Soundtrack Soundcheck: Jay-Z (PART 2 OF 2)

Today we conclude our discussion about the various songs Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter contributed to different film soundtracks throughout his career. I don’t have a ton of new information to add to this introduction – you know who Jay-Z is, and I trust you’re aware of what “songs” are – but I would encourage those of you two jumping into this post blindly to read through the first half of this article, as it may likely answer any nagging questions you’ll have about why certain tracks weren’t included here. Everybody else, however, can skip straight to the body of the review, as that’s where the magic happens.

Soundtrack Soundcheck: Jay-Z (PART 1 OF 2)

The last time I ran an entry in this particular series was three and a half years ago. I know why it happened – hell, when was the last time you saw Max’s Book Club, am I right? – but that’s still not a good enough excuse for me, and I’m the guy running the site. I’m the one doing most of the listening and the writing in the first place. So I hope you both accept and engage with today’s post in the spirit in which it was intended: as an excuse to continue talking about artists whose discographies have previously been worked through to completion.

Soundtrack Soundcheck: Mobb Deep

This was not supposed to be an annual feature on the site, but I guess I did get kind of distracted with all of those other reviews this year. Ah well, anyway, today we’re going to talk about some songs Mobb Deep handed over to the soundtrack gods for financial gain.

Soundtrack Soundcheck: Gang Starr

Bringing back a feature that I only tried out once over five years ago to mild response isn't how I thought I would be finishing off 2017, I'll tell you that much. But I saw an opening to write about Gang Starr, the duo made up of producer Chris "DJ Premier" Martin and the late rapper-slash-producer Keith "Guru" Elam, and figured I'd shoot my shot.

Various Artists - Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai (Soundtrack) (April 11, 1999)

Although he has scored several films since, when indie director god Jim Jarmusch hand-picked The RZA to create the overall sound of his movie, Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai, it was a big deal. At the time, Prince Rakeem was merely a well-respected producer with an affinity for kung fu flicks, weed, and dressing up like a cartoon superhero to play a role he called "Bobby Digital" as his own response to where he felt rap music was heading.  

My Gut Reaction: Various Artists - The Man With The Iron Fists Soundtrack (October 22, 2012)

Next week, The RZA will be able to cross off one of the many lofty goals on his bucket list when his feature film directorial debut, The Man With The Iron Fists, hits silver screens (are screens still silver these days?).  

Soundtrack Soundcheck: OutKast

I promise that this will be my last post about OutKast for a long while.  In case you couldn't tell from my multiple mentions of it throughout 2012, I'm taking this "finish what I started" theme seriously.  Should Andre 3000 and Big Boi see fit to reconnect for the length of an actual album, I'll cover that just like normal, but until then, I'm using the Atlanta duo as guinea pigs for a feature I'm testing called "Soundtrack Soundcheck", which is not a review of a hip hop-based soundtrack (although I'm still open to those), but instead an exploration of the exclusive songs an artist or group contributed to a film's accompanying soundtrack instead of saving it for themselves.

OutKast have amassed a surprising number of soundtrack exclusives throughout their career, "surprising" only because the duo have only released six actual albums (and, for the record, I don't count Idlewild as a soundtrack, I just look at it as a bad album), which would make it seem as though they should save everything they ever recorded for their own shit.  Their biggest hits could easily be loaned out to music supervisors to set the stage for whatever the fuck they're trying to accomplish: "B.O.B." appears, albeit in a censored form that removes the actual long-form title of the song from the chorus, in the Chris Rock/Bernie Mac (RIP) comedy Head Of State.  But the fact that Andre 3000 and Big Boi gave up original material for use in Hollywood, some of which wasn't even earmarked for hip hop soundtracks, is impressive.  

The fact that some of the songs are excellent is just cake.

What follows is a list of all of the soundtrack-exclusive songs I was able to locate from OutKast.  I inevitably missed some, but so be it: that's what the comments section is for.  Feel free to compile the following songs into an album of your own: I'm sure the guys won't mind.  And let me know what you actually think of the concept: this being hip hop and all, I'm sure I could pull together a few more of these.

PHOBIA (FEAT. BIG RUBE)

FROM: Higher Learning

Big Rube's outstanding introductory monologue successfully sets up the unnerving feel of OutKast's "Phobia", one of the duo's earliest non-album tracks and easily one of their most underrated.  Dre and Big Boi use Organized Noize's unsettling instrumental, which is light years beyond anything they crafted for Southernplayalisticadillacmusik, to add three more verses into their canon, none of which directly address phobias all that much but manage to pick at a fear or two you may experience.  Big Boi's overlong and wordy chorus is also fairly threatening, as he proclaims himself to be "black and educated" but not above robbing you if necessary.  As Fredro Starr from Onyx once shouted, "I'm America's nightmare / Young, black, and just don't give a fuck."  You get the feeling that Dre and Big Boi do give a fuck, but that doesn't mean that you should take "Phobia" any less seriously.  

BENZ OR BEAMER

FROM: New Jersey Drive

This song is in my top five of best OutKast songs ever.  I'm not joking.  It was released shortly after their debut, Southernplayalisticadillacmusik, which is probably why the Organized Noize beat more closely reflects that project's vision instead of, say, that of ATLiens.  And that beat fucking bangs, by the way.  Big Boi and Dre alternate verses while discussing their lifestyle, occasionally dipping into actual talk about cars, or, more specifically, stealing them (my favorite Andre 3000 line, among many on here, describes how he's "moving the steering wheel side to side like a slalom", although "While you sitting by the seashore thinking about some seashells" makes me laugh).  "Benz Or Beamer" isn't a grand gesture or an attempt at being more abstract than it really is, but it's awesome, it holds up extremely well today, and it proves that OutKast were at the top of their game even way back when.

LAND OF A MILLION DRUMS (FEAT. KILLER MIKE & SLEEPY BROWN)

FROM: Scooby-Doo

A goofy track with a decent Earthtone III (Dre, Big Boi, and Mr. DJ) instrumental and not nearly enough Andre 3000 (he factors in mainly during the hook).  Big Boi's verse is hilarious, as he slowly succumbs to the pressure of product placement, dropping bits and pieces into his bars before simply giving up at the end and repeating the name "Scooby-Doo" a bunch of times.  Killer Mike Bigga is a bit more engaged, at least with the show, referencing the miniseries The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo and tailoring his rhymes for the kids (the kids who understood that Shaggy was high as a goddamn kite most of the time, anyway).  And Sleepy Brown's crooning at the end was a nice touch, especially with all of that "meddling kids" stuff.  I'm kind of surprised that nobody ever rewound Big Boi's verse back in 2002, though: it would seem that an overreaching hip hop audience would read into "We fathers with seeds of our own / Talkin' about sons and daughters, boy / Not roots and clones" as an obvious potshot aimed at the Roots Crew (and one of their more popular tracks, "Clones").  Oh well.

IN DUE TIME (FEAT. CEE-LO)

FROM: Soul Food

This song was pretty dull today, although to be fair, I don't remember it ever being all that interesting to begin with.  Big Boi and 3 Stacks undermine the overall positive message of the track with their boasts and general shit-talking, which was censored for the niche audience who would have actually watched Soul Food (a pretty decent flick, by the way) for the music, over a bland self-produced beat, and Cee-Lo Green is wasted on the hook.  You two can walk right past this track with a feeling somewhat approximating relief.

