The Informative J.O.K.E. – “The Bigger Picture”
This is long. Just a warning from King Eljay.
A lot of people have the tendency to forget or ignore critical things because of a new development. It happens all the time. A lot of people forgot that a shooter murdered 12 people because the importance of his nationality came up (which isn’t freakin’ important at all, by the way). Although the situation I’m about to shed light on isn’t as important, it is similar.
Regardless of who's right or wrong in the situation, this could get bad for everyone involved. Beefs are always more complex and uglier when friends are involved.
If you do not know, Jay-Z’s right-hand man Beanie Sigel recently made contract negotiations with 50 Cent, and they both are planning to address the “Jay-Z” situation in more songs. One of the songs, “I Go Off”, will debut Friday (November 13th) on ThisIs50.com (just in case you’re interested like I am). Looking at the situation, it’s easy to assume a couple of snap judgments without thinking.
“Beanie Sigel is shady for dissin’ Jay like that” or “50 Cent is shady for swooping in on Beans like that.”
And while that MAY BE TRUE, there’s a few things you should realize first. Step back and get the whole picture first. I’m not saying who’s right, who’s wrong, none of that. That’s not the point of this. It’s just that a lot of people don’t necessarily realize the bigger picture…
So what is that? Glad you asked.
“Beanie the Traitor?”
When I first heard that Beans was talking to 50, I figured it was only a matter of time. I told a friend at work, and the first thing he said was “Yo, but they homeboys! How is he gonna s**t on Jay-Z like that? That’s some sucka s**t.”
His words, not mine.
So that got me to thinking how many other people think that Beans is WRONG in this situation? So let’s look at it for a second. Beans got locked up for 366 days on some charge (probably a gun charge, I forget that detail). Beanie has said repeatedly that Jay-Z didn’t visit him at all during the jail time. Supposedly he didn’t even hear from him. Strike one.
As Beanie is released, Jay-Z is President over at Death Jam- oops, I mean Def Jam. So an album is quickly put out, so we’ll call that a foul ball… However, Beanie says that they didn’t promote the album as well as they promoted other select artists (like Jay-Z himself) and he blamed his lack of album sales on that. Now USUALLY, I don’t agree with that, but in his case, he’s right.
It's funny how money can change a situation...
Beanie’s album “The Solution” was hot. It probably would’ve sold more if you consider these factors; At the time, The Runners were THE HOTTEST street producers and they produced the single “All of the Above.” R. Kelly was on the hook, and the song was catchy, but not a radio gimmick. It would’ve sold. But it didn’t due to lack of promotion.
Beanie cited this. Strike three.
So now, not only is Beans still holding his tongue about the situation, the guy he rides for is kind of shelving him for his own personal agenda, whatever that might’ve been at the time.
So is it really surprising that he finally just got fed up and decided to opt-out? To me, no.
“Shady’s Business Partner”
If you don’t know, 50 and Jay haven’t really been friends. Ever since the “I’m about a dollar, what the f**k is 50 Cents” line that Jay spit a long time ago, it’s been an up-down game of chess/poker. True, 50’s a powerhouse today in his own right, but he would be BIGGER if it wasn’t for Jay-Z silently undercutting him.
Let me explain.
Can you remember the first G-Unit album that didn’t sell? Tony Yayo’s album, “Thoughts of a Predicate Felon.” Now, it’s easy to say, “That’s because Yayo sucks”…
…which is true in my opinion…
But if you look at the set-up, it was a win-win situation at the time. Yayo had just got out of jail. G-Unit had all of the momentum in the world. Everything they touched went gold/platinum with no question. The video “So Seductive” was a powerhouse single (although I didn’t like it, everyone else seemingly did, including Free, the best female host EVER from 106 & Park). And there was no competition on the release date.
And silently, Roc-A-Fella moved Kanye West’s 2nd album “Late Registration” to the same date: August 30th, 2005. Kanye did NUMBERS. Yayo didn’t.
For years, 50 Cent and Jay-Z have had an interesting feud. After technically using Jay's name to catapult into the limelight, ironically, it's that same name that's been undercutting him for the last few years.
