Debut studio album by Virgil Lamar "Prodigal Sunn" Ruff. Production by DJ B Original, DJ Battle, Keno, RZA, Leggezin, Filf Rich Obscene Machine Corp., Mike Baiardi, Prodigal Sunn, C Natural and K Beats Kolossal. Guests are 60 Second Assassin of Sunz of Man, 12 O'Clock of Brooklyn Zu, Chi-King, CCF Division, Madame Dee, Yung Masta, J. Wells, A&R, Scotty, Aleksei.
The album opens with "In My Life", a posse with 12 O'Clock of Brooklyn Zu, Brooklyn Zu affiliate Chi-King and Madame D. Boom bap made by DJ B Original, dry midtempo drum, looped violins, vibrating bass line, loose keyboards in the background. The leader of Sunz of Man offers a cryptic stream of consciousness with a concentrated smooth rapping. Sunzini and Madame D's hook is simple, so room for guests. 12 O'Clock offers a battle thug with a thought for cousin ODB, good flow. Chi-King also provides a battle about his life, trying to stay in theme with the track, bringing a loose style without effort. Brief interlude by Madame D after the hook that opens the last verse by P Sunn with another cryptic battle delivered in a hardcore style.
DJ Battle and Kino produce the second track, "Soul Survivor": beautiful deep, raw and lively bassline, sparse dusty midtempo drums, melodic samples, concentrated hardcore rapping by Sunzini. Madame Dee returns to sing on the third choice "Movin' on Up", accompanying the main rapper on a slick cut produced by C Natural that precedes "Brutaliy". RZA behind the keys. Dirty rhythm, sparse dirty midtempo drums, rigid bassline, haunting loops, slightly understated production by The Abbot. P Sunn drops a hardcore battle on this tune to lift the rhythm, then two rappers from CCF Division follow: Freemurder with his carefree, effortless, irregular, bad, shoddy, oratory rap style, then the track is closed by ShaCronz, I really wish I could say that the boy is better than Freemurder, but no, his gangster verse is a waste of time.
"Procrastinators" features a bouncy club beat by J. Wells. Poor downtempo drums, shoddy samples, rough energetic delivery by Yung Masta, the first guest of this posse. Pretty basic hook by J. Wells, irregular and amateur rapping by Freemurder, the spearhead of the CCF Division group, closes Prodigal with an energetic and regular style. This battle is forgettable. A skit precedes a rare narration by the author in "Betrayal": on a good musical carpet carved by B Original, with beautiful piano keys, P Sunn offers a story in which he's betrayed by a couple of guys. Bouncy production by Leggezin Fin for "Campaignin'": deep robust bass line, poor uptempo drums, dark rhythm. Hardcore delivery by the main rapper, his long hook, energetic rapping by Yung Masta, Sunzini closes again in the third verse. 12 O'Clock returns to join Prodigal, with whom he forms the duo Two on da Road, also featured on "Chrome Wheels" from Wu-Tang Clan's "Iron Flag": the two rappers from Brooklyn reunite on "Manhunt" on the fifth beat chosen by B Original, in one of the tightest cuts of the project.
Reggae singer Scotty is a guest on "Lovely Ladies", a slow-paced, female-oriented cut by RZA, who provides two of his worst beats in years. Filf Rich Obscene Machine Corp. makes a rhythm closer to pop rap for this track number eleven: pop horns, fat bass line, sparse drum, nice hi-hat backing, melodic samples. Spoken word intro, hook and interlude performed by Sunz of Man rapper 60 Second Assassin. Armel delivers with a calm, slow, steady style, soon leaving room for Sharecka, who boasts energetic, fluid, steady rapping. The last verse is left to P Sunn who tears up the cut with an irregular, hardcore, dope flow. The track is a collaboration between Sunz (P Sunn & 62 Assassin), Ancient Coins (Armel) and Royal Fam (Sharecka), also Armel and Recka are a duo that around this time released several records.
DJ B Original creates the soundscape for the next track: he places some sublime dirty violins, good scratches by DJ Obscene, poor midtempo drum, raw bassline provided by C Natural, P Sunn delivers three verses in battle. The track precedes "Reach Out", which still sees B Original behind the keys: the main beatmaker of the album offers one of the best productions of the record here. Stunning bassline by C Natural and Mike Baiardi, poor midtempo drum, sparkling keyboards in the background also provided by Baiardi, elegant piano loop, sweet hook by Madame D, energetic, focused, velvet delivery by P Sunn, who comes with some of his best flows and provides three verses. Dope track.
K Beats Kolossal and Prodigal Sunn himself place a sweet rhythm for this love ballad, "Love is Love": sparse downtempo drum, sweet and soft bass line by Mike Baiardi, beautiful guitar, there's a vibraphone, always by Baiardi, fluid keyboards by David Roma, exquisite rhythm. Sunzini offers two verses, in the middle of a simple hook in which the author recites a few lines together with the guest Aleksei. K Beats Kolossal stays behind the keyboards for the last track of the album, "Sunshine": boom bap, dry uptempo drum, raw bass line, brilliant keyboards, simple hook sung by Sunn, Madame D and Scotty, three verses in which the author mixes autobiographical references, socio-conscious extracts and battle rap, concluding with a tribute to ODB.
Final Thoughts
As a young man, Lamar Ruff was known as "Sun of Man", then he was renamed "Prodigal Sunn" by his childhood friend Killah Priest, in reference to the biblical parable and Ruff's troubled childhood. Priest himself brought him into the group Da Last Future in the mid-nineties, with whom Prodigal recorded the first song, "Evil Lulla Bye", together with Priest, Hell Razah and Zodiac Killah on Supreme's production. In 1995, the group signed with Wu-Tang Records founded by RZA, cousin of Prodigal Sunn, and the group became Sunz of Man. It was the first group affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan. In the same year, the Brooklyn emcee was a guest on Ol' Dirty Bastard's classic debut "Return to the 36 Chambers" in the posse "Proteck Ya Neck II the Zoo".
Also in 1995, Sunz released several singles: "No Love Without Hate", "Soldiers of Darkness" and "Five Arch Angels". The first features the four emcees who will be part of the definitive group (Prodigal Sunn, 60 Second Assassin, Killah Priest and Hell Razah) on a production by the historic beatmaker of Da Last Future Supreme, the second is a collaboration between Sunzini, Priest and 62 Assassin of Sunz and the future members of Killarmy Killa Sin & 9th Prince, who shares a kinship with RZA, being his younger brother. "Five Arch Angels" is produced by 4th Disciple like the previous one and sees at the mic Hell Razah, Killah Priest, 60 Second Assassin, Prodigal Sunn and Shabazz the Disciple, historic member of Da Last Future who will leave the group shortly after signing with Wu. This is a rare track featuring all the members of Sunz of Man after the release of 7th Ambassador and the only one featuring Bazz and 62nd together.
The following year, Sunz of Man are scheduled to release the album "Nothing New Under the Sun", which is shelved by the label. Killah Priest and Shabazz the Disciple leave the group, which remains composed of Prodigal Sunn, Hell Razah and 60 Second Assassin: the first two are the only protagonists of the new Sunz single, "Bloody Choices", produced by 4th Disciple and which does not receive great response from the public. Shortly after, the two exiles from Sunz form the duo The Disciples and bring Hell Razah and Prodigal Sunn to record a new single with them, "Writing Rhymes With a Liquid Pen", this cut is also unsuccessful. In 1998, Sunz of Man released their first official album, "The Last Shall Be First", however, the following year they saw another album, "The First Testament", shelved after it leaked onto the internet, so the boys went in different directions and at the end of the decade Prodigal Sunn took part in an episode of the famous TV show "Sex and the City".
In the following years, the author collaborates with Guru and several members and affiliates of the Wu-Tang Clan, taking part in the debut albums of his friend Hell Razah "When All Hell Breaks Loose" (2001) and of the Wu-Tang member Masta Killa "No Said Date" (2004), raising his profile until the release of his debut album. His guest appearances often coincide with one of the album's best tracks, such as on songs by Killarmy ("Wake Up", 1997, and "Trilogy", 2001), GZA ("Feel Like an Enemy", 1999, and "Rough Cut", 2002), Guru ("Mashin' Up da World", 2000), Ghostface Killah ("Street Chemistry", 2001), RZA ("Do U", 2001, and "The Whistle", 2003) and Masta Killa ("Whatever", 2004), in addition to achieving success overseas by collaborating with the French group IAM on "La saga", a piece delivered with the Royal Fam rappers Dreddy Kruger & Timbo King that was awarded in France and included in "L'école du micro d'argent" (1997), an album considered one of the best ever in the history of the genre, and with German producer DJ Tomekk for "Ich lebe für Hip Hop", a track that also features GZA and was chosen as a single, becoming an international hit and allowing the album "Return of Hip Hop" (2000) to win awards in Germany.
He's the fourth member of Sunz of Man to debut after Killah Priest ("Heavy Mental", 1998), Hell Razah and Shabazz the Disciple ("The Book of Shabazz", 2003). His album remains anchored to the Wu with productions by guys close to the group, as well as a couple of beats from RZA, and with guest appearances from groups such as Brooklyn Zu, CCF Division, Royal Fam and Ancient Coins.
The album's production is based on a boom bap pleasantly spiced up with melodic grooves and built mainly by in-house producers of the company founded by the artist, Godz Inc. such as DJ B Original and K Beats Kolossal, as well as The RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, French beatmakers DJ Battle and Kino, Killa Beez affiliate Leggezin Fin, J. Wellz, who worked with Shyheim the year before and Mike Baiardi who also mixed this CD and in the same period produced an entire album by U-God. After the first few songs, the music seems to reward the artist's intricate lyrical style, however, as the CD goes on, the more rhythms arrive that are a bit cheaper and underdeveloped, RZA's contribution is also disappointing and it's difficult to expect it from the one who, by far, is the most experienced and best producer among those present.
Over the years, the leader of Sunz of Man has built a solid reputation as one of the Wu-Tang Clan's affiliates with one of the most inspired and reliable pens. The album made by the Brooklyn emcee traces his life through numerous stories and alternates battle rap songs, others for women, commercial deviations with attempts to make a hit for the club in order to attract a part of the mainstream audience, more concentrated and hardcore cuts, also inserting a lively narration mid-listening in one of the rare solo pieces of the entire album. Lyrically, his writing isn't the easiest to digest for the casual listener and anyone not used to Sunz records, he plays pretty much within his comfort zone. The structure of the tracks is consistent, but one of the few weak points is that the songs rely heavily on hooks to keep going and these simple choruses prove to not be the bread and butter of P Sunn, whose style gets stronger as his rapping takes hold and flows through the track. Madame Dee is one of the most talented guests and that validates the tracks she appears on, while the other guys are a bit disappointing. 12 O'Clock reinforces two of the effort's highlights, the introductory posse and "Manhunt", while 60 Second Assassin joins Prodigal Sunn (both monikers are devised by Killah Priest) on "Godz People", along with guest A&R duo.
Released by Free Agency Records and the rapper's own Godz Inc., the album was well received by critics and fans, even peaking in the bottom of the rap charts. That same year, Free Agency also released U-God's "Mr. Xcitement", considered one of the worst albums in the entire Wu-Tang catalog. Solid, slightly uneven, and raw, the CD doesn't showcase Prodigal Sunn at his finest, though it has its moments and is an interesting release for fans. 7/10.
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