FRESH AND CLEAN (REMIX) (FEAT. SNOOP DOGG & SLEEPY BROWN)

FROM: Bones

This unnecessary remix not only sucks all the fun out of the original version of "So Fresh, So Clean", it even retroactively makes that earlier effort (from Stankonia) sound worse.  I have no clue why this shit appears on the soundtrack (I'm sorry, "houndtrack") to Snoop Dogg's horror movie Bones, but to be fair, it was released as a single before the soundtrack was ever a gleam in its creator's nut sack, and it sucked then, too.  Andre and Big Boi sound bored and uncomfortable, respectively, over their own noisy instrumental, and Sleepy Brown's vocals are buried underneath this sea of mediocrity.  Hell, the only guy that comes across as relatively decent is Snoop himself.  Hey, I just figured out why this song was included on the Bones soundtrack!

TOUGH GUY (FEAT. UGK & SLEEPY BROWN)

FROM: Shaft

This overlong experiment, which is ultimately more interesting than it is entertaining, features Big Boi and Andre 3000 rhyming alongside both halves of the Underground Kingz in the most aggressive manner possible.  Antwan especially seems upset, since he repeatedly becomes flustered throughout his angry-as-fuck verse, trying to cram waaaay too many words into each bar, although if he was going for an aural metaphor for the confusion one feels in their mind when they've just been disrespected, I may have been more impressed.  My point is that Big Boi's flow is off, and I mean that in a bad way.  Andre sounds okay, but the real winners of this race are both Bun B and Pimp C (RIP), who are both posted up in their respective wheelhouses.  The beat never fully takes flight (although I enjoyed the disembodied vocal crooning in the background), and Sleepy's hook seems to smirk at the audience.  Sigh.

FUNKANELLA (FEAT. KILLER MIKE, SLIMM CALHOUN, & DJ CLUE)

FROM: Backstage

DJ Clue formatted the soundtrack to Backstage (a documentary produced by Roc-A-Fella Records released to theaters in 2000 by Dimension) to sound like another one of his mixtapes full of exclusives, which explains both its inclusion on this list and all of the multiple shout-outs to the man himself.  Andre 3000 and Big Boi contribute verses, but they use "Funkanella" as a sly way to promote their artists Killer Mike (who was still considered to be a part of the Dungeon Family back then) and Slimm Calhoun, both of whom are so enamored with the idea of performing for a mainstream audience that they pay no attention to the fact that the Earthtone III beat is fucking awful.  Clue's insistent interruptions, par for the course on one of his projects, were also frustrating as always.  Next!

SOLE SUNDAY (FEAT. GOODIE MOB)

FROM: Any Given Sunday

Somehow "Sole Sunday" was credited as an OutKast and Goodie Mob track even though the only participants are Andre 3000, Big Gipp, and Khujo Goodie.  It's probably best that everyone else sat on the bench, though, since the end result was kind of meh.  All of the verses sounded alright (and they even occasionally reference football, which is appropriate, given the flick this song was a part of), but Dre's chorus doesn't fit the rest of the proceedings, and Mr. DJ's instrumental screams for a much darker song than the one it's currently hitched up to.

HIGH SCHOOLIN' (FEAT. SLIMM CUTTA CALHOUN)

FROM: Light It Up

This lost relic from OutKast's back catalog (which appeared on the soundtrack to a film nobody fucking remembers, although it featured R&B singer Usher's first lead acting role) is the result of cross-breeding "Chonkyfire" with "Speedballin'" (more on that one in a bit) that mostly connects, save for the wordy chorus.  Andre, Big Boi, and Slimm all donate generously to the cause, and the pulsating instrumental gets the blood pumping.  All of the references to school notwithstanding (hell, it's called "High Schoolin'" for fuck's sake), I would consider this to be a lost gem worth hunting down.  Yep.

SPEEDBALLIN' (FEAT. CEE-LO & JOI)

FROM: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

I've written about this song in the past (during my write-up for Stankonia), but what I said before still stands: "Speedballin'" is the enjoyable ADHD-addled cousin to "B.O.B." and will appeal most to those of you two who are sick and tired of hearing that earlier track.  The Earthtone III epileptic seizure of a beat won't appeal to all audiences, but Andre, Big Boi, and even guest crooner Cee-Lo throw their all into their respective roles, the end result being more of an ecstasy-fueled jam session than an actual coherent song, but I still loved it: I would place it in my OutKast top ten easily.  Worth tracking down if you want to hear something a bit different.

EVERLASTING

FROM: Nothing To Lose

When the soundtrack for Nothing To Lose, a forgettable Martin Lawrence/Tim Robbins vehicle, hit store shelves, I dismissed "Everlasting" as an ATLiens reject (mainly because of the timing of the release).  As such, I hadn't really paid it any mind until now.  Which was a mistake on my part, because "Everlasting" is half-brilliant: Andre 3000's one-and-a-half verses sound pretty goddamn great.  Antwan comes across as decent, but is blown out of the water by his partner-in-rhyme over a throwaway beat that nobody will care about.  But 3 Stacks was a nice surprise.

NECK UV DA WOODZ (FEAT. MYSTIKAL)

FROM: The Wood

Regardless of what the producers for the soundtrack of The Wood want you to believe, "Neck Uv Da Woodz" is a Mystikal song that just so happens to feature Dre and Big Boi.  Mystikal's flow is something that I can usually look past, but I found his schtick especially annoying on here, as he seems incapable of staying on beat even if you took all of his toys away, so it's a good thing that every other component of the track (including the hyper Earthtone III beat) works so goddamn well.  Maybe the duo should have kept this one for themselves, huh?

I'm including the following tracks in today's post even though they technically aren't OutKast songs.

GANGSTA PARTNA (COOL BREEZE & BIG BOI)

FROM: Hoodlum

This is really Dungeon Family affiliate Cool Breeze's song, but I'm throwing it in because it features an early-period Big Boi solo verse that shows just how little his flow has changed throughout the last decade-and-a-half (which is meant as a compliment).  And also to prove that there was more to the Hoodlum soundtrack than the Big Noyd- and Rakim-assisted Mobb Deep title track (and, speaking of which, what a weird week for Mobb Deep, right?).  The hook is essentially tone-deaf, but Antwan and Cool Breeze glide over the dramatic Organized Noize production with the ease of professional ice dancers.  Not bad for a song nobody really remembers.

I CAN'T WAIT (SLEEPY BROWN & OUTKAST)

From: Barbershop 2: Back In Business

You two probably know this as a Sleepy Brown solo track featuring OutKast, but when it was originally released (not even on the Barbershop 2: Back In Business soundtrack; I mean from before, for an unreleased Sleepy Brown solo album that eventually morphed into his Mr. Brown), it was marketed as a track from both Sleepy and Outkast, probably because Andre's voice is the first you hear.  I know a lot of people in Blogland dig this song, but I've always found it to be fairly dull, and the passing years haven't been kind: the instrumental seems afraid to commit to any sort of feeling.  Is the song supposed to be uplifting?  Unnerving?  Impatient?  Who the fuck knows?  All I can say is that I couldn't wait for the song to end.  An easy pun, yes, but accurate.

-Max

My Gut Reaction: Various Artists - Stomp The Yard: Homecoming (Soundtrack) (October 26, 2010)

Occasionally, reviewing albums that are in my wheelhouse becomes boring, so I welcome opportunities to step outside of my comfort zone, especially when publicists are willing to send me stuff for free.  That would pretty much be the main reason why you're reading about the soundtrack to Stomp The Yard: Homecoming instead of, say, that Big Boi album that I have yet to listen to in its entirety.

The original Stomp The Yard, which I never actually watched, is apparently about a guy who pledges a fraternity at a fictional Black college (possibly the same one used in Drumline), and the stomping of the yard that ensues during the initiation process.  Or something.  As far as I know, Stomp The Yard is the autobiography of Savion Glover, I'm that out of the loop.  Stomp The Yard: Homecoming, the direct-to-DVD sequel, is possibly more of the same, except with a slightly lower budget.

The original flick starred the likes of Columbus Short (a guy who my brother-in-law is convinced will be a big name in Hollywood, as long as he stays away from filming armored truck movies with Matt Dillon), Meagan Good, Ne-Yo, and convicted woman-hater Chris Brown.  The sequel, however, features a cast full of no-name actors and stompers.  

Conversely, the soundtrack to the first movie featured ringers such as E-40, Public Enemy (huh?), Cut Chemist, Pitbull, The Roots, and Ghostface Killah, all of whom submitted previously released songs in an effort to make the soundtrack sound more successful and cohesive than it had any right to.  In keeping with the project's direct-to-DVD roots, Stomp The Yard: Homecoming's soundtrack features more unknown artists and D-list players, although the occasional B-list artist makes an appearance (Columbus Short makes a cameo in the sequel, so this was inadvertently done in the spirit of the movie).

I know what you two are thinking: why would this be the first soundtrack that HHID would choose to cover after an extremely long hiatus? (I think the last soundtrack I tackled myself was for Bulworth.)  I like a challenge, and I was looking to listen to something new and different.  It helps that, having never seen either movie (the second one is already available, although the soundtrack hits Interweb shelves today), I had absolutely zero expectations for what I was about to hear.

So let's see what I got myself into.

1. DON'T GET CAUGHT SLIPPIN (ACE HOOD)

Def Jam artist Ace Hood, one of the bigger names on Stomp The Yard: Homecoming (relatively speaking), spends nearly four minutes trying to justify his deviant actions by blaming the slipping of the victims, hence the title of this song. This Inkredibles beat isn't horrible for what it is: mainstream piffle ostensibly designed to translate into a club theme (or an outright yard stomping), but Ace pulls both a joker and a coupon for one dollar off his next purchase of Bicycle playing cards form the deck, somehow managing to say less than nothing with his verses. That's right, this track would have contained a better Ace Hood performance had he remained completely silent. Oh well. The version of Stomp The Yard: Homecoming I'm listening to is a promotional clean copy (the retail is uncensored, from what I understand), which only hurts Ace even more: the song I just listened to contained more dropped audio than a showing of Goodfellas on AMC. For those of you who care about this sort of thing, this is far from an original contribution: this song first appeared on Hood's second album Ruthless.

2. TIME TO GET (GET COOL)

Get Cool is a rather foolish rap moniker, don't you think? It implies that the artist is either trying to become cool through the sheer will of his performance, of that the listener will become much more popular after having listened to some repetitive threats set to a club beat. While neither option is ever going to actually happen, I'm happy to report that “Time To Get” isn't entirely horrible, even though its very title is an incomplete thought. The instrumental (which I assume is from the artist himself, since he has produced for David Banner in the past and even landed his own song on the soundtrack to this project's thematic brother from another mother, Step Up 3D) isn't bad, and at least Get Cool sounds okay enough over it. He could be one of Timbaland's shitty rap apprentices (see: D.O.E., Sebastian, Magoo) if he plays his cards right. This could have been a lot worse.

3. BOUNCE (JOHN-JOHN)

Give this beat to one of the more popular Southern artists of today, and they would turn it into a hit. (Not a substantial one, but something that could have at least a but of an impact in the club and on radio mix shows.) Give it to John-John, though, and what you get is an interesting failure. The instrumental isn't bad at all: it serves its purpose, at least. But for a song on which the artist is attempting to command the listener to perform the titular action, it's a curious novelty. John-John attempts to add some depth via some clever lyricism, rhyming words together that have no business being told to do so (such as counselors and lobsters), which quickly turns this overlong exercise into a laugh riot. Oh well, at least the beat was decent.

4. EVIL (JASPER SAWYER)

This R&B track isn't bad, although it sounds just a bit too much like a Mark Ronson production for it to sound anywhere near original. Jasper Sawyer has a decent voice, though, and he might be able to swing a hit song during his career if he aligns himself with the right people (hey, it worked for Bruno Mars). This was an enjoyable trifle that was poorly sequenced between two random club joints.

5. WE GOT 'EM (MR. ROBOTIC)

Anyone who almost names himself after a Styx song can't be taken seriously as a rapper.

6. HERE TO PARTY (CLASSIC)

Classic sounds like a guy who impersonated T.I. at parties, or at least he'd like to. Unlike T.I., who occasionally slips some social commentary into his declarations of mic and fiscal dominance, this guy only wants to party, and does so over the course of two verses. In hip hop, you can't get more generic than with the party song: our chosen genre was built on feel-good party jams. But “Here To Party” misses the mark. Only the instrumental, which takes a semi-experimental left turn toward the end, held my interest.

7. COLLEGE CHICKS (G-SIDE)

Look, I love college girls as much as the next straight guy, but this Auto-Tuned exercise in overkill does its best to strip away all of their appeal, so much so that you'll be left looking at daytime hookers the next time you're at a twenty-four hour diner and wondering, “What if?” The track hides an afterthought of a beat and an overt reliance on hip hop clichés. However, G-Side goes out of their way to encourage higher education, only wanting to fuck girls who “shake [their] ass but they still go to class in the morning”, which is all you can hope for when you listen to drivel like this.

8. GET YO MONEY UP (SHORT DAWG)

Short Dawg, a rapper whose name confuses me because it's also frequently used as a nickname for Too $hort, sounds too much like Lil' Wayne for comfort. It turns out that this comparison makes sense: Shorty has worked alongside Weezy and his Young Money crew extensively. On this solo effort, Mr. Dawg stresses the importance of bragging about how much cash you carry on you at all times, a tactic that only works for him (and not anybody with even a modicum of common sense) because he's never too far away from his weapon, just in case someone overhears his boasts and decides that he would like to relieve him of said cash. It always makes me laugh when a no-name rapper tries to discuss his financial matters with the audience, as if that's a valid way to grow your fan base, since the listener is typically in an opposing situation. So yeah, this song was boring.

9. NERVOUS (JOHN FORTE)

If you're a longtime reader of the blog, then your reaction to this song will be the same as mine was when I first received the e-mail: “John Forte? What the fuck?!” And you would be absolutely correct: there is absolutely no reason for a Grammy Award-winning artist (and former informal fourth member of the Fugees) to appear within five hundred yards of Stomp The Yard: Homecoming. But Forte isn't exactly burning up the charts after serving his prison sentence for possession with intention to distribute, so this is what we get. I miss the 1980s sound that former friend (I'm just assuming at this point) Wyclef Jean provided for him on his debut, Poly-Sci, but John comes off as rejuvenated over this simple drum-and-guitar loop, addressing his arrest and reflecting on his life, sounding as good as he always has. This has got to be the best song on Stomp The Yard: Homecoming, even though I can't imagine how this would fit anywhere within the film itself. (“Nervous” is also featured on Forte's comeback EP, StyleFREE.)

10. THIRD DEGREE (RAE FEAT. BASKO & NOMADIK)

This sounds like a straight-to-DVD impersonation of a Kidz In The Hall song, but I don't mean that in a bad way: I found this song quite entertaining, as the artists involved all at least sound like they're enjoying themselves. The scratching at the end was a nice touch, too. But the real reason this song works is because of the party-inspired beat which, given the proper push, could actually make waves within the music industry of my mind.

11. ROCK YO BODY (CLOUT CARTEL)

Meh.

12. I'M GROWN (GET COOL)

Get Cool makes an encore appearance in an effort to convince listeners that he could be the second coming of Tim Mosely, but this song doesn't really make his case, since Timbaland has actual talent, even if he is better known for squandering it these days. The instrumental sounds like it was purchased in bulk at Costco, and the lyrics are mostly insipid: surely there are people that go to clubs for more than just the typical materialistic reasons. This song doesn't deserve your time nor your patience.

13. TO THE TOP (B DOUBLE E)

If the guy's name is B Double E, wouldn't that make his rap moniker Bee? Why couldn't he just use that? At least that would set him apart from his like-minded peers. “To The Top” may appeal to T.I. fans more so than anyone else, but it actually isn't that bad. It's better than some of these artists on the radio, anyway. (*cough* Gucci Mane *cough*)

14. STOMP SCORE SUITE (TODD BOZUNG & PETER PLATH)

The last song on Stomp The Yard: Homecoming is a collection of instrumentals from Todd Bozung and Peter Plath that comprise the score of the film itself. Each individual piece is short enough to digest without problems, even if none of them sound particularly memorable. With some more opportunities to work, however, they might do alright for themselves.

THE LAST WORD: Stomp The Yard: Homecoming isn't really the type of soundtrack that I would ever seek out on my own, so the surprising part of this write-up is that there were a toddler's handful of tracks that were actually pretty good. It was kind of interesting to hear from a bunch or relative unknown who, under different circumstances, could actually have hit records (given the (sorry) state of hip hop today), so I'll give some credit: at least most of these guys don;t sound like they're blatantly stealing their ideas from their more famous counterparts. However, the majority of these tracks don't really prove that some of these guys deserve any further exposure beyond this soundtrack. As a whole, Stomp The Yard: Homecoming has some decent-enough moments, some of which may shock you with their entertainment value, but for the most part, this isn't something that I can wholeheartedly endorse. But you two probably already saw that coming when you read the title of today's post.  However, the original Stomp The Yard's soundtrack contains Ghostface Killah's "The Champ", and that song fucking rocks.

However, the label, Artists' Addiction (in conjunction with Sony), has been nice enough to allow you two to listen to the best track from Stomp The Yard: Homecoming without any further obligation. Click the link below to download John Forte's “Nervous”. Hurry: this link will expire in one week, after which you two are on your own.

John Forte - “Nervous” (Sorry, time's up!)

-Max

Reader Review: Bulworth - The Soundtrack (April 21, 1998)

(For today's Reader Review, Jason revisits the soundtrack to the Warren Beatty film Bulworth, a project that I named as a Drink Coaster some time ago. This will make for the second Drink Coaster that has been contested by the same guy: personally, I'm waiting for someone to prove me wrong on Foxy Brown's Ill Na Na. Until then, enjoy today's post, and be sure to leave some comments for Jason below.)

There are a lot of hip-hop soundtracks. No, seriously, a lot. They’ve even made soundtracks for movies that don’t exist. (Did they ever make that Bobby Digital movie?) Some are disappointments, some are guilty pleasures, some are surprisingly good, and some become indisputable classics of the genre.

While Bulworth isn’t the best of the hip-hop soundtracks out there, it may be the best compilation of the art form’s talent onto a single album. (The Above the Rim and Juice soundtracks are also legitimate contenders for this crown.)

Bulworth isn’t a perfect album. Hell, it’s not even a great album, but it’s certainly better than a drink coaster, which was Max’s earlier designation. It’s sorta like...well, remember two paragraphs ago when I wrote that hip-hop soundtracks can be disappointing, guilty pleasures, surprisingly good or classic material? That’s Bulworth. There’s a little bit of all of those designations on this album.

What songs are which? I’m glad you asked.

1. ZOOM (DR. DRE & LL COOL J)
Dr. Dre and LL Cool J? What a way to kickoff the album. It would be almost impossible for this track to meet expectations, so, naturally, it doesn’t. I can’t call this song outright bad, though, as it features two consummate professionals digging into their respective bags of tricks. LL provides two competent, if unmemorable, verses, one of which even features him singing, while Dre provides a workmanlike, but not bracing, beat. Perhaps that’s the problem. With a lineup this talented, you can only exceed expectations or fail. And this one fails. (What, no mention that this was originally a Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg reunion song, before Death Row Records called foul and demanded Snoop be deleted? For a better version of this track, or at the very least for something that will satisfy the curious, go Google the original version.)

2. GHETTO SUPERSTAR (PRAS FEAT OL' DIRTY BASTARD & MYA)
Sampling another Brothers Gibb song, eh, Wyclef? It wasn’t enough to beat-jack “Stayin' Alive”: you had to rework the one they wrote for Dolly freakin’ Parton? And then give it to Pras? Pras, of Tony Yayo/Jim Jones/Tony Yayo/Sheek Louch/Tony Yayo/Weakest-Out-Of-The-Crew fame? And yet, somehow it works. ODB’s barely coherent rapping stops this from devolving into ridiculous pop-rap. (ODB was usually good for that. Unfortunately, he tried to stretch that gift too far by appearing on a remix for a JC Chasez song later in his career.)

3. HOW COME (CANIBUS & YOUSSOU N'DOUR)
Wyclef provides a decent musical backdrop and gets African legend Youssou N’Dour to sing the hook. (Oh, you don’t know about Youssou? He’s been holding it down since Paul Simon’s Graceland.) Canibus supplies two fire verses, including interesting bars such as, “Sometimes I wonder how come/ We can’t live without guns/ What would have been the outcome/ if the South won/ Think about that son/ What in the hell caused the assassination of Malcolm?” But the song doesn’t work because Canibus and Wyclef have zero chemistry. This should have warned us that Can-I-Bus was not going to be what we expected.

4. BULWORTH (THEY TALK ABOUT IT WHILE WE LIVE IT) (PRODIGY, KRS-ONE, METHOD MAN, & KAM)
First, the lineup: Prodigy, KRS-One, Method Man and Kam provide verses, while DJ Muggs (of Cypress Hill) provides the beat. That’s a pretty serious starting five, but “Zoom” has already taught us the dangers of banking on a song's lineup. However, this song is incredible: all four MCs spit flames. KRS-One rightfully smashes magazines that cover hip-hop but fail to understand the culture. However, it is west coast wunderkind Kam who spits the best verse: “What kind of party is this? It’s that political kind/ Where America’s best, most hypocritical minds/ Try they hands at keeping you deaf, dumb and blind/ And for the right dollar sign, do white collar crime.”

5. HOLIDAY / 12 SCANNER (WITCHDOCTOR)
I love Organized Noise Productions so much that I have purchased some awful shit in the name of ONP. (I even have that first Youngbloodz LP somewhere.) Even with their cosign, I was hesitant about Witchdoctor, an arrhythmic, spiritually-minded MC, but “Holiday/12 Scanner” works, thanks to a memorable percussion line that makes the most of Witchdoctor’s distinctive style. This track is among the best on the entire soundtrack.

6. THE CHASE (THE RZA)
Rza is, at best, an uneven solo artist. He needs the rest of the clan to stop him from indulging in his more irritating habits (such as writing stupid hooks, losing coherence within his verses, saying “Bong, Bong!” all the time). But “The Chase” is a success for three reasons: (1) It has a great beat, (2) Rza sticks to the topic, and (3) it’s short, ending before Rza can spell the name Bobby Digital sixty-seven more times.

7. EVE OF DESTRUCTION (EVE)
I believe this was the multi-platinum-selling, sitcom-starring Eve’s introduction to the mainstream. Before ryding ruff, she was down with Dre’s Aftermath camp, and she rides this Mel-Man beat like French toast coasting over a river of butter. She switches tempos, flips Jamaican patois and even sings on here. It’s not her best work, but you can hear her hunger: it's easy to understand why so many record executives rushed to sign her once the Aftermath deal fell through.

8. MANIAC 'N THE BRANIAC (ICE CUBE & MACK 10)
Ice Cube and Mack 10 turn in a lazy performance that is only saved by Cube’s hysterical expulsions of “yeah-yea.” Their fellow Westside Connection partner WC is missed, as he could have provided some much-needed levity.

9. FREAK OUT (NUTTA BUTTA & ANONYMOUS)
The Bulworth soundtrack was released during the era of cliques, one which we haven't fully emerged from. Every successful hip hop outfit surrounded themselves with a posse. Some became legendary (such as the Dungeon Family, Outkast and Goodie MoB's attempt to keep their friends employed), and some had talent but never reached their full potential (Wyclef had a Navy Seals outfit that disappeared almost as soon as it was introduced), but most of these extended family members diluted their respective brands. “Freak Out” featured a few forgettable rappers from Teddy Riley’s crew. It ultimately ends up being forgivable pop rap, but there’s a reason no one clamored for more Nutta Butta or Anonymous tracks. (It doesn’t help that Riley samples “Le Freak,” the second most overused Chic song ever.)

10. JOINTS & JAMS (BLACK EYED PEAS)
Max hates the Black Eyed Peas, to the extent where I suspect any positive review of this song would feature italicized commentary. (Naah, I'll be nice this time around.) I’ll make no pretense: I was a big fan of the pre-Fergie Peas. They had a distinct sound, indebted but not bitten outright from the Native Tongues. Also, will.i.am has always had a better sense of melody than ninety-five percent of all hip-hop producers. This song is just a trifle - a catchy beat, three serviceable verses and a hook that will get stuck in your head - but it’s fun without being condescending. And didn’t hip-hop start as party music?

11. RUN (CAPPADONNA)
Is it coincidence that the two Wu-Tang Clan solo cuts on this soundtrack, “The Chase” and “Run”, mine similar territory? Cappadonna gets a solid RZA beat and gives one of the more impassioned performances of his career. The product is good, not great, but I’d rather hear an average MC try hard than a great one coast. (“Run” would later also appear on Cappadonna's solo debut album The Pillage, albeit in a slightly truncated form, so this is the go-to if you love Rza's beat and want to hear more of it.)

12. LUNATICS IN THE GRASS (B-REAL & SICK JACKEN)
Some of you may remember The Psycho Realm as B-Real’s side project while the other members of Cypress Hill were doing their own thing, but I prefer to think of them as the west coast Gravediggaz. Both groups were interesting entries in the oft-misunderstood sub-genre of horrorcore, sharing similar approaches and subject matter. The main difference between the two was that the Gravediggaz were more willing to be goofy, while Psycho Realm tried their best to sound threatening. On this particular track, the threats become downright cartoonish, but the song is still pretty good. B-Real and Sick Jacken spit fantastic-sounding nonsense over what sounds like (but isn’t) a Muggs production.

13. KILL 'EM LIVE (PUBLIC ENEMY)
Public Enemy was experiencing a revitalization in 1998 thanks to the soundtrack from Spike Lee’s He Got Game. While this won’t replace "Welcome to the Terrordome" in anyone’s iPod, it’s good hip-hop and indicative of their late 1990’s output. My favorite Chuck D quote: “Behold the pale horse/Supreme Court/Sweating n----s like sports.”

14. BITCHES ARE HUSTLERS TOO (D-FYNE)
The Bulworth soundtrack includes artists such as LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, KRS-One, Teddy Riley, various members of Wu-Tang Clan, Prodigy of Mobb Deep, two guys from the Fugees, and two members of Cypress Hill. It also introduced two artists (the Black Eyed Peas and Eve) that would later go on to sell millions of records. And then it ends with this: a generic hustler-rap song from D-Fyne, a female rapper who I had never heard of before and have never heard from again. It’s not D-Fyne’s trite subject matter that irritates me: Too $hort, Ice-T, and others have been rapping about pimping since pimping been pimping, and D-Fyne has the opportunity to provide a uniquely female perspective, because “Bitches Are Hustlers Too”, after all. But D-Fyne is so overblown and humorless, she's difficult to even listen to. This is the only straight dud on the album, and it’s a shame that it’s sequenced last.

FINAL THOUGHTS: With the exception of the last song, everything on Bulworth has some merit. If you like pop rap, you’ll love “Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)”, “Freak Out” and “Joints & Jams”. If you want something more thoughtful, there’s “Kill Em Live”, “How Come” and the title track. If you like the West Coast, you have Ice Cube, Mack 10 and Dr. Dre. If you want East Coast, there’s LL and the Wu. If you want some Dirty South, you have the Witchdoctor. But having something for everyone means very few people will love the entirety album. However, as a sampler of late 1990s hip-hop, Bulworth works extraordinarily well.

BUY OR BURN?: This is a difficult question. It depends upon how you feel about late 1990s hip-hop. If you were finished with rap by 1993 or didn’t start listening to it until Young Jeezy, there’s very little to recommend here. (Also, what the hell are you doing on this blog?) But if you want a glimpse at the twilight years of hip-hop’s finest era, this is a worthwhile listen. I’d recommend a buy, but you may be better off listening first and purchasing a few selected tracks from iTunes.

BEST TRACKS: “Bulworth (They Talk About It While We Live It)”; “Holiday”; “Kill Em Live”

-Jason

(I don't agree with the write-up: I think my original opinion is pretty spot on. I'd personally rather listen to the score, which was apparently composed by Ennio Morricone. I know, I had no idea, either. Anyway, leave your comments below if you agree or contest this post, and whenever you get a chance, you can click here to see my original views on the soundtrack.)

Reader Review: The Rza Presents - Afro Samurai Resurrection: The Soundtrack (January 29, 2009)

(Confession time: while I have the Afro Samurai Resurrection: The Soundtrack that A.R. Marks is about to launch into, I have never actually listened to it. I know, some Wu stan I am, right? Some things just take precedence over the soundtrack to the sequel to a miniseries on Adult Swim. But fuck it, I've heard the first one, at least, and hopefully a write-up will be forthcoming. Until then, enjoy this Reader Review on Afro Samurai Resurrection from A.R. Marks. Be sure to leave your comments below. Oh, and if you're not into the Wu-Tang Clan, you have my permission to try back in a few days for another review.)

