Filed under: Music, Music Reviews | Tags: desert storm, fabolous, hip hop, keri hilson, lil wayne, losos way
Initial reactions of the kneejerk variety don’t allow for the whole situation to be taken in, so when I looked at the tracklisting for Fabo’s ‘Loso’s Way’ my initial reaction was wavy to say the least. For a so-called concept album having the class 2009 on the guestlist looks like a strong ‘put one of these joints on the radio’ message rather than any attempt to model the lyrics around a story. For Loso’s 5th effort you’d expect something a bit more than this low calibre knock off. From the title you can see this is a somewhat late nod to Al Pacino’s Carlito’s Way (released 1993) with Loso’s idea being straight from the Jay-Z school of thought (American Gangster) and parallel the plot of the film through the tracks. The problem is that listening to the tracks you immediately realise the idea of basing the album around the plot was too much hard work so Loso went back and made a handful of hook reliant, mediocre, soulless radio tracks with a sprinkling of gangsta persona thrown in for good measure. The link to American Gangster doesn’t stop there as J appears on one of the tracks with a sample from one of the tracks that didn’t make the cut on American Gangster ‘Money Goes’ with Loso spitting, “see mama, you’re my Rihanna / pull an umbrella when you see drama ”.
What you feel listening to this is Fabolous wants a big hit record to get back on the scene as his reputation is flailing as an artist reduced to just catchy punchlines but with no depth to his arsenal.
The fall down track is obviously ‘Throw It In The Bag’ for the pure lack of imagination that went into it although plenty of other efforts try to takes its thunder as the worst track on the album ‘My Time’ sounds like it should have T-Pain on the hook, but it’s not up to club track standard he brings so Jeremih provides the autotune. I’m putting my foot down on these tracks from now on; The-Dream is a gimmick.
The trademark Fab flow is evident at times on ‘Imma Do It’ he raps, “why don’t you practice safe sex and go fuck yourself”. The real star of the show is ‘Everything, Everyday, Everywhere’ which features Keri Hilson and bumps like a big track should. This is where the best lyrics come in one hot track like, “ask theses other silicone niggas about how being fake feel”.
No surprises that Mr 2k8 Weezy jumps on ‘Salute’ but it’s probably the biggest disappointment on the album as Wayne’s verse is weak. ‘Lullaby’ has production from The Alchemist who should be a stable on every artist’s album and Fab makes the most of the beat with leaving his normal brand of catchy word play for a more menacing approach. Ne-Yo appears on ‘Makin Love’, another JD produced two step radio joint and Ryan Leslie holds down ‘The Fabolous Life’ which is easily forgettable as the majority of 2nd half of the album is. That is until ‘Stay’ which seems like the biographical track that the album was built up to feature, with Loso dealing with his father and his own journey into fatherhood rapping “Weezy’s at the awards with Ms Carter / Not his date I’m talkin bout his daughter / now that’s stuntin like your daddy, cos it crazy when you wanna be nothing like your daddy”.
What happens is the top dog gets hounded out by too many other cats on the billin’. After an hour listening to this Fabolous album I turned it off and put on ‘Street Dreams’ to see if it was how I remembered. Looking back that was Loso’s best work and since then it’s been downhill. This is purely for Loso fans; he won’t be gaining any love from anyone who hasn’t copped his albums before. The truth is the 3 singles are typical Fab tracks which will get the album enough buzz then theres another couple of tracks worth listening to but it’s 50/50.
It’s a 6.0 from The Bawuss.
Filed under: Music, Music Reviews | Tags: chemical warfare, eminem, the alchemist
1st Infantry spawned the hit ‘Hold You Down’ which used the same sample of ‘Love Theme’ used on Jay-Z’s Just Blaze produced ‘Soon You’ll Understand’, but the depth of talent on the album, all putting hard verses on was really what stood out. 5 years down the line the ‘Chemical Warfare’ track listing doesn’t disappoint either with the likes of Mobb Deep, Talib Kweli, Jadakiss, KRS-One and Eminem on the title track.
In typically Alc style there is a mixture of vocal samples, bumping baselines and comical skits to create his signature sounds and he also drops some verses himself on the Twista and Maxwell assisted ‘Smile’ rapping about his role in the industry, “I was only after the props / never after the fame” and ‘ALC Theme’ with Kool G Rap showing his own brand of sharp wordplay, “Im c-razy / Little threats don’t p-h-ase me / Pac raised me to step up to any chump that plays me”.
On ‘Chemical Warfare’ his employer, Em, spits a short verse as a favour it seems more than anything but with typically strong production Em’s lines flow effortlessly. The dark joints like Prodigy’s explicitly themed ‘Keep The Heels On’ hit hard, and the threatening ‘Lose Your Life’ with Snoop, Kiss and Pusha T stands out with its haunting piano key loop obnoxiously riding the verses.
‘Some Gangsta Shit’ is another short effort which is purely there to show off Alc’s production with Fabolous spitting over it with his trademark flow, “Get in this Benz and stop frontin / I ain’t getting any younger bitch, I ain’t Benjamin Button”. The real standout tracks are the ‘Therapy’ with Talib Kweli and Kid Cudi for its looping guitar riff and surprisingly the Three 6 Mafia and Juvenile electronic bumping base number ‘That’ll Work’. Blastmaster KRS-One tells his story on the string-inspired ‘Grand Concourse Benches’ and Gangrene on hard hitting ‘Acts of Violence’.
This album cements The Alchemist as one of the top producers in the game right now. It is relentless from start to finish in the sort of diverse beat-making rarely matched by any other producer in the game right now.
8.5/10
Filed under: Music, Music Reviews | Tags: bashy, catch me if you can, grime, Music, uk hip hop
In 2006 there was ‘The Chupa Chups Mixtape’, in 2007 there was ‘Black Boys’, in 2008 ‘Kidulthood to Adulthood’, now in 2009 finally comes Bashy’s much hyped first album ‘Catch Me If You Can’. If you’re not familiar with the UK’s number one grime artist it’s time to fight your way onto the bandwagon. Bashy has already built a massive following, with his fluent storytelling, style and ability to not only deal with sensitive issues but make bangers. To say he’s a ‘sort after’ artist is an understatement. The grime scene is awash with talent but Bashy stands astride as the leader of the new school. But Bashy can’t be pigeonholed as just a UK grime artist take that as read…he’s a creative lyricist in his own right regardless of nationality with an ability to impress, baffle and make you laugh. Whether the title of his new album ‘Catch Me If You Can’ is a cocky shot to the rest of the UK or not is not certain, but it should be. With no major label pushing and pulling the strings, Bashy is able to produce exactly what he wanted without interference and this is immediately obvious with the themes of the tracks like on ‘Living My Dream’ where Bashy identifies that the making of music is the passion and not the glory of the commercial success that drives him.
With a variety of producers ‘Catch Me If You Can’ doesn’t suffer from a stale lack of ideas and keeps you guessing. The storytelling aspect of the album makes for the best tracks, whether that’s on ‘Before, Before’ as recites Bashy’s past before the buzz grew with lines like “Had me shoutin ‘Ooorrh’ out of my car / That was after So Solid, but before Lemar” or on ‘Change’ which details what life would be like if you could go back and change things in a heartfelt and honest assessment of his character saying, “I wouldn’t of leaned on mother, played them off against each other / man I wish that I’d of known better, maybe they would still be together”.
Bashy catalogue is so diverse from ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ which is the big track of the moment gaining all the airplay and buzz, through to ‘Ransom’ which plays out the story of a guy getting kidnapped and held to ransom by a gang jealous of his fame. This is where Bashy’s wordplay really comes into effect along with help from Wretch 32 and Scorcher. A truly great gritty underground track which is one of the standouts on the album.
The fact that Bashy is a trendsetter is evident which Bashy addresses the swagger jackers in the schoolyard sounding melody of ‘Copycat’ singing “you wanna talk how I talk you’re a copycat / you wanna walk where I walk you’re a copycat”. The other big standout track is ‘What About Me?’ which is another sincere evaluation of himself coming from an alter ego over a soulful chorus. Bashy raps “The more famous you get, the more I suffer”, in a well executed concept track. H-Boogie appears on the bumpy electro sounding ‘Your Wish Is My Command’ and ‘Sorry’ serves as an apology to females from on behalf of men then just to add the cherry on the cake Bashy adds ‘Black Boys’ and ‘Kidulthood to Adulthood’ as bonus tracks, two of the biggest grime tracks of the last two years.
