Tag: music

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

audio review : The Don And The Boss ( song ) … Vybz Kartel + Busta Rhymes

This is an ode to big “bumpa” women like Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion. That specific celebrities are mentioned by name during the hook serves as the song’s one notable blunder.

The vocals, specifically their Rastafarian delivery, and the beat; the sole purpose of which is for sweaty subservient females to dance like they’re fucking to; make for a sultry club banger.

my rating : 4 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