As a reader of Max's blog, you probably have a good grasp on the history of the Wu-Tang Clan, whether you're a fan or not. For the uninitiated, I will give a brief take (and yes, in terms of the Wu-Tang Clan's history, this is brief): in the early-1990's, the Clan essentially tore the focus of the hip-hop nation in half when they reminded people that Dr. Dre wasn't the only producer-extraordinaire with a set of foaming-at-the-mouth battle rappers slinging vocal barbed wire all over his instrumentals. The Rza and the other eight members of the Clan swiftly helped bludgeon the commercial spotlight out of Dre's chronic-gripping hand (not actively, as they weren't rivals or anything) by 1995; while he jumped the Death Row ship around that time, Rza had produced a highly-acclaimed group project, two massively-selling/critically praised solo albums (not even for himself), and had just fully produced what would become the two highest jewels in his career crown, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... and Liquid Swords, two of the most notorious albums in hip-hop, period.

After 1997, after reluctantly adhering to his five-year-old promise to give the rappers in the Wu-Tang Clan control of their own careers (several of them before they even had their own careers), Rza's wife left him, and his crew basically disbanded, so he did the one thing an ultra-mega-rap star seems to find to be sensible in that situation: he started smoking weed dipped in the least-desirable drug anyone can somehow be addicted to - PCP (or "Digi"), smoking so much of it he rechristened himself Bobby Digital. With that, you can imagine the quality and quantity of his following work. Three questionable albums, too many years and several faltering Wu-Tang Clansmen careers later, Rza finally resurfaced in 2006 as more than a shadow of his former self, thanks to giving up the psycho-sticks and finding a new steady girlfriend. Stepping up his film scoring game and dipping his feet back into the Wu-Tang Clan production pool eventually resulted in the soundtrack to 2007's Afro Samurai, the score for an American television attempt at Japanese anime starring Samuel L. Jackson's voice as its only other main draw. Two years later, he did the same for the second season of the show, following the same blueprint for Afro Samurai Resurrection.

With Rza working to move back toward the kung fu-influenced sound of years past, what held back his first soundtrack installment for the series was his ill-advised tendency toward nepotism, consorting with a bunch of weed carriers, family members and loosely-related or entirely new Wu-Tang affiliates (presumably to replace the old ones, who at long last have seen that their association with the Wu will not be making them rich or famous in any real capacity). Unfortunately, that trend continues here: why the producer/rapper couldn't rope in his Wu-Tang Clansmen for more collaborations - or even put in more work on the mic himself - is subject to much debate, but Rza should have learned by now that it's okay to experiment all you want, but you have to remember to at least meet the public's expectations.

1. COMBAT (RZA & P. DOT)
With a Samuel L. Jackson spoken-word introduction which is useless, this "song" devolves into Rza screaming "Afro!!" in a distorted fashion while a no-name artist chants a hook, with voice so rough it sounds like he was forced to practice the mantra over and over and over before he could even make the track. Rza spits a short verse which sounds good, but it only highlights how much more he could have done with this wasted marching beat.

2. YOU ALREADY KNOW (KOOL G RAP, INSPECTAH DECK, & SUGA BANG BANG)
Rakeem's beat on here is pretty engaging: so far the production itself completely trumps absolutely anything Rza produced from and including the years 1999-2002, except for the Bobby Digital song "Do U." While G Rap's verse is vintage, Deck's is competent but disappointingly elementary (as usual, of late), and even worse, Suga Bang Bang's cheap Ol' Dirty Bastard-knockoff hook sounds six or seven kinds of cheesy and unnecessary. I would personally surgically remove him straight off the track to even make this a good listen.

3. BLOOD THICKER THAN MUD (FAMILY AFFAIR) (RZA, REV. WILLIAM BURKE, SLY STONE, & STONE MECCA)
Rza's heavily-touted collaboration with Sly Stone, who shares essentially the same backstory as Rza except that he sings (it was cocaine, and he was a funk legend) is a remake of one of the latter's best-known tracks, "Family Affair." Strangely enough, Stone himself only moans or mutters incomprehensibly in the background. Still, this song is one of Afro Samurai Resurrection's standouts, as the beat is pure vintage Rza kung funk (ahem, kung fu funk) and just plain enjoyable. Additionally I actually like Rev. William Burke the most out of all of Rza's most recent litter-bearing, lunch-picking-up, paid-in-studio-time disciples; his verses are nuanced, his delivery is confident and his voice is noticeable but not annoying as all fuck. For the finishing touch, Dionna Nichelle of the R&B group Stone Mecca (it's just her, though the feature is credited to the whole group) can actually sing without making my ears bleed, unlike, say, a Thea Van Seijen or a Blue Raspberry (although since she sings very little, it could also be smart to limit this praise to only her contribution).

4. WHAR (KOOL G RAP, GHOSTFACE KILLAH, RZA, & TASH MAHOGANY)
The beat for this song bothered me for a while, for two reasons: one, I knew I'd heard it before but I couldn't place it; and two, in comparison to what we've heard on the album so far, it seemed alarmingly simple. Then I realized that it was from the introductory beat to "Clan In Da Front” (from Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)), and this fact both enamored me to the song and neutralized my concerns about its simplicity, as Rza clearly makes the play to bring his past credibility into the present. It works because Rza again brings in legend Kool G Rap to trade bars with GFK, one of the only original members of the Wu still respected to the extent that he was ten years ago, and because the choruses, especially the final one, provide a much-needed instrumentation build with a nicely-fitting hook by Tash Mahogany, whose singing is in fact rather smooth and pleasant while conveying a message in fact not heard much in hip-hop.

5. GIRL SAMURAI LULLABY (RAH DIGGA & STONE MECCA)
God damn. And the winning streak is over. Can't expect too much these days, can we? The beat to this ill-advised and obvious crossover attempt (on a samurai-themed soundtrack!?) kills the momentum: the entire sample itself completely apes the Nas song "The Rise and Fall," which is much better in every way, as that song is not as slow as a blind baby turtle and actually features a rapper who can carry a whole song (read: Nas, even circa I Am, always trumps Rah Digga).

6. FIGHT FOR YOU (THEA VAN SEIJEN)
The aforementioned female singer, who always sounds like English is a barely-grasped second language for her, somehow got her own track on this album. The very second her vocals come in you want to fast-forward, so for the love of all things holy, do it.

7. BITCH GONNA GET YA (RAH DIGGA)
This sounds even worse than the first Rah Digga feature on this record: foregoing (naturally) Rah Digga's bland boasts and her consistent "look, a tough female rapper" gimmick, the beat is just a total and utterly discordant, jarring mess. In the words of a wig-wearing, hook-toting Dustin Hoffman, bad form!

8. BLOODY DAYS, BLOODY NIGHTS (PRODIGAL SUNN & THEA VAN SEIJEN)
Having just proclaimed my distaste for Thea Van Seijen, it's strange that I can actually stand her on this song even though she technically dominates it, because the beat is actually dynamic, with a dark atmosphere: it adds something to her vocals that makes them less painful somehow. Prodigal Sunn is also one of my top choices for Wu-affiliates, so the fact that he spits only one verse is only a slight disappointment, as he isn't Cilvaringz, Shabazz the Disciple or (God forbid) Rza's cousin Freemurda.