This wasn’t the first time they’d clashed. If you remember, due to albums leaking online, Jay-Z’s “The Black Album” and G-Unit’s “Beg For Mercy” had to be pushed to the same date of November 14th, 2003. However, the most publicized clash was the one between Kanye and 50 Cent DIRECTLY. Kanye’s “Graduation” verses 50 Cent’s “Curtis,” in which both were technically winners, but Kanye almost went platinum the first week easily, besting 50 Cent. Again.
So that’s THREE times that Jay-Z had some type of hand in undercutting a 50 Cent project. As of now.
You could say four though… on July 1st 2008, G-Unit and Def Jam were scheduled to have another duel. G-Unit’s second group album released their album, “Terminate on Sight.” And on the same day, Def Jam was scheduled to release Nas’ controversial new album “Untitled (N****r).” G-Unit moved their release date to two weeks later for some reason…
Or you could look in the media, and take note JUST to the MTV interviews. Just type in 50 Cent/Jay-Z in the search box and read through the archives. It’s an ON-OFF-ON-OFF relationship. Uniting, divorcing, getting together, giving each other props only to shoot each other down in a business-like way. It’s a chess game.
Or you could look at the fact 50’s tried to recruit certain people somehow connected with Jay-Z. Freeway was under Roc-A-Fella and did a joint album project, “Free At Last”, with 50 as the executive producer. Flopped (but that album was dope too). He recruited Mobb Deep, who has had long standing issues with Jay-Z, most notably Prodigy.
And if you don’t think 50’s that ruthless to resort to that, consider that he recorded his own soldier’s weakest moment (Young Buck) to use against him later, he kicked out a member of his group because they wouldn’t beef with the same people and then leeched off the rest of the rapper’s profits due to paperwork (Game), and the fact that he took his rival’s baby mama shopping in order to dig up dirt on him (Rick Ross).. Yeah, he’s ruthless.
In the chess match between Jay and 50, Beans is something like the pawn that made it to the other side unchecked. In short, he can change the situation... drastically.
But now, suddenly it looks like he may have something huge to bait Jay-Z with…Beanie Sigel. So as soon as an opening appears, OF COURSE 50 swoops in to offer to make music with the guy. TO ME, it seems like he’s been waiting for an opportunity to put some serious pressure on Jay and/or get rid of some of the business bitterness he’s had towards Jay for the undercuts over the last seven years…
And to top it off, 50 visited Beans in jail. Hmm.
The Bigger Picture
So now that a little more of the picture is filled in… look at the situation now. It’s more complex than it originally seemed. And the kicker of this whole situation is that Beans was Jay’s right hand man through MOST of this. Beanie was on classic Jay-Z songs (“This Can’t Be Life”, “Throw Ya Hands Up”, “Change The Game”, “Guess Who’s Back”, the latter actually being Scarface’s track) So he KNOWS the situation between the two of them. Most likely, he knows the complexities of it too.
So, now, consider that Beanie CHOSE to go and make MUSIC with 50 Cent after ALL OF THAT.
This is a situation where Jay-Z would be forced to respond. The nature of the situation stretches well past music and into the street credibility that Jay-Z clings to in his lyrics.
This is the first legitimate problem that Jay-Z’s had. He’s had problems in the past, but each one wasn’t really worthy of his attention. Game wasn’t too much of a problem because he’s double-minded. Prodigy just crossed the line, period (lol). Nas released “Ether”, yes, but then Nas signed to Def Jam, and put out two highly promoted (and gimmicky) albums that technically flopped, and then Jay left him there, so who really won that battle? Jaz-O never got established, and therefore never became credible.
Beanie is a different animal. This is a dude that was under Jay musically for several years. He was a front-line soldier for the man. And his situation almost DIRECTLY violates Jay-Z’s verse on “As Real As It Gets”, a new track in which he makes references of putting a homie that got out of jail back on his feet.
I gave you all of that research (which was common knowledge to me, because I noticed it as it was happening) to say this:
Looking at the full picture, this could be an epic battle on the horizon that could go much deeper than music. Only time will tell… Hopefully this helps fill in the picture a little.
King Eljay
In My Sleep (Parts 1 and 2)
Usually I don’t link the spoken verse/poetry stuff on this site, but this one’s kind of different.
Pretty much, I ran with the idea of being a different person. It’s not a “happy” poem, but they both have good endings because.. well… read it and see.
Just a fair warning, it does contain language, because that’s how it came to me. More so in the first one, but as you read, the subject matter kind of deems it appropriate.
Tell me if you can figure out the significance of the middle-end of the 1st poem the first try. It’s not that hard if you know me.
Anyway, here it is. This is something to tide you over until I get my J.O.K.E. to Capital Records up… haha…
There could easily be a part three to this….just f.y.i.
Later.
K1ng Eljay
S-Preme – The Sicktape: Volume 2 (Mixtape Review)
Dope. The artist even got the Jheri Curl juice to go with the pic. That's talent...
So I’ve been hearing things about “The Sicktape Vol. 2″ for a while. Rhymestyle’s been bragging about the mixtape, and I’ve had a side ear to S-Preme more than I’ve let on, especially after I heard the song “Radio” a few months back during a podcast of theirs…
…Which by the way, J. Ellis had one of the funniest call-in skits EVER on a live podcast. Whenever someone goes into a full OJ Da Juiceman impression on the spot, I cannot help but to laugh. But that had nothing to do with the review.
Anyway, I got the mixtape a couple of days early, and I’ve purposely NOT told Rhymestyle my opinion of this because I have to be unbiased to write reviews. It’s no fun listening to someone jocking an artist. That’s why I don’t listen to Funkmaster Flex ever.
No diss.
The Good: I love originality, and that’s the first thing you notice about S-Preme. There’s not really anybody like him from where he’s from (Chicago), so that’s always a plus. The mixtape/album has a great flow to it, and it’s extremely entertaining without taking away from the music. The skits are funny, and there’s a point to every song…
That means there’s SUBSTANCE HERE, people.
From reflecting on the big What-If’s of his career (“Glass Ceiling”) to kinda sorta maybe making a dance song for the radio (“Etch A Sketch”), to acknowledging his uniqueness (“The Weird One”) to finding his old rhymebook (“Future Me”), there’s definitely some sort of substance arguably for every song.
By the way, that’s just off the first half of the mixtape.
The Bad: As usual in most mixtapes, there are a few lulls in the action to keep it from flowing to its potential. I wasn’t a big fan of “Swagger Change” just because compared to the other subject matter, it was kind of weak. And some people just won’t like the general sound of the mixtape. I say their loss, but it is what it is.
Sometimes, his flow is on point, and sometimes it’s just average. This is just a personal nitpick, because it’s not really a big problem. I almost want to say it’s an acquired taste-type flow, like Common and Kanye have (BUT NOT SIMILAR TO THEM, just unique). Ironically, all three are from Chicago, so maybe that works for his benefit more than his hindrance…
Bottom Line: Overall I thought the Sicktape 2 was on point. It’s a nice step onto becoming more relevant. If he remains this way and don’t try to change into someone else (I didn’t say he couldn’t evolve, evolution is good in music) then it’s a matter of time before see him breaking through that glass ceiling he mentioned at the beginning. Check this out.
J.O.K.E. (A Letter To Rihanna)
The way your interview coincided with the release of your new music is SHADY. Point blank.
Dear Rihanna,
I was at work yesterday in the middle of a hectic shift when I suddenly heard about you being on 20/20 to reveal your story. My first reaction was positive. I thought it was a good move to finally go ahead and get it all out in the open, especially since I figured you should’ve been done that in the first place.
But about two minutes later, it was almost as if something sank into place and I had a complete 180 degree change in my opinion. At first, I thought it was a good idea, but now because of your impeccable timing, I can’t help but state that I think there was no POSITIVE point for revealing everything now.
I feel that if you were to reveal everything, you should’ve done it earlier instead of waiting almost a year (or a long time, however long it was ago) to reveal your side of the story. When people were pressuring you about it, you should’ve got it out then. I understand needing time to heal, but it seemed like you were FINE about a month after it happened. Or two months. Or even three months. How long exactly did you need? I understand each person needs different amounts of time, but I wouldn’t be as unimpressed as I am now if it wasn’t for your TIMING.
Let me explain.
Ever since Michael Jackson’s death your ex-boyfriend Chris Brown has slowly been poking his head back into the music industry. Over the last three weeks, he is officially returned. He has three songs on the radio right now (“I Can Transform Ya”, “Crawl”, and “Drop it Low” with Ester Dean), and is in heavy rotation. It seems like everyone’s willing to give him a second chance, even though he made a TRAGIC mistake in hitting you. So he looks like he’s planning a new cd soon.
At the same time, suddenly I hear a few new songs from you. First, “Russian Roulette”. Then “Hard” with Young Jeezy. Then I see the album artwork for your new CD. Looks like you’re planning a new album soon as well.
And then I hear about your interview.
Hmmmmm…..
And just in case it wasn’t clear, this excerpt from The Associated Press should clear up what I figured out a day ago:
“Rihanna’s interview coincides with the debut of her new single, “Russian Roulette,” from her upcoming album, “Rated R.”
Yes, he made a mistake. He had no business laying hands on her. But that being said, he's still being judged from that. He already has a lot of haters to deal with. Time to move on...
I do not respect your timing on telling everything. If you wanted to keep it personal this long, you should’ve just kept it. It was to the point where most people were fine with not knowing what exactly happened and were ready to give him another chance, but no. To me, it seems like a publicity stunt to promote yourself with a new album coming soon, and it also seems like a backhanded way to make him lose his fans as well.
There was nothing good to come out of the way you did it. To me this is just like the Andre Agassi situation, when he wrote a book slamming the sport that he grew up playing and all but shocked everyone around him. There was NOTHING positive to come out of that except trying to make money (in my personal opinion because of the TIMIMG). You and Agassi have a lot in common.
I don’t know if it was “the company’s idea” or if it was your idea, but at the end of the day, it could’ve been handled differently, and because it wasn’t, I’m actually going to side with Chris Brown on this one.
You’re wrong for that, RiRi. Here’s to your career stunt.
Signed,
King Eljay
J.O.K.E. (Real – 11.4.09)
I'm honest. But me being honest doesn't make me real by today's musical standards. Something's wrong with that picture.
I think a few words need to be destroyed from the hip-hop dictionary. Of course, I’m just a devout fan who has yet to be jaded by the corruption in hip-hop music, so my opinion might not matter as much as an XXL blogger, but I might be on to something. Of course there’s a bunch of words I’d be happy to not hear again, but “swag”, “Becky”, and “Buss It Baby” all haven’t been as compromised as the word that I have in mind.
I’m completely honest. I haven’t cursed in my own words on my site, period. I don’t shoot guns, sell crack, smoke weed, have sex all around with every girl I meet, and a lot of the things praised in rap music, I refuse to do. And because of that, I’m considered to not be “real.”
I remember when the word “real” used to mean honest. It used to mean for people to just be themselves and not to be fake and/or shady with others. And then somewhere after the year 2000, it began to change. Somehow, the word “real” and the lifestyle of a street cat became intertwined, and now real people have to carry guns, smoke, drink, etc.
That offends me, personally. I don’t do all of that, I’ve never been the one to even think about half of that stuff, but because of the fact MY honesty doesn’t line up with “today’s rap standards”, I’m not a real dude?
YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME…
And now, even that twisted version of “REALNESS” has been corrupted and questioned. We have situations coming up that question certain rapper’s street credibility, due to them saying one thing and living another. A simple example of this is the whole Plies situation. There have been several stories that conflict with the things he say on record. Reports from concerts, DJ Kay Slay, Trick Daddy, and more recently, Jamie Foxx all suggest that he misrepresents the twisted version of being “real.”
Not saying he's real or not, but if he's not, these conflicting stories are going to continue...
