Grand Puba leaves Brand Nubian and embarks on a career as a solo rapper, because he doesn't share the extremist lyricism of Sadat X and Lord Jamar. Puba is followed by DJ Alamo, who also leaves the group. Three years later, Sadat X and Lord Jamar release Brand Nubian's second studio album. The production is entirely carried out by the duo, except for the fifth track, produced by Rafeal & Sting International, for the sixth track, co-produced by DJ Sincere, and for the single "Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down", produced by Diamond D.
The album seems to start well with the first cut, tight East Coast boom bap, hard and pounding drum machine, raw and harsh, and a slow flowing delivery, but from the next track, the record collapses to mediocrity. "Ain't No Mystery" has an annoyingly repetitive chorus, bad sample, slow and hard economic drum and mediocre flow by the rappers. The third track is similar, not good. "Pass the Gat" has nothing to do with the previous ones: great jazzy boom bap, slow hard pounding drum, simple hook, effective delivery, energetic, hardcore, everything seems to work here. And it's a brief illusion: "Black Star Line" is a reggae filler featuring Red Foxx, a grueling five-minute piece. The sixth song boasts a cheap rhythm, cheap sample, bland delivery and lame hook, in a rare attempt to... well, actually, I don't know what this thing exactly is, maybe a sung pop rap track? In any case, it's bad.
Four discreet songs follow, which say nothing: there's an acceptable production, decent boom baps with hard thumping drum machines, lean and tight, mediocre-bad hooks, generic samples and somewhat random bars that don't fit in the head. It's interesting "Love Me or Leave Me Alone", because it's a pop rap cut, extracted as a single to ride the charts with a winking hook, and a rhythm that doesn't seem different from the previous ones, but brings some poppy shorts. The final part of the record is supposed to be a liberation, it's not.
"Steal Ya Ho" vies to be the worst track of the whole disc, with decent production and ridiculous misogynistic lyrics. The next song boasts one of the poorest drums of the project, while "Black and Blue" has a lyricism worthy of a investigation and rhythm worthy of the prison, with tight drum machine, hard and pounding beat, and annoying sample, on which these two dudes spit out random bars in an attempt to shock and insult as many susceptible people as possible.
Closes, "Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down". Oh, man, that's beautiful. Sadat X and Lord Jamar are blessed with the best beat of the entire album: Diamond D humiliates all those who preceded him in production (therefore, practically, Brand Nubian themselves), sampling "Gonna Fly Now" by Bill Conti, that is, the theme of "Rocky", and creating the best boom bap of the edition. Jazzy, with a pounding and hard drum machine, dry and shiny, perfect, excellent sample, Sadat X and Lord Jamar deliver with a hardcore and smooth style with which they should have delivered all the previous 50 minutes and which instead are reserved almost exclusively for the final cut.
I didn't understand the reason for this senseless choice. But that's not the only nonsense choice of the track. From a strictly technical point of view, the track is starting, right from its initial seconds, to be the best track on the album and one of the best ones in the history of Brand Nubian, I don't even care what these guys are going to say, as in the rest of the record, on the other hand. Nevertheless, Sadat X can't help himself, he tries, I think, but he can't do it, and on the best rhythm of the record, he spits random homophobic lyrics in the middle of his verse.
The album ends, and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Well, because the intent of the two New Rochelle MCs (even though Lord Jamar is a native of the Bronx) it was precisely to leave a bad taste in the mouth, everything here is born for that purpose, from the harsh and rough, rusty rhythms, to the casual lyricism without meaning, half political half braggadocio, half conscious half ignorant, half soft half hard. In few words, it disappoints. There are many, many, many wrong choices in production: these guys have no ideas behind the keyboards and come up with pretty average beats for the early nineties New York scene, funky boom baps, hard pounding drums, poor samples. It's not a different soundscape than any other underground record of the period.
Lyrically, Brand Nubian offer a lot to talk about: their project is born as a militant and aggressive album, pro-black, anti-racist, based on the teachings of the Five Percenters, nevertheless, it ends up having lots of random angry bars. There is a lot of hate rap, but the goal of the guys isn't clear, it's a bit random: without Grand Puba, the group, and consequently this album, loses its soul, is skeletal and naked at all. The biggest problem, however, it's neither the poor production nor the poor and mediocre lyrics, in short, I don't think anyone is going to listen to Sadat X for his lyrics.
So many artists have produced good or excellent albums with the same problems, and the same lack of inspiration. The big problem with this full-blown sophomore jinx, is the performance of Sadat X & Lord Jamar: they spit hardcore bars, but their execution isn't hardcore, is bad, generic, completely devoid of energy, they don't have the right aggression, desire and vitality, they don't have the power to blast their lines like the best political-hardcore rap artists, their rap is energetic as Ted Mosby.
The album is a notable commercial success, peaking twelfth among pop chart and is fourth in the rap chart, however, it's embarrassing, exhausting, with a duration of 55 minutes, and forgettable: not recommended.
Rating: 5/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment