Thirty years after his debut, Grand Daddy IU leaves the rappers field and starts to be a producer releasing this tape, inserting a lot of excellent lyricists. Nice surprise record, which brings back the boom bap sound and is a clear homage to the nineties, unfortunately ignored by audiences and critics.
This dude puts on the same album M.O.P. (Lil' Fame), Flipmode Squad (Rah Digga), Flavor Unit (Bumpy Knuckles), Brand Nubian (Sadat X), Organized Konfusion (Prince Po), Juice Crew (Craig G), Main Source (Large Professor), D.I.T.C. (OC & Milano Constantine) and Wu-Tang Clan (Method Man). It would be one of the best hip-hop records of the year anyway, if it weren't for the fact that the main guests are his friends and proteges, including Shortee Sha, Bando Flee, DJ Ace, Marquee and Inf da Good. I'm really tired of trying to think about the logic of mixing legends and amateur rappers not only on the same record, but even on the same tracks.
When amateurs go it alone, predictably amateurish results (poor rapping on grey jazzy boom bap) spanning more or less half the tape, while the other guests are trapped by several mistakes in production. In "Politically Incorrect", there is a mediocre female sample, functional to the sax sample to accompany this sparse, syncopated and slow drum machine, the rhythm isn't really good for the slow delivery of the guests Sadat X and Ruste Juxx. Prince Po is clearly superior respect the other guests present in the following track, which has a John Jiggs reggae intro, while his friend Omar Credle shakes "Party & Booze" with a crisp, dope, smooth flow, aided by a sublime jazzy sample looped in the background and aided by Marquee, who is pretty good at rapping, with a great flow, unfortunately the track deviates towards the commercial street with the soul hook of the R&B duo Money Harm.
Inf da God also gets a solo cut ("Hold U Down"), with honest rhythm, elegant piano looped in the background, I believe Monifah provides a soulful background and the guy delivers worthily, but his hook is too long. Milano, a rapper affiliated with D.I.T.C., finds one of the best rhythms on the tape, splendid boom bap jazzy dope, and delivers with a flowing style, but the other guests aren't up to par. Bando Flee tries to shake the spirits in "Slick Talk", a light jazzy choice in which this rapper has another energy than the others, rides the beat, while the others deliver in a tasteless way; the same Bando Flee continues to do well in "Get Em Daddy" as well, with crisp, smooth, cool syncopated delivery on an eccentric piano looped in the background with vibrant drum.
When the guest keeps things as hip-hop as possible, the results come. Unfortunately, there are very few highlights. "Fully Charged" is among the strongest pieces: Lil' Fame doesn't disappoint, hardcore energetic intro, smoothness syncopated delivery on energetic jazzy boom bap, female sample chopped and looped in the background, tight skinny drum machine, simple chorus, Rah Digga good too, while Bumpy Knuckles is rawer than Fame in delivery, flowing, sharp and syncopated. DJ Ace closes, colorless, however the joint is good and gives an illusion that the rest of the album is also at this level.
And instead, to find another track that could come close to being included among the highlights, it's necessary to wait for Craig G and Large Pro together with Don Black on "Legendary": boom bap jazzy dope, choice helped by a good tight syncopated and pounding drum machine, boom bap jazzy with elegant dope piano in the background and calm and smooth delivery. The title track is the last essential joint here, actually it's limited to the first verse: discreet jazzy lo-fi rhythm, Method Man opens the song with a slow and calm flow, but deeply smooth and effortless; the others are under the illusion of being able to equalize him and begin to commit themselves to chasing him, they struggle from the first moments and no longer take him, he has gone away.
Overall it's a decent effort, recommended for boom bap fans. 6/10.
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