At the age of 14 years, 5 months and 5 days, Shyheim Dionel Franklin is one of the youngest kids to debut studio albums in the world of hip-hop music. He's not the first kid to enter the rap game, nor the last, nor is he the youngest ever, but unlike pretty much all the other kids who have attempted to break through the music industry, he signs with a major label and CAN rap.
Shyheim was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Staten Island, together with the Wu-Tang Clan, becoming one of the youngest affiliates of the historic supergroup. Also known as The Rugged Child, he records and completes his debut album in 1993. The cassette is inextricably linked to Wu-Tang and Killa Beez, as Shyheim is one of Ghostface Killah's many cousins. The production is made by Arby "RNS" Quinn, unknown affiliate of the crew: he's a Staten Island beatmaker who over the years has worked with local artists, including UMC's, and has the opportunity to teach Robert "RZA" Diggs the basics of hip-hop production, while also lending him his own Ensoniq sampler to produce the rhythms of the Wu-Tang Clan's "36 Chambers". RZA pays him back by bringing him to this record, almost entirely produced by RNS except for one track, the beat of which is realized by Prince Rakeem himself. Members of the Wu-Tang affiliate group GP Wu, Rubbabandz, Down Low Recka, Pop da Brown Hornet and June Lover are the group's biggest guests, along with K-Tez, Prophet and Kwazi.
RNS manages to build a production that's competent for the entire duration of the listening: it seems like a no-brainer in a year that has seen classic after classic after classic after classic, but it's not that easy. The beatmaker manages to distance himself from the typical Wu-Tang sound, and at the same time, creates jazzy boom bap rhythms that maintain a dirty and dusty atmosphere, accessible, wisely using hard and dry drums, pounding and thin, slow and tight, as well as samples from jazz, funk and hip-hop tracks. On this type of sound, Shyheim flows really well with his youthful, fresh, slow and tight voice: the boy is endowed with an undeniable talent and carries a CD of almost 50 minutes, for a total of 15 tracks (the interludes are respectively a skit, a freestyle in which he, Rubbabandz, Due-Lilz of Theodore Unit and Down Low Recka, all uncredited, exchange four bars each, and the final thanks). GP Wu makes a great contribution to the edition through his interpreters, appearing especially in the first half of the album and writing part of the lyrics with Down Low Recka: lyrically, it's an effortless LP, focusing on battle rap, braggadocio, school and other premature themes. The group recites bars with a syncopated, slow, confident and inspired style, without taking away space and visibility from the main author (I personally believe that, even if they had tried, they wouldn't have succeeded here): guests deliver acceptable performance in most cases, and the GP Wu sound at their peak, however, Shyheim often comes with his flow dope and obscures everyone by tearing the track. It would have been interesting to see him alongside a Wu-Tang MC as on the Big Daddy Kane album released a few months earlier than this one, however, for many years this will not happen.
Distributed by Virgin, Capitol and EMI, the album achieves an initial commercial result comparable to the Wu-Tang Clan debut, approaching the top 50 on the Billboard 200 and reaching the top 10 in the rap chart. The CD also produces a fairly successful single, "On and On": simple jazzy boom bap, short and haunting looped sample, hard thumping dusty and tight drum machine, Shyheim cleverly lets the rhythm breathe and then attacks with a velvety, clean, smooth, tight, dope flow. It's certainly the highest moment of the album, but I think it's worth noting the second verse, which takes him from his famous freestyle at Madison Square Garden together with Big Scoob, The Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac and Big Daddy Kane: unlike that aggressive and rapid interpretation, here the young MC decides to recite the lyrics with a disarming, spectacular lucidity, calm and coldness. Props also to Kia Jeffries, brilliant on the hook. This hit places him definitively as one of the best teens of his period (and perhaps of the previous and subsequent ones) to have recorded on wax. Also noteworthy is the Wendy Rene sample of "After Laughter (Come Tears)" featured in "Party's Goin' On"; with these exceptions, none of the cuts are particularly impressive, even if there are no weaknesses. It's a nice listen, recommended for boom bap fans, not essential for Wu-stans.
Rating: 7/10.
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