9. KILL KILL KILL (RUGGED MONK)
I don't know who the fuck this guy is, but he sounds like a generic version of Rev. Burke, and his verse just comes off as paint-by-numbers, largely because the song's every single sentiment is a retread of things we've heard eleventy-million times in hip-hop. Plus the beat is just "wsshhh" and "psssshhh" sounds, a whispered "kill kill kill, afro samurai" and an extra-extra-basic horn sample. SKIP.

10. NAPPY AFRO (BOY JONES)
The son of Ol' Dirty Bastard drops in to pay homage to his father and, unfortunately, ends up paying homage to the fucked-up, erratic, illogical portion of his pop's legacy instead of the hidden-insight, entertainment-avant-garde piece. The beat is as fresh as a lost 1998 Bad Boy cookie-cutter, and Jones-the-younger's attempts to bring out his father's quirkiness comes off as firmly on par with the most annoying thing I've ever heard in hip-hop.

11. BLOODY SAMURAI (BLACK KNIGHTS, DEXTER WIGGLES, & THEA VAN SEIJEN)
What is it about Van Seijen that makes Rza slap her all over this album? He must have the best ear in hip-hop, because I sure as hell don't hear anything good. The beat is nice, at first, barring her contribution (which, thankfully, is limited); however it's one of those beats that just endlessly repeats itself over and over, and not in an interesting way, either. It doesn't help that the third- or fourth-generation Wu-Tang affiliate group Black Knights (along with some guy named Dexter Wiggles - nice name, by the way; did you get your ass beat in high school? A lot?) has complete control of the track. All around grating.

12. DEAD BIRDS (KILLAH PRIEST, PRODIGAL SUNN, & SHAVO (OF SYSTEM OF A DOWN))
The relatively all-star lineup here looks promising on paper, and is meant to foreshadow Rza's supposed collaboration with Shavo, with the group Achozen. If they're supposed to sound like this, then I'm glad I haven't heard anything about it for months. Furthermore, the song's sloppy, tiresome guitar backdrop makes me glad I haven't heard any new System music in years, too. Thankfully the song ends pretty fucking fast, as in "oh shit, this song actually really sucks" fast.

13. ARCH NEMESIS (ACE & MOE ROC)
Around this point is when you finally realize that the vocal samples culled from the show are seemingly just slapped on here for their own sake, when Rakeem even bothers to include them; many of the songs that feature them aren't inventive or vivid enough to justify them in any real way. That is about the most interesting thing I can say for this song, except that this might very well be the worst beat on this album, and shows that Rza apparently hasn't completely let go of his Bobby Digital persona (of course, he did release a Bobby Digital record around the same time as this record came out, so there you go).

14. BROTHER'S KEEPER (REV. WILLIAM BURKE, RZA, & INFINITE)
This song takes a little of the edge off the last few tracks by refusing to be repetitive, but the hard trashcan drums completely overshadow the rest of the beat, as well as Rza and Burke's vocals. The hook, which is not done by a trained vocalist and which is completely unnecessary, is sung by Infinite, who actually is Rza's brother, which makes this track's title nice and literal.

15. YELLOW JACKETS (ACE & MOE ROC)
So these two no-names pop up once again. Why? Only Rza knows, I would think. This beat should have gone to Gza/Genius instead: it's a nice construction of complex synthesizer playing, but it's ruined by the constant sound of what could be some kind of heavy exhaling. Oh, and the two amateurs attempting to rock the beat and failing.

16. TAKE THE SWORD PT III (60 SECOND ASSASSIN, LEGGEZIN, CHRISTBEARER, RUGGED MONK, TRE IRIE, BERETTA 9, RZA (AS BOBBY DIGITAL), & REV. WILLIAM BURKE)
I like the first two installments of “Take The Sword”, both from the first Afro Samurai soundtrack, but this one does nothing to live up to either one, not unlike the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie (I'd throw in The Godfather series as a comparison, but these songs aren't good enough to warrant that grand of a comparison). There just isn't much to say about it (literally: the beat is so sparse, there's not much to comment on) other than the fact that this posse cut features about as many rappers as there are in the Wu-Tang Clan but I've only heard of five of them before today, and I only want to hear two of them spit ever again.

17. NUMBER ONE SAMURAI (AFRO SEASON II OUTRO) (RZA & 9TH PRINCE)
Kicking off with a deliciously nostalgia-inspiring, off-kilter sample from a kung-fu film score, Rza kicks off the proceedings with a beautifully-distorted verse, in the guise of the main character himself, Afro Samurai. 9th Prince's non-distorted and technically non-good verse does derail things somewhat, but the beat and Rza's verse are so good it's easy to overlook that last bit.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Although the high-points of this record illustrate that The Rza may be moving back toward his pre-sherm days, the vast majority of Afro Samurai Resurrection consists of throwaway tracks, as can be expected when at the most only clips of some of these songs will be played, briefly, throughout the show for which they were recorded. I suppose Prince Rakeem felt that this was a lower-profile platform that would only be picked up by his diehard fans, and as such would allow some experimentation, in the way of musical choices and in collaborators. I suppose it's good that some of these tracks didn't make it on to 8 Diagrams. However, the double-edged blade of that statement is that some of them probably should have (featuring core Wu-Tang members instead, of course). Musically, the lack of boring all-instrumental compositions here show that The Rza is moving in the right direction, and Afro Samurai Resurrection's Japanese influence do well to bring him back to his kung fu roots.

BUY OR BURN: If you purchased a copy of this album, you may have already burned that motherfucker (literally, mind you, with real flames and real gasoline), so what I would personally recommend is what I did: Take the very best songs from this record and its predecessor, shuffle them up really good, and slap that playlist onto your iPod and pretend that you're listening to The Rza's The Cure. But don't bother even touching a physical copy of this shit.

BEST SONGS: “You Already Know”; “Blood Thicker Than Mud (Family Affair)”; “Whar”; “Bloody Days Bloody Nights”

-A.R. Marks

(That left me curious enough to actually listen to the fucking album now. What did you think of it, or do you even care? Leave your comments below.)

Drink Coasters: Bulworth (The Soundtrack) (April 21, 1998)

As if Hollywood made a concentrated effort to prove my comments on The Show's soundtrack review as fact, I present to you the soundtrack to the suck-ass Warren Beatty film Bulworth. I'm sure every one of my two readers will agree, there is nothing funnier than hearing an old white guy rap, especially if it's at a public forum such as a press conference or congressional dinner. (I see you, Karl Rove. You're on my shit list too.) Even having Halle Berry in your film doesn't merit any sort of praise, since she's a horrible actress that has made maybe two good choices her entire career. (I did like Don Cheadle, though.)

Unlike The Show, however, Bulworth (The Soundtrack) seems to have been executive-produced by people who were actually trying to put together a compilation of brand name artists and unknowns. The problem is in the song choices themselves. Things start off less than decent with Dr. Dre and LL Cool J's unintentionally hilarious "Zoom"; I just realized that Cool James was the last person I ever wanted to hear on a Dr. Dre track. (That's right: Curtis Jackson actually ranks higher on this rhetorical list.) Of course, you can have your two-year-old son bang on the keyboard with a plastic hammer and find the original version of the track online, which featured Snoop Dogg; this was supposed to be their 'reunion' track, but was nixed since Snoop was still under contract to Suge Knight at the time. You can imagine that the chemistry between Dre and Snoop sparkles, while the lack-of between James and Andre Young sticks out like a sore thumb in a bag of middle fingers.

