In 1992 Chicago arrived on the hip-hop map thanks to the debuts of Twista and Common: the latter made an irregular and deeply incoherent debut studio album.
The CD is released by Relativity Records and pulls three singles that are quite successful on the charts, however the album leaves a lot to be desired: this failed member of Native Tongues offers such ignorant lyricism that it makes you nervous. The lyrics are full of references to popular culture and puns, but they're always simplistic to the point of extravagance and have annoying misogynist traits that keep popping up throughout the album; there are several disrespectful and misogynist bars scattered randomly, you might think they're casual, but in the end, it doesn't seem to be quite the case. And this is a big problem.
Other top themes that the MC decides to throw into this effort are being often drunk and a series of senseless braggadocio lines. The performance of these lyrics is spoken, almost sung, sometimes in rapping with a playful and positive style, fresh and quite fluent, nevertheless no cut is excellent. The production is done by Immenslope (No ID) and Ynot (Twilite Tone): these two guys make a respectable soundscape, with good samples and instruments in order to carve a dark, relaxed and smooth jazzy sound that sounds similar to that one coming from the East Coast and that's fit with the rapper's varied delivery style. Some songs have some commercial pop vibes (Beatnuts produced "Heidi Hoe") and others are pleasant, but most are monotonous and weak, and have several missteps, closing the record pissing, what a classy touch. It's a rare, very rare ignorant project by one of the most socio-conscious artists that hip-hop has been lucky enough to celebrate, which is why I don't encourage listening to it.
Rating: 6/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment