GOOD music?
Verdict: Forever A Flop
Why? Well, I'll give my opinions on individual tracks, but here's my summary:Executive Producer: Kanye West
The album begins on a lull. The intro. and the track Start The Show are trite and boring. As a matter of fact, so are these tracks: Drivin' Me Wild, I Want You, Southside, So Far to Go and Break My Heart. That's seven out of the twelve tracks, peeps. I shook my head so much during my first listen through. I'm hoping my opinions change, but I don't see it happening. The main problem I think was that he depended a lot (a lot) on the production, and it just wasn't there. Kanye's a strong producer, but when that boy is off, he's off and in the gutter, and throughout the album he just drug (dragged?) Common behind him. Drivin' Me Wild could've been a hot track, I think, if Lily Allen had actually gotten to sing. They relegated her, and her personality which makes all her music worth listening to, to the chorus and... for some reason they took her highest note and just looped it over and over behind Com's verses, which was actually kind of annoying.
Tracks I'll rip onto my hard drive and actually listen to in the future: The People, The Game, U, Black Maybe, Misunderstood, Forever Begins.
Also, y'know... there actually were some lackluster yet well-produced tracks, but you know what fucked 'em up? Common. There was an abhorrent amount of just... some of the laziest writing I've ever heard from him. I'm really just disgusted by this album.
Also, I plan on buying Kanye's album when it drops just to piss off Interscope and 50 Cent, but if his joint comes out soundin' like this, I'm ripping the good tracks and returning/exchanging that shit.
Also, Isis, I think I recall you sayin' that Com sounded like he had bought into his own hype, and I think you were spot on. At the point (early on in the album!) where he says something to the effect of, "They said I was Chicago's Nas / I found out I was one of Chicago's gods" I actually rolled my eyes and thought, "Are you serious right now?" The major issue I have with some MCs (okay, mainly Jigga) is their braggadocio. I really didn't need him to put his name on that list.
Verdict: Desirable
This album starts off in the complete opposite direction than the above mentioned, which was such a relief. Free, the first track after the intro., is pretty damn hot. Pharoahe is apparently very angry at the recording industry and chose an artist's best form of expression, vocal vitriol. Desire then goes on into the title track and then Push at number four, the latter being a lovely throwback to an older generation of beautiful Black music. GAWD do I love that song. Unfortunately from there Pharoahe goes on to hit and miss. Welcome to the Terrordome has a lot to say, too bad it says it over a track that doesn't seem to fit it at all. I dunno, maybe it'll grow on me. What It Is, however, probably won't. It's just too weird. The lyrical content is there (Monch almost never slouches in that department) but after a minute I just get that, "Is it over yet?" feeling. When the Gun Draws is Pharoahe's gun safety ode that's... still as awesome as I recall, but may work best in video form. The rest of the album does well overall, but only two of the tracks are really worth mentioning on their own. Body Baby is strong, and plays off similarities to older boogy music, like Push before it, while Hold On features a nice collaboration with Erykah Badu, who adds just enough to have made the collab worth the effort (I dig her voice and all, but sometimes I feel she just... whines over a record). Even though it's not an amazing record to me I'll give Monch a thumbs up for effort on the last track too. Trilogy is a nine and a half minute track split up into 3 stories.... or parts of a story. To be honest I still haven't gotten it straight yet, haha. All in all an album I'm satisfied in having paid for.
Fair warning for those not familiar with the lyrical delivery of Pharoahe Monch though... he and Talib Kweli share an uncommon trend in MCing where they don't necessarily care whether or not they stay on the god damn beat, LOL. They tend to have these lines where they stuff a couple of 3-syllable words onto a bar that just should've gone into the next fuckin' bar, but they just decided to keep going and it sounds like they're rambling and trying to catch up to the beat. It always makes me smile when I notice.
Two of my favorites from these two CDs:
And to end this, a poll inspired by this week's Savage Love and my boy Haynesworth....
Poll Is there a sexual tipping point?