Things don't get much better with "Ghetto Superstar", which was supposed to be Pras (the third wheel from The Fugees) and Mya (whom I've always liked, but not for her music), had it not been for Ol' Dirty Bastard's drunken interruption while wandering into the wrong studio. Pras graciously allowed Dirty a cameo; as such, ODB garnered another radio-friendly hit. This song isn't the worst song in the world, but it's not very good, and does not fit into the rest of the album's sequencing, especially since the focus didn't seem to be Top 40 radio. Canibus trots out a collaboration with Youssou N'Dour, but since it's produced by Wyclef Jean, it's completely worthless. Public Enemy hands us "Kill 'Em Live", which makes you want to reach for their seminal albums instead. Mack 10 and Ice Cube give us "Maniac In The Brainiac", which I'm sure was supposed to be "Maniac AND The Brainiac"; either way, I'm sure that neither artist lists this song on their respective resumes. And every single song with an unknown artist fails; of course, you shouldn't expect much from rappers with names like 'Nutta Butta' and 'D-Fyne', but Eve (from Aftermath/Ruff Ryders/Aftermath/whatever fucking label she's on now) falters on her official debut, "Eve Of Destruction"; and the Black Eyed Peas, before the white chick and commercial fame, loan out their album track "Joints & Jam", which sucks. (In fact, all of the Black Eyed Peas songs are fucking awful, and I believed that even before Fergie joined the group. But that rant has nothing to do with Bulworth, so I'll end it here.) Cappadonna (famous for the previous post, in which I eviscerated his solo album) even loans out his "Run", which still sucks, even when placed on a different album.

Bulworth has some medium points, but they're not reason enough to add this album to your 'must buy' list. Southern rapper Witchdoctor included his album track "Holiday/12 Scanner", and it was good enough for me to try to track down his debut. The Rza returns to rhyming and producing on "The Chase", which sounds like a spiritual cousin to Cappa's "Run", but better. The crown jewel, which was not hard to find on an album full of bombs, is the DJ Muggs-produced "Bulworth", which is only the title track by a technicality, as none of the rappers featured mention the film at all. In fact, Prodigy, Method Man, KRS-One, and KAM all attack the media, especially music magazines such as The Source. Major kudos for the inclusion of KAM on here, but one song isn't enough to warrant a purchase.

I suppose we should all be thankful for one thing: in early advertisements for this soundtrack, the inclusion of 'Jay Bulworth' was promoted; Jay Bulworth was, of course, Warren Beatty's character in the film, and he was supposed to rhyme over a DJ Muggs instrumental. I'm sure even Warren himself thought the 'old white guy rapping' joke wore thin, and had it removed from the final release. Bulworth (The Soundtrack) is available at the Amazon z-shops (see sidebar for link) starting at one cent. One frickin' penny! There's a reason, people. Avoid this at all costs.

-Max

Drink Coasters: The Show (The Soundtrack) (August 15, 1995)

The musical genre known as hip hop has never really garnered the full attention it deserved from Hollywood. True, there have been many films that use the lifestyle as a jump-off point to delve into other subjects, but the majority of movies and TV shows out there use and abuse hip hop to meet whatever the needs of the story may be. Not all rappers are prison-bound ex-gang members looking for a way out of that life, okay, Hollywood? Conversely, not every rapper is a closet poet with something important to say; this is evident when you listen to the radio for more than three minutes at at time.

In an attempt to show the world the true faces of hip hop culture, Russell Simmons gave us the documentary The Show, which featured damn near every mainstream rap artist in 1995. The film was not much of a box office success (unless you're Michael Moore, nobody will actually pay to see your documentary in a theater), but the accompanying soundtrack sold like hotcakes at a clearance sale. The Show (The Soundtrack) was released by arguably the number one hip hop label at the time, Def Jam, and showcased a number of rappers and rap groups that supposedly defined 1995.

Well, that's a load of horseshit.

The Show (The Soundtrack) is a bloated, 27-track affair with questionable standards as to who was important in hip hop at the time. I remember taking a glance at the back of the CD case when I saw it in stores, and I was excited by the sheer number of artists prominently featured on songs. Oh My God! Dr. Dre! Snoop! Slick Rick! Domino...okay, I didn't really care much about Domino. ("Ghetto Jam" is still a damn good song, though.) I quickly made my purchase, went home, unwrapped the plastic, and started listening, hoping to get a sense of what the film would be like (at this time, The Show hadn't opened in my city yet). I walked away from this experience knowing that the movie would be a failure.

Why is that, you ask? Well, for starters, the big names, for the most part, only contribute semi-significant quotes from the movie itself. Dr. Dre and Snoop had jack shit to do with this soundtrack. Secondly, the songs that actually exist can, in no possible way, qualify as a definition of 1995. Fucking Onyx, who hadn't had a hit song since "Slam", contributed their shit sandwich "Live!!!", which knocks all of your high expectations out of a sixth-story window. 2Pac's Easy Mo Bee-produced "My Block" fares much better, but then again, I have a soft spot for any Pac song that isn't about fucking Thug Life and all that bullshit. (Tupac Shakur was a classically trained actor, people! He wasn't a fucking thug until Suge brought him into that lifestyle!) The best song on here, "How High", even pissed me off (at first), as it's not the version promised in the video. Method Man and Redman started their very fruitful collaborative relationship with this Erick Sermon-produced semi-masterpiece, which sounds completely different from the video. (I wasn't appeased until I heard Redman's extended final verse, which was cut out of the radio version. Reggie raps the shit out of the track.) A Tribe Called Quest, or mainly Q-Tip, anyway, appears out of nowhere with "Glamour & Glitz", which is also decent.

There isn't anything else on this CD worth a listen. Bone Thugs 'N' Harmony purists will probably rip me a new one in the comments for saying that "Everyday Thang" is a weak throwaway track, but that's exactly what it is. Everything else on this album is Def Jam's blatant attempt to force-feed older Def Jam acts down our collective throats. LL Cool J, who was more of an actor than a rapper in 1995, embarrasses himself with his "Papa Luv It"; Jayo Felony is handed to us twice, on two consecutive songs, neither of which are memorable or even any good. Warren G's gives weed carriers The Dove Shack some shine (on "Summertime In The LBC", which isn't awful but doesn't fit into the sequencing), and even gives himself a song that isn't worth mentioning. Finally, the last real rap song here, "Me And My Bitch (Live From Philly)", finds The Notorious B.I.G. and fucking Sean Combs performing Biggie's song over an overused "Computer Love" sample, to awful effect; is this really the only song from Biggie they could procure? He didn't have any unreleased gems he could contribute? (Before anyone comments, I realize the point of "Me And My Bitch"'s inclusion was to create the effect of going to the live show. My answer to you is this: why that song?)

The Show (The Soundtrack) is a weak cash-in for a musical genre that needs all of the support it can get. (The other major rap documentary at the time, Rhyme & Reason, has a much better soundtrack.) It's not the worst album I've ever heard, but life is short, and your time would be better spent elsewhere.

-Max