Bashy has cracked it on the first showing with ‘Catch Me If You Can’ and it’s easy to see this guy becoming a big name commercially as well as just within UK hip hop and grime circles. The album manages to cover all areas without sounding like a cut and paste job. From a UK standpoint a great album one of the best from a grime artist for a long time, if you’re going to actually buy an album this year you’d do far wrong than copping this and supporting the independent acts. It’s inspirational, inventive, comical and emotional. Bish Bash Bosh.
It’s an 8.0/10 from the bawuss.
That’s the truth, Bawuss Talk
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPreorder?id=317356323
“Don’t call it a comeback, I been here for years”. Six albums in, Killa Cam still has buzz. After beefing with 50, Jay and the rest of his Diplomat alumni not to mention a two-year hiatus with ‘Where’s Cam?’ overtaking ‘paris hilton sex tape’ as Google’s hit search term. In 2002 Cam was on top of the world when “Dipset Anthem” dropped and most would say he hasn’t been album to hit the heights of that effort since. Witty wordplay, clichéd gangsta talk, money cars and hoes has always been the direction and subject matter and he doesn’t disappoint this time round. Cam doesn’t claim to be conscious rapper. After the mixed reviews at best of ‘Killa Season’, Harlem’s child of the corn is still one of hip-hops characters, when the majority of the roster looks for sales over quality material, Cam backed away from the trend and brought his unique swagger flow back with ‘Crime Pays’. The financial problems of the whole industry, with album sales dropping year after year have meant Cam went with a different approach, going for the independent route with Asylum rather than signing with one of the majors.
Cam suffers from the ‘production’ of Skito and Araabmusik rather than when he was backed by the Roc’s Just Blaze and Kanye for best so most of the tracks sound similar and unpolished like you’d expect from a mixtape…which is pretty much what this is, so judging it in comparison with the clout of something coming out of Def Jam or leaves it high and dry.
For 20+ tracks his feuding Dipset members seem strangely missing as only 40 Cal and the Bird Lady makes an appearance on a guess spot which makes you wish for a Diplomatic reunion asap. At times you can’t help thinking if he condensed the lyrics down this could of actually been a great effort to get bring out a secret gem of a hit album, but instead its it relies on those high pitched hooks or Cam getting on the hook as well making you wish for Akon to turn up…well maybe not that bad but you get the message. Then you realise something. Cam’s creativity and flashy artful lyricism pulls it through without the need for a Robin Thicke or a Ne-Yo to appear on the hook, which is surprisingly refreshing. Its mixture of gangsta talk, bangers and comedy means Cam’s skills can easily be missed.
In the methodical, ‘Where I Know You From’ trademark Cam lines like, “He Tony the Tiger / Yeah he like it sugar coated” make you remember why there has always been a place for Cam in hip-hop and what the games been missing with his absence. 5 skits only serve as a break to the flow of the album and make it 70mins long which means that the quality control was missed because some of the tracks shouldn’t have made it to the final cut. But they also let Cam take shots at all the haters with them complaining he’s sleeping on the mic, earning millions while they are broke, wearing pink and in ‘Skit 2’ even taking a shot at former 2nd in command Juelz, “Yo it aint fair man, you know were born to lose, but I’m built to win” (the title of Santana’s forth coming album).
‘Never Ever’ is a bouncy beat track which comes along in Cam’s words like a “Broadway musical” (I assume that’s meant to be a good thing). It’s catchy enough to be a strong track on the album but couldn’t be considered a track which is gonna get heavy radio play. So what if Cam relies on tried and tested formula. With ‘Cookies-n-Apple Juice’, his lyrics actually stick up there with the likes of Lil’ Wayne at times, “I won’t kiss her, maybe hug her, but I don’t even like her / I’m a get it, hit it, maybe split it, but never wife her / I’ll Rowdy Roddy Pipe-her”, it just a shame that the beat is horrible like something of a fruitloop Soulja Boy track, Cam even forced Juice to sound like “Yooooou” to lend the trend setting youngsters swag even further. But this signature rhyme-pattern is what Cam’ron is all about.
The economic downfall is dealt with with ‘I Hate My Job’, Cam rapping from the perspective of the everyday working class person, “All this bullshit for twelve bucks an hour / Plug me to Chuck D, wanna Fight the Power”. It’s Joe Public’s track for the 09 period and Cam sympathises with the normal working person in a way which comes across well, even from a jewellery wearing, mink coat havin, lambo driving, Hamptons condo dwelling rapper.
