Life After Death. Shyne sounds like he's reading from one of Biggie's lost notebooks (and yes, I realize that Biggie never wrote a single rhyme down: I just liked the visual).

16. COMMISSION
It's almost as if Shyne wanted to piss off Biggie's fans by titling this track after that fabled supergroup that never materialized. It's a smack in the face, so kudos for Shyne for going balls-out. Too bad this shit doesn't sound better.

FINAL THOUGHTS: As I mentioned above, it's very difficult to review Shyne without the inevitable Biggie comparison, but it is possible. Taken on his own merits, Shyne is an emcee that isn't saying anything new, nor is he bringing a new point of view to the table: his tales of street life and such are tired and lack any sense of morality or remorse. Shyne sounds like an album chock-full of reference tracks that a ghostwriter came up with for Biggie's never-recorded third album, and just like Life After Death, Puffy goes out of his way to place his artist within other genres that Shyne himself has no business being a part of. Ultimately, this album doesn't click.

BUY OR BURN? There are a handful of decent songs on here, so burn those and move it along. There are literally tons (I've measured) of other rap albums out there that are more deserving of your hard-earned (or stolen) dollars.

BEST TRACKS: "Bonnie & Shyne"; "Bad Boyz"; "That's Gangsta"

-Max