First, only and last album by The BUMS,
acronym for Brothas Unda Madness, duo from Oakland, Bay Area, formed by
D'Angelo "D'Wyze" Smith and Evol "Evocalist" Alexander. The name is
assigned to them by King Tech, while D'Wyze makes up the meaning behind
the acronym. Production is handled by Joe Quixx, Fredwreck Nassar, Baka
Boyz and King Tech. Andro and King Tech take care of the mixing, while
the singer Mystic is the only guest of the project.
The first thing that needs to be noted is that the album lives fully in its impenetrable and categorically severe Christian-Catholic-Baptist nature: the tracks cannot be touched and cannot be looked at, they are all divided by a completely useless skit. The songs 6-8 are the only three consecutive not interspersed with a skit, I would like to say that it's the best moment of the edition, but in reality, the difference from the rest isn't felt, there's not.
The production performed by the guys is atypical with respect to the Bay Area scene and, more generally, the West Coast: all the rhythms reflect the sound paintings present in most East Coast albums, composed of midtempo drums, dirty and dusty, scarce and tight, hard, combined with solid samples coming especially from jazz, but also from soul, rnb, hip-hop and funk. There are homages to Rakim, Jeru, Audio Two, EPMD, Large Pro, and in an outro, as well as thanking half the West Coast, the boys pay tribute to Common and «the whole Wu-Tang Clan».
In the title track, the xmas bells typical of DITC's works resound. The rhythms are worthy of being among the best of the season, in the West Side at least, the guys did a good job, unfortunately, the rap braggadocio isn't at the same level. Sorry to say it, but the dudes aren't good rappers (for what it's worth, the specialized magazine "The Source" contradicts me by sending one of Evocalist's stanzas in the June 1995 "Hip-Hop Quotable"): D'Wyze is a barber, Evocalist is a dancer. They do an honest job here, but their flow is immediately discreet, slow, cumbersome, it struggles to flow on beats that should make the task easier for them. In fact, what seems like the best song comes on a skit with an ignoble name in which is inserted, for half a minute, a wonderful soulful female samples from "Memoirs of the Traveler" by Jaggerz.
Released by Priority, the album consists of twenty tracks, half of which are directly skits, for a total of about 55 minutes of listening. The tape doesn't sell many copies and, for some reason, the duo doesn't produce any other LPs: it's an interesting listening, perhaps more suited to East Coast fans than others, not essential.
The first thing that needs to be noted is that the album lives fully in its impenetrable and categorically severe Christian-Catholic-Baptist nature: the tracks cannot be touched and cannot be looked at, they are all divided by a completely useless skit. The songs 6-8 are the only three consecutive not interspersed with a skit, I would like to say that it's the best moment of the edition, but in reality, the difference from the rest isn't felt, there's not.
The production performed by the guys is atypical with respect to the Bay Area scene and, more generally, the West Coast: all the rhythms reflect the sound paintings present in most East Coast albums, composed of midtempo drums, dirty and dusty, scarce and tight, hard, combined with solid samples coming especially from jazz, but also from soul, rnb, hip-hop and funk. There are homages to Rakim, Jeru, Audio Two, EPMD, Large Pro, and in an outro, as well as thanking half the West Coast, the boys pay tribute to Common and «the whole Wu-Tang Clan».
In the title track, the xmas bells typical of DITC's works resound. The rhythms are worthy of being among the best of the season, in the West Side at least, the guys did a good job, unfortunately, the rap braggadocio isn't at the same level. Sorry to say it, but the dudes aren't good rappers (for what it's worth, the specialized magazine "The Source" contradicts me by sending one of Evocalist's stanzas in the June 1995 "Hip-Hop Quotable"): D'Wyze is a barber, Evocalist is a dancer. They do an honest job here, but their flow is immediately discreet, slow, cumbersome, it struggles to flow on beats that should make the task easier for them. In fact, what seems like the best song comes on a skit with an ignoble name in which is inserted, for half a minute, a wonderful soulful female samples from "Memoirs of the Traveler" by Jaggerz.
Released by Priority, the album consists of twenty tracks, half of which are directly skits, for a total of about 55 minutes of listening. The tape doesn't sell many copies and, for some reason, the duo doesn't produce any other LPs: it's an interesting listening, perhaps more suited to East Coast fans than others, not essential.
Rating: 7/10.
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