And I’m completely indifferent about it. I don’t care, because even if he was “real”, it wouldn’t matter because to me he’s still not honest. I understand people have to be entertainers, but since when did it become cool to sell out completely to fit into what “mainstream rap” defines as real? You can be an entertainer and be honest as well.
How many people do you know that actually is straight up? All the time? Besides Kanye West? Think about it, and you’ll find there’s not too many of them with the level of success that Plies has. People for some reason keep drinking the crap that rap is raining on them (literally). Entertainers continue to see that changing their image is good for their business, and so they follow the mold, hoping to make a profit off of it. And the cycle continues.
I’m just saying it’s obvious to me that until the fans get to the point where I am and support real artists and leaves the other to die off, then this twisted version of “real” is going to continue to take over.
I can’t get with that. If their real is true, I can respect it (if you lived that way, even if I can’t relate, I can respect it), but I honestly don’t believe over 95% of what I hear on records and ESPECIALLY on RADIO anymore, because it all sounds the same.
I’m just being real with you.
Later.
Wale: “Attention Deficit” (Album Review)
YELLOW HEADPHONES?!? Charles Hamilton wouldn't wear 'em.
The Introduction: I have a confession to make, and I’m somewhat ashamed to even say this, but one of the things I’ve promised is to always stay 100% honest in my writings, and I wouldn’t be able to even write this review comfortably without admitting this….
I’ve been sleeping on Wale. From mispronunciation of his name (i used to say “whale”, but it’s “Wal-aye”) to seeing the cipher on the BET Awards and all but writing him off, to just ignoring new music that he put out, to even downloading his mixtape(s) and not being impressed. The only reason I downloaded the album was to hear the song with Marsha Ambrosius.
But unlike other people, I LOVE BEING WRONG…sometimes. From the beginning to the end of this album, he won me over. Let’s get this straight now: “Attention Deficit” has two of my favorite songs of the YEAR on here and you SHOULD cop this album. So here’s my PERSONAL apology to Rhymestyle, PropaYne, and most important, Wale, because I had no idea it was like that.
I refuse to make that mistake again. Now that’s out of the way…
The Good: I believe that this is hip-hop. Pretty much, the album flows tightly for the most part from front to back. The lyrics are meaningful, and even the somewhat generic songs have an original hip-hop twist to it. Whenever a dude can add Gucci Mane to a hip-hop song (“Pretty Girls”) and make him sound LEGIT, you have something special.
I’ve never heard Gucci use so many big words in my life. There could be hope for that guy yet. But I digressed…
"Yo, Wale, I like the pose, and I'mma let you finish, but New York has the best Statue of Liberty pose of ALL TIME!" Well said, Kanye. Well said.
The album is a nice 14 tracks, and most of the cameos work almost perfectly for the album. And to be completely honest, I wasn’t prepared for the epic scale OR the subject content on the album. I’m going to whale on that later though…get it? Whale? Haha?
The Bad: Although the lyrics are on point and the production is solid and the concept is there, a couple of songs just don’t fit. “Chillin’” with Lady Gaga just didn’t quite mesh with me like the rest of the album (surprisingly, it wasn’t Lady Gaga’s fault), and “TV in the Radio” just didn’t pull off the crisp delivery of the rest of the album. It hurts to listen to that song for me. It’s a shame, because if you take those two songs off the CD and replace it with ANY other random song Wale has released lately, you could make a stronger case for surprise album of the year.
Not ALBUM of the year…SURPRISE ALBUM of the year.
The Realness: There are a couple of songs on “Attention Deficit” that caught me completely off guard. As I hinted on earlier, I wanted to hear the song “Diary” with Marsha Ambrosius, and it did not disappoint at all. She really does add a level of passion and soul to music that’s rare. HOWEVER… “Shades” featuring Chrisette Michelle is my favorite song of the year right now.
I thought the song would be about Stunna Shades (he did make a song about Nike Boots, so give me a pass on that), but on the contrary, Wale begins to spit (I mean…SPIT) about how he used to feel concerning him being dark-skinned and others being light-skinned. Turns out, “Shades” is about the shade (or color) of your skin. It is a MUST LISTEN TRACK for anyone who respects hip-hop. One of the realest songs I’ve heard, and the best song I’ve heard this year. Sorry Drake.
Bottom Line: Attention Deficit comes out on November 10th. You should be in the stores to buy this on November 10th. I’m buying this album on November 10th. This is music hip-hop heads can be proud of. I hope Wale can stay consistent, because if he can, then I’m going to have a new artist to watch.
—–> Final Rating: 4.6 / 5 <—–
The F.L.O.W.S System…
So this is how I’m rating the albums. I figured I needed a way to explain it to anyone interested. It’s a pretty neat acronym: F.L.O.W.S.
F – FLOW
How does the album play front to back? To be as blatant as possible, if you put this CD in and press play from track one until the end, can you listen to the whole thing straight without getting to a skipable track?
L – LYRICS
Simple, elementary stuff? Or complex stuff? Are you feeling smarter as you listen? Is there any level of intelligence in the words? Is it just stupid? Is there substance here?
O- ORIGINALITY
Has it been done before? Is there something here that sets this apart from a different album? It is possible to do something that’s been done in an original way…Does this cd accomplish that? What sets this CD apart from every other CD out?
W – WILDCARD
Pretty much the blank space in Scrabble, lol. Anything else that might enhance this album? The wildcard, this could mean cameos (or solo), interludes (I’m a sucker for comedy), or anything else that pushes me to recommend (or not recommend) it to you.
S – SOUND
This one’s easy…. How does it sound? To be specific, the instrumentals, the beat, the levels of the vocals, blah blah… Do they enhance of subtract from the value of the overall album? Does it all come together nicely?
The FLOWS system is still a work in progress, but usually it’s anywhere between 0 to 1 point awarded for each letter, the total is added together to get the rating for the album.
We’ll see if it holds up.
Lil’ Wayne: “No Ceilings” (Mixtape Review)
The mixtape cover fits Lil' Wayne's whole "We are not the same, I am a martian" mindstate...at the least.
As I’ve said earlier, mixtapes are a little different than albums. Usually it’s just a compilation of a bunch of different freestyles, songs, and other randomness such as skits, interviews… Pretty much WHATEVER the artist wants to put on there. Since it’s free, USUALLY the quality isn’t as high as an album, so I’ll just tell you if it’s a thumbs up, thumbs down, or no comment.
(The last two mixtapes I’ve reviewed on here are definitely thumbs up, by the way)
So the mixtape on the stand right now is Lil’ Wayne’s new (surprise, surprise) mixtape, “No Ceilings.” Usually I ignore every Wayne mixtape because it’s full of DJ drops and autotuned out of the Southern Hemisphere, but this one’s different.
Remember the Drought 3? Pretty much, the series that Lil’ Wayne sent a middle finger to the annoying DJ drops and just picked out his favorite beats at the time and proceeded to rip the beat a new one? If you do, and you mildly enjoyed Drought 3, then stop reading this and go download it.
No, seriously, go now.
If you’re not too big on the Drought 3, then I’ll explain a little more for you. There’s the “Album” Lil’ Wayne, there’s the “Cameo” Lil Wayne, and then, as Jay-Z calls it, there’s the “Mixtape Weezy”. Most hip-hop heads enjoy the mixtape Weezy, because when Lil’ Wayne decides to go in on a song… regardless if you like the kid or not… HE GOES IN. Punchlines, different flows, etc. is all there.
The ONLY legitimate knock against the Mixtape Weezy is that usually there’s no substance to it. Don’t expect songs about saving the world from pollution or saving Asia or anything like that. This is pure, unadulterated, lyrical stuntin’, meaning you WILL hear punchlines referencing every facet of pop culture. From Madden video game mentions (“Shake the game like the hit stick”) or college football (“Smoke weed and talk s**t like Lane Kiffin”), to just random stuff that only fits when he says it (“I kicks it, b***h get ya shin guards”), this is pretty much a continuation of the Drought 3 series, only a little more focused.
It features a couple of cameos from Tyga, Shanell, Jae Millz, but no Drake, who probably sat this one out. Get it? Sat out? Because of his knee? Haha?
The Verdict:
It’s good. I enjoyed the Drought 3 immensely and some of those songs are still in my Zune right now, and this to me seems as a legitimate successor to the high quality mixtapes that Wayne has the potential to put out. Thumbs up from me.
50 Cent: “Before I Self-Destruct” (Album Review)
You know, if his FACE WASN'T ABOUT TO EXPLODE, I'd say he looked a little scared in this pic. But HIS FACE...is ABOUT TO EXPLODE. So nevermind.
So who’s been waiting for another decent G-Unit associated album since “Beg For Mercy”?
*raises hand*
To me, Tony Yayo’s “Thoughts of a Predicate Felon” was the beginning of the end of the G-Unit takeover. Although I enjoyed BOTH of Young Buck’s albums, we all know the drama that surrounded the 2nd LP, so it didn’t have the pop/zing as all the other good G-Unit albums. But this isn’t a G-Unit album to me.
Actually…there are no G-Unit appearances at all here. Which to me is a good thing. But is that a plus or a minus to the overall value of the CD?
The Good: The gritty street vibe that’s been missing from the 50 Cent albums is back. There’s no “Candy Shop”/”Amusement Park” songs on here (although Amusement Park was kind of dope to me). It’s back to the reckless-mouthed Fiddy most people love to hate. Or love to love. Either/or.
The verses are back to the traditional 50 Cent candor that most fans love/hate, and the cameos for the most part contribute to the vibe of the album. 50 went in nicely on this album, and I can honestly say (in my opinion) that this is the best cd he’s had out since the debut album “Get Rich or Die Trying.”
Either you will love this album, or hate it.
The Bad: There’s nothing here that’s deep or mind-blowing to keep PURE hip-hop fans happy. It’s more of the same reckless dissing/gun talk that 50 got famous for…although comparatively, he’s toned it down a lot from the early days.
Also, a lot of the songs are dragged down by the uninteresting and usually repetitive hooks. “Then Days Went By” and “So Disrespectful” could’ve been top-notch songs if a little more care was put into their construction.
That being said…Both of those examples are still extremely great songs. “So Disrespectful” is somewhat on repeat in my Zune right now.
The Psychos: Regardless if 50’s albums suck or not, the one thing that cannot be denied is the creative juices that flow (no homo) when 50 Cent connects with Eminem. Simply put, they make hits. It’s as simple as that, and the track “Psycho” is pretty much one of the few standout tracks on here.
Bottom Line: This is the album that 50 needed to somewhat reestablish himself in the rap game. However, although he does it well, all it contains is more of the same that we’ve come to expect from him. Whether you consider that to be a good or a bad thing… that just depends on you.
Regardless, it’s a well-done street album, and I sincerely hope that it springing a leak doesn’t hinder its sale potential, but realistically it probably will. Let’s hope he doesn’t pull a Kanye West and redo the whole album.
Final Rating: —–> 3.5 / 5 <—–
Eljay’s Favorites:
- “So Disrespectful”
- “Psycho” feat. Eminem
- “Stretch”
- “Then Days Went By”
Arnold = Legal Fail?
Tom Ammiano...Terminator's got something for you... LOL
So I got on AIM tonight and saw this article. For those of you lazy to read that (like I would be, lol)…
Pretty much, The Terminator- I mean, Arnold Schwerz… Schwarzenig…
*goes to Google*
Ahem, pretty much, Arnold Schwarzenegger (ha!) shot down some proposal for something via some memo by some guy (Tom Ammiano) who’s some lawmaker or something. The problem is that it “supposedly” had a nice subliminal message to it.
Click here for the direct link to the memo.
If you didn’t catch it from reading that… the memo is legit, but on the left side, each first letter in each line of text spells out this:
T-I-F-U-C-K-Y-O-U-S-A.
LOL. Well alright then Arnold. Accidental? Maybe, I guess it was bound to happen eventually. I still think it’s hilarious.
There you go. Your laugh for the night.
Well…it’s definitely my laugh for the night.
Content coming soon, as usual.
King Eljay
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k1ngeljay