‘I Get It In Ohio’ is another hit on the album where Cam paint a tale of the Midwest state with real top production beat suited to a Jeezy track with a storytelling flow “Hoe, slut, no love, turn beef to cold cuts, family gettin bread, well he about to get his loaf cut”. It’s a truly cinematic experience which reminds you of something from early Nasir Jones…or early ‘S.D.E.’ age Cam.
Most people won’t have had high expectations for this Cam album and they won’t be disappointed that the stand out tracks are lost within the enormity of the rest of the album. But true Cam fans will hail this a successful return of the originator of swagger. Those are the same people who acclaim the overproduction, polished, entourage or everything wrong about hip-hop. Those are the ones who laud the new T-Pain collobaration and dance around to Akon. Fuck them. This isn’t a classic, but anyone who says it isn’t close is a hater. This won’t sell like 808’s and it’s not up to the standard of Deeper Than Rap, but it’s a lot better than most people will be scared to admit. Coming on his own Cam has shown the way in a time full of throwaway records and sound-a-like tracks, the independent route with budget marketing, production and videos allows Killa Cam to focus solely on the music aspect and the art of rhyming. As Kweli once said, “”If lyrics sold then truth be told, I’d probably be, just as rich and famous as Jay-Z “. Cam can take a lot from that was well. Props to the pink panther, I fucks with Cam. No Homo.
7.5/10 from the Bawuss.
That’s the truth.
Ahaaaa! It’s been five years since we’ve been gifted a solo project from the self-styled top 5 dead or alive LOX front man. Luckily Yonkers’ finest emcee has kept his raspy flow featuring on tracks since ‘Kiss of Death’ dropped in 2004 so we have forgotten what he’s all about. Label problems have dogged Jada since Puffy was fitting him for a shiny suits, but now free of Bad Boy and with both feet firmly in Def Jam under The Roc (Check out ‘Who Run This’ Feat. Jay-Z which didn’t make the album) Jadakiss returns to what he does best. The thing about Kiss is that he’s always had the following to stand up to the best of ‘em but never really produced consistently. Regarded by some as the hardest spitter in the game his talent of the mic is unquestionable but his ability to provide an album to show those talents is up for debate. Now the ninja turtle is back with ‘The Last Kiss’….Ahaaaa!
There is one obvious deficiency with this latest effort, it’s hard to work out whether this is a new Jada album or a DJ Khaled compilation. The amount of features on the album is unnecessary and gives the impression Jada doesn’t actually have the knack of producing a cohesive solo album on his own. And it’s not just the other D-Blockers that make an appearance its one meaningless collobo to the next. Young Jeezy on ‘Something Else’ and Young Weezy ‘Death Wish’ provide a nice garlic bread side dish to Jada’s pepperoni passion, but that’s about where it ends. Don’t get me wrong the 2009 version of 2004’s ‘Why’, this time called ‘What If’ with Escobar recycles an old idea with its Four Cheese idea but it works well, but it does leave you thinking why so many features and what if Jada just made a solo album. I can understand wanting those names on your triumphant return to the game but its beggars belief behind the reasoning the pineapple chunks of Swizz Beatz vocals are on scattered over ‘It’s Real’ which really need to be picked out, especially after the herb sprinkled heights of ‘Pain and Torture’ are reached. Ghostface adds a BBQ base to ‘Cartel Gathering’; but ’One More Step’ with group mate Styles P is a hideously disjointed as they attempt to flow back and forth in ‘Coming of Age’ mentality, but its ends up making The Hitmen’s production sound messy at best. Anything else on the album is easily forgettable and you find yourself skipping through half the meaningless tracks trying to spot what is meat and what is mushroom.
It’s a disappointing feeling after a 5-year wait to be awarded with such a back burner effort, especially after all the hype leading up to it. The vast amount of guest slots only leads to the question is Jada actually the man we think he is, or is it just the way things are that he’s succumbed to the universal who’s who of modern hip-hop. This dude can go on a mixtape, go on any other rappers album and kill a verse but can’t make an album for shit. It’s hard to put this into a category its Jada’s attempt at a purely mainstream album, but it won’t convince Fiddy fans to buy it, and it won’t exactly set traditional Jada fans on fire so what he has actually put out is a record that hits neither mark, a margarita.
It’s 6.5/10 from The Bawuss.
