Category: reviews with a 3 of 5 rating

audio review : The Sneak Attack ( album ) … KRS-One

audio review : The Sneak Attack ( album ) ... KRS-One

This is KRS-One’s first album since leaving Jive; the major record label he’d been with since By All Means Necessary, which the “contradictory” Teacha also held a gun on the cover of. What this Koch debut brings is what sounds like a much lower school budget compared to his previous set, I Got Next, which included as a bonus song a remix with Puff Daddy.

There are no guest rappers here, but The MC is lyrically as “fresh” as ever. What’s stale are some of these beats and hooks. What Kinda World, Get Your Self Up and Krush Them are particularly banal. The Lessin is a good one though and the Sneak Attack title song is a banger. The album also ends with two standouts; False Pride and The Raptizm.

my rating : 3 of 5

2001

video review : Uriah Hall versus Anderson Silva at UFC Fight Night

video review : Uriah Hall versus Anderson Silva at UFC Fight Night

I mentioned how the end of Anderson Silva’s MMA career is headed the way of BJ Penn in my review of his previous bout. This one makes the comparison even closer. Silva’s fall from grace, which began years ago at the hands of Chris Weidman, isn’t as bad; Penn has seven losses in a row; but it’s bad. This was promoted as his farewell, but he says in the post interview that he doesn’t know if it will be. As much as I look forward to his fights; he’s my favorite fighter, so this relatively unpopular main event was my most anticipated of the year; I hope it is.

That’s not to say that Anderson Silva; the oldest fighter in The UFC; is no longer a worthy contender. He may not have access to The Matrix anymore, but he can still win rounds. Uriah Hall knocks him down at the end of the third, but Silva is winning the fight, rather a tentative Hall is losing, until then. It’s the first time Silva goes down from a face punch since he fought Michael Bisping. Then it happens again in the forth. It’s a sad ending indeed, though it’s Hall who seems affected by it the most. The bout ends with him embracing and weeping with his hero.

my rating : 3 of 5

2020

audio review : Extinction Level Event 2 [ The Wrath Of God ] ( album ) … Busta Rhymes

audio review : Extinction Level Event 2 [ The Wrath of God ] ( album ) ... Busta Rhymes

It seems absurd for an Extinction Level Event to have a sequel after just 22 years; The Final World Front wasn’t so final; but here we have it, which isn’t to say it doesn’t sometimes come close to justifying its existence. Busta Rhymes, now a Leader of the old school, still brings the boom-bap; vintage hip-hop producers featured here include 9th Wonder, Pete Rock, DJ Premier and DJ Scratch; and his flamboyant rap style still sounds fresh after all these years.

With that, ELE2 sounds damn good when it’s just Busta Rhyming to a beat. He says Czar is “music for riots” and, though his groupthink ideology in regard to race and religion suggest he’s more of a boneheaded caveman, it gets you amped enough to be just that. Boomp sounds even better. What the album would be better without is the bombastic Intro, ill-fitting song interpolations; he resurrects ODB and BBD; silly skits and irky Chris Rock monologues.

my rating : 3 of 5

2020

audio review : Positions ( album ) … Ariana Grande

audio review : Perdida ( album ) ... Stone Temple Pilots

There are some Positions I’d like to put Ariana Grande in. Her body is perfectly petite and her face is cute enough under all the fakeup. Sex and romance is what almost every song on this album is about. That’s no surprise. Grande is an exemplification of pop girl clichés.

The music, produced mostly by Tommy Brown, is the best part. It’s the singer’s cutesy vocals that let it down. My Hair, which is also let down so that her guy can run his “hands” (fingers) thru it, is a sheeny (funky) exception. 34-35, about having sex “all night”, is another.

my rating : 3 of 5

2020

audio review : Wu-Tang Forever ( album ) … Wu-Tang Clan

audio review : Wu-Tang Forever ( album ) ... Wu-Tang Clan

This album presents Wu-Tang Clan as not just a rap group but a cultural and spiritual movement, though Islam is the religion of choice and mere men are referred to as “god”. It’s a “double CD” of what Rza describes as hip-hop “in the purest form”. That’s a boastful claim, but it’s one that’s hard to argue against when it comes to the beats; raw lo-fidelity New York City slum music.

The verses; there are no nonaffiliate guest rappers; are consistently on-point, especially in the case of Rza. He’s my favorite rapper in the group, despite his mumble-mouth speech impediment. It’s the hooks, not so much the silly Kung Fu samples or sloppy mixing and mastering, that flaw the set. Reunited is a grand opener though and Bells Of War is one of their best songs.

my rating : 3 of 5

1997

video review : The Lost World [ Jurassic Park ]

video review : The Lost World [ Jurassic Park ]

The dinosaurs don’t disappoint in this official Jurassic Park sequel. It’s the people; Ian Malcolm, who takes the lead and loses most of his charm in the process, now has a black kid slash convenient plot device to annoy us with; and the trite trails they tread that make the trip less fun this time around.

It’s not until about halfway in that any real sense of suspense begins. The plot is predictable at times; dinosaurs eat expendable characters immediately and give the main ones time to escape; but at least it starts to feel like Jurassic Park. The best part is when a T-Rex finds its way to suburban San Diego.

my rating : 3 of 5

1997

video review : Jurassic Park 3

audio review : Perdida ( album ) … Stone Temple Pilots

audio review : Perdida ( album ) ... Stone Temple Pilots

This is essentially acoustic folk music, which might come as an unpleasant surprise to hardcore STP fans. I’m not and can appreciate its desolate ambience; my musical tastes are about as diverse as it gets; wherever it may be. “Perdida” is, after all, a Spanish word meaning lost.

Some of the songs themselves are also nice. Others just humdrum along. The best include the title ballad, which, appropriately enough, begins with what sounds like a flamenco guitar. “I’m lost in circles most the time,” Jeff Guts confesses, “Behind the smile, I’m slowly dying.”

Is he being overdramatic? Perhaps, but that’s sort of what the band’s going for here. The album begins with a sad “love” song entitled Fare Thee Well and, with the exception of She’s My Queen, there isn’t a glimmer of hope until the end when a Sunburst is at last revealed.

my rating : 3 of 5

2020

audio review : Lessons ( album ) … MC Eiht

audio review : Lessons ( album ) ... MC Eiht

I like B-Real, but starting an MC Eiht album with a verse by anyone other than MC Eiht is unfitting to say the least. He and Chill go on to pay heavy-handed homage to the Cypress Hill frontman by mimicking their old vocals. Once you get past the blunders of that first song, this is a decent “2020” rap album.

As usual, the best parts are the beats; Bluue Wave, the extra “u” of which is a mystery to me, is a potential classic ruined by a lame hook; but there are subliminal Lessons to be learned in the lyrics, especially if you happen to live in a hood that’s taken you under. For MC Eiht, it’s the gangland streets of Compton.

my rating : 3 of 5

2020

video review : Swallow

video review : Swallow

You’d think a flick about a cute girl who likes to Swallow would be a thrill. Hunter, a New York housewife with a compulsive disorder that makes her eat inedible objects like marbles and needles, brings about a few moments of suspense near the end, but most everything before it is a case study in oddball storytelling.

It’s not just crazy Hunter. Other people also say and do weird things, which give their world a Tim Burton kind of feel. An angry outburst from her otherwise amiable husband, for example, seems totally out of character. The movie is ultimately okay enough, but if there’s a point or underlining message, it’s lost on me.

my rating : 3 of 5

2019

audio review : Keep It Jungle ( album ) … Jungle Brothers

audio review : Keep It Jungle ( album ) ... Jungle Brothers

As far as beats and rap styles go, this could’ve been the third Jungle Brothers album. That is to say it sounds like it was made in 1993, which is actually a good thing. As welcomed as new J Beez songs are after all these years, it would’ve been disappointing hearing them trying to follow trends. There’s a song here entitled Smart Phones that suggests how much of a disaster that probably would’ve been. Not that Keep It Jungle isn’t a little disappointing as is.

The problem, really the only problem, with the album is what goes on during the breaks. The Brothers have never been known for amazing hooks, but the ones offered here, which consist of old school chants that sound borderline obnoxious; “your songs ain’t catchy,” Mike G has the gall to tell a rapper at one point; leave much to be desired. The one exception, Broken Records, on which a woman sings a dainty little refrain, is easily the album’s best song.

my rating : 3 of 5

2020

audio review : Shutdafukup ( mixtape ) … Juicy J

audio review : Shutdafuckup ( mixtape ) ... Juicy J

The title may as well be directed at Juicy J. His vocals provide the scenery; imagine a Rover full of weed-smoking gun-toting Niggaz pulling up to a Memphis nightclub full of big butt hoes; but what we really want to hear is the music.

That comes in the form of an assortment of go-hard (bass-heavy) trap beats produced mostly by Suicideboys. Those thumpers are the best part of the set; a thoroughly decent DatPiff mixtape that could easily fit the criteria of an actual album.

my rating : 3 of 5

2018

video review : The Lodge

video review : The Lodge

The subgenre here is Christian horror, but those scenes, which revolve around a potential stepmother and ex-cultist named Grace, are the worst parts. The Lodge, the lazy title of which comes from the story’s main setting, is best during its build-up; a man coaxes his kids into spending Christmas with his “psychopath” fiancée months after the suicide of their mom; before the scary music and cliché dream sequences come into play.

my rating : 3 of 5

2019