The Raw Addict 11.15.09: Back Up And Try Again

Posted by Phil Watts, Jr on 11.15.2009

Part One of my list of the most disappointing albums of the past decade…and how they all redeemed themselves...




It's been several months, so I'm just going to put aside the excuses and get on with it.

With the decade coming to a close, I've been hard at work on a few best-of/worst-of lists. So, without further stalling…

THE MOST DISAPPOINTING ALBUMS OF THE DECADE, Part one

I'm going to do this with a twist this time around. Instead of just giving you the records that disappointed me, I've decided to dedicate this one to the artists who dropped disappointments and then sprung back, better than before. With each one, I will give you a video of the song that got me back to checking for them again.

Please bare in mind that 1) this is in no particular order and 2) these are all albums that *I* was disappointed by.

First up---

Fat Jon & J. Rawls, both 3582 projects

My first exposure to J. Rawls was through the BLACK STAR album with the song "Brown Skin Lady". Impressed by the unapologetically smooth track, I had to track down other records he's been involved in…which led me to Lone Catalysts, his partnership with MC J. Sands, and his compilation album, THE ESSENCE OF J. RAWLS, compilation album which featured Mass Influence's "Superhero" and the entertaining J-Live single, "The Great Live Caper".

A few years later, he hooked up with 5 Deez' Fat Jon to give us the 3582 projects, dropping two albums--THE LIVING SOUL and SITUATIONAL ETHICS. The moment I snatched them up, I thought to myself, "YESS! More J. Rawls goodness!"…but the moment I popped them in the CD player, my attitude switched to, "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz". WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?! J. Rawls' beats became dull, boring, and lull-inducing, and Fat Jon's stumbling, flat, offbeat monotone didn't help one bit. I just couldn't get into any of these albums and started wishing for another Lone Cats album.

POINT OF REDEMPTION: A few years later, he finally reconnected with J. Sands for another Lone Catalysts album, entitled GOOD MUSIC, which was on par with their early work and miles away from the dead boring 3582 albums.



Mobb Deep, BLOOD MONEY

When it comes to some weak Mobb Deep-related albums, there was definitely plenty to choose from, even though most of them had their moments--most of which involved The Alchemist. However, in the case of BLOOD MONEY, not even ALC was enough to save it.

After their deal with Jive Records went sour, Mobb Deep attempted to start their own label called INFAMOUS RECORDS, in hopes of being able to control their own after years of label politics. One day, they got a call from 50 Cent, who gave them an offer to join G-Unit…which they accepted. A lot of people thought the move made Mobb Deep look like chumps, since Fitty made them the butt of a punchline not too long before. This move also killed Infamous Records, leaving it's artists out in the cold.

However, the real crime is the album itself. Havoc's once-great production skills continue to deteriorate as he keeps up his attempts at a thug-music-for-pop-radio sound, this time using Fitty's formula.

Adding to the problem is Prodigy's deteriorating mic skills, where the once-great flow that he demonstrated in various classics was replaced with a slow, rambling, non-rhyming delivery that boarders between laughable and embarrassing. One example is "Pearly Gates", where on top of getting outshined by Fitty, P rambles on about a "new breed" of niggaz that don't care about that religious bullshit and is only out for the cash. ‘Only out for the cash‘…'new'…right. [FUN FACT: That verse was one of the reasons why P was punched in the face on stage by Saigon a few years later!]

It's sad that the album's only highlights involve 1) the unintentional comedy of P's verses, and 2) ALC showing up with a beat that Common & De La Soul already ripped over.

POINT OF REDEMPTION:



P & ALC's RETURN OF THE MAC album more than makes up for all of Mobb Deep's missteps. While that kid that flowed his ass off on the INFAMOUS album is long gone, P makes better use of his slower flow, which this video shows. Yeah, he went back to sounding like a moron with HNIC2 ("A-B-C-D-E-F-G-") and went to jail shortly afterwards, but when he gets out, he knows what to do.


Mos Def, TRUE MAGIC

Never has an album been so inaptly named, because there's absolutely NO magic in this shit.

There are times when an artist loses his mojo. There comes a time when an artist runs out of ideas or just plain doesn't want to be in the business no more. However, when your overall lack of motivation shows in your music…it's a bad sign.


I know it's hard to follow up records that are considered classics. Hell…even Stevie Wonder wound up following the classic SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE with the not-so-classic SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS. But in the case of Mos Def, it seems like he didn't even TRY. THE NEW DANGER (a.k.a. THE ADVENTURES OF THE BEAUTIFUL BOOGIEMAN) started the downward spiral with the mediocre production and his failed attempt at a rock band (the Jack Johnson project), and urging everyone that if you didn't like the Jack Johnson project, then you're a hater, you didn't want him to 'grow & mature', and you don't know shit about music. More on that mentality later.

The reason why TRUE MAGIC was my ultimate pick was that the album sounded and looked HALF-ASSED.

This release had no credits, no liner notes, no cover, and was sold in a cheap plastic container.

Reread that sentence.

No credits. No liners. No cover. In a cheap plastic container!

In fact, you have to go straight to the THE WIKI in order to get song titles and credits.

It's sad that moments like "Undeniable" (props to Rich Harrison for the Havoc-style track) are buried under lots of mediocrity. Every time I listen to this album, I shake my head thinking that this man is capable of far better than this. It pisses me off every time. Word has it that Mos purposely released it like this with no intention to promote it…he threw it out there simply to get out of his Geffen contract. I remember when even Prince had the same problem with his label and handled it in a similar way (making mediocre albums just to get out of his Warner Brothers contract). Yeah, the record industry is a bitch…but the average person going out to the music store for new releases doesn't give a shit about industry politics. If an album they buy from a dependable artist turns out to be bad, all that shit about label politics and contracts will become just a bunch of excuses to them.

POINT OF REDEMPTION

After a few guest spots, like his appearance of 9th Wonder's "BROOKLYN ON MY MIND", Mos releases THE ECSTATIC, which not only has an actual cover (not much of a cover, but a cover nonetheless), but also has a bulk of the production from the Jackson Brothers (Mike & Otis Jackson, a.k.a. Oh No & Madlib).

MTV Shows

KRS One, SPIRTIUAL MINDED

To say that KRS One's post-Jive Records career leaves a lot to be desired is an understatement. Here's a man who has helped set so many standards in Hip-Hop…yet the moment he jumped to KOCH Records, he wound up dropping non-stop, back to back mediocrity. Hell---I could've easily picked any of his post-Jive-era recordings, but this one stood out.

First of all, the idea of calling it SPIRITUAL MINDED is already considered the first strike to many ("Wha--? This is supposed to be a sequel to CRIMINAL MINDED? UGH--neva that!") Second, this is Kris' attempt at a GOSPEL RAP ALBUM. While there have been many albums successfully bringing in Islamic teachings (particularly artists like Brand Nubian talking about the 5% Nation of the Gods & the Earths), the attempts at bringing Christian teachings into Hip-Hop have been few and far between…and of those attempts, even fewer are remotely decent. With KRS, during a dry period of his career, attempting to meld gospel and Hip-Hop obviously made everyone reluctant to give it a shot. And third, the idea of KRS making a Gospel/Hip-Hop album made the cries of HYPOCRITE even louder, since this is the man that went from "Why Is That?" (one of the few GOOD examples of Christian teachings over a Hip-Hop beat) to declaring the Bible as a DEAD BOOK and now making a Gospel/Hip-Hop album?! Uh…no.

This album was an all-around failed experiment. The only redeeming value is the inclusion of the Pete Rock remix to "Get Your Self Up".

POINT OF REDEMPTION

2006's LIFE album. Songs like "My Life", "I Am There", and "Fucked Up" show me that there is indeed some hope that he can return to the consistency of his Jive years. Since then, he's colabbed with former Bronx/Queens rival DJ Marley Marl and reunited with DJ Premier.




Q-Tip, KAMAAL THE ABSTRACT

You'd think that of all people, Q-Tip would have the best luck as a solo artist. Too bad that's not the case. The first time around, he gave us AMPLIFIED, which had some tight production from J-Dilla…and featured Tip sounding like a complete moron over it. To this day, Tip defends this album, saying that he was reinventing himself. Yeah…as a shitty club rapper, and we had plenty of those in the late 90's. Sadly, critics everywhere pointed the finger at J-Dilla for ‘ruining' the Tribe sound once again, instead of pointing the finger where it belonged--Tip's imbecilic rhymes.

With the success of Common's WATER FOR CHOCOLATE, Tip decided to shift direction the second time around with a live band. KAMAAL THE ABSTRACT was to be an outlet for him to try things he's never done before and showcase his musical growth. What it really showcased was an amateurish band and some really bad singing. Yes, I know that I'm supposed to be feeling this ("C'MON---TIP'S GROWING AS AN ARTIST!! HE'S GOT A LIVE BAND!! YOU MUST NOT LIKE MUSIC IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS!") Sorry, people--it takes a lot more than that to impress me. Ever since sampling started getting integrated into R&B, the media seems to have a hard-on for anyone who plays an instrument so they can point at them and say, "LOOK--NO SAMPLES!!" Yay, you can play an instrument--big woop. But, CAN YOU PLAY? In the case with Tip's band, the answer is NO.

Arista Records was right in shelving this.

POINT OF REDEMPTION

2008's THE RENAISSANCE.





This album is a great comeback for Tip. A perfect mix of samples, live instruments, and musical maturity. In essence, this was the album that we all wanted from Q-Tip in the first place! If Tip ever decided to bring the old gang back together for another one, I wouldn't be mad if it sounded like this.

Ugly Duckling, TASTE THE SECRET

The UG's consist of 3 melanin-deficient knuckleheads from Long Beach (yes, the same ‘Long Beach' that Snoop came from). The crew consists of MC's Dizzy Dustin and Andy "Cap" Cooper, and DJ/Producer Young Einstein. Their debut, THE FRESH MODE EP, along with the full-length follow-up, JOURNEY TO ANYWHERE, set the mode, with Diz & Andy's quirky, simple rhymes and Einstein's beats, which is reminiscent of Prince Paul & Mr. Launge's early work on the Native Tongue albums.

In the TASTE THE SECRET album, they use another trait from those old Native Tongue albums: The skits. This album is about a fictional restaurant that sells MEAT SHAKES, competing against VEGGIE HUT, a vegetarian restaurant. As you can imagine, the skits were as unfunny as unfunny gets. Although the album did have a few gems, the corniness of the skits took away from it, and even TASTE THE SECRET's best material not only pales in comparison to both FRESH MODE and JOURNEY TO ANYWHERE, even some of the material that didn't make the album outshines it (The "Turn It Up" Refried remix, and their collab with Grand Puba, "Something's Goin' Down Tonight"--the latter which sounds just like something from his REEL TO REEL!)

POINT OF REDEMPTION:



The Ducks redeem themselves with solid follow-ups BANG FOR THE BUCK and AUDACITY, where they go back to their original direction of just dropping straight-up Hip-Hop albums…and thankfully leaving the skits to the professionals.


J-Live, THE HEAR AFTER

"Once upon a time there was a brother named Castro…"

There was so much buzz surrounding this man. Witty lyricism, great storyteller, has a great selection of producers to work with (from DJ Spinna, to Premier, Pete Rock, and Grap Luva, who produced the above cut), and is a DJ himself. With albums like THE BEST PART and ALL OF THE ABOVE (as well as the various mixtapes in between), it's a wonder why he didn't blow up more than he did.

Wonder no more.

THE HEAR AFTER is not only one of the worst albums he's ever made, but also one of the most dead-boring albums I've ever heard. While J-Live still came with it as a lyricist and storyteller, no amount of MC'ing can overcome weak production. This album, more than anything, killed whatever buzz he had. I remember a time when HipHopSite.com (back when it sold CD and Vinyl instead of downloads) had a contest on who can remix that whole album and even gave out accapella versions of it. I was pulling for EVERYBODY to use those accapellas to remix that shit the same way people came out with all those BLACK ALBUM remixes. I'm not sure what became of the whole contest, though.

POINT OF REDEMPTION:



Thankfully, J-Live didn't stay in that rut for long. He would release both the REVEAL THE SECRET EP and THEN WHAT HAPPENED a few years later. While they were not as tight as his early work, they are a step in the right direction.

Talib Kweli, BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE

I remember how disappointed I was at the cheesiness of this album. Now, in hindsight, BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE isn't nearly as bad as the rest of the albums in this list, but I still think that Kweli is capable of better. In fact, I was thinking about leaving this off the list…until I remembered how Kweli lashed out at anyone who didn't like it. He went on some magazine talking about how most of these HATERS are just people on the Internet. "The people who like the album, they're not in the Internet--THEY'RE TOO BUSY LISTENING TO THE ALBUM!!!" 1) You do know that you can listen to music while on the Internet, right? 2) It's funny how someone like you would let the word HATER fly out of you mouth like that, and 3) "Never Been In Love" is still unbelievably sappy.

POINT OF REDEMPTION:



In 2007, Kweli realized the way to silence your critics is NOT to shit on your fans…but to MAKE BETTER MUSIC. That year, Kweli dropped not one but two solid albums: LIBERATION, his colab with Madlib (which dropped as a downloadable album on the same week that Mos Def dropped his shit-sandwich TRUE MAGIC), and EARDRUM months later.

Souls Of Mischief, TRILOGY

Because of songs like "Medication", I had high hopes for the TRILOGY album. They just came of the Hieroglyphics' THIRD EYE VISION group record, and it looked like the Souls were going to have a new chapter in their careers with a new masterpiece. Unfortunately, this is a case where even the albums best material does nothing to make up for the bad material…mainly because the bad material is so embarrassing for a group of this caliber. From a failed attempt at a "Jigga-What" double-time song ("Last Night"), to a terrible misuse of George Clinton ("Mama Knows Best"), the crunked-out mess called "That Ain't Life", and the embarrassing strip-club attempt "4th Floor Freaks". People like to say that these kind of songs needed to be done so they can get record sales…but none of it worked. As far as I'm concerned, it should've never been tried.

POINT OF REDEMPTION:



Look at that. Everything I've heard from the upcoming MONTEZUMA'S REVENGE has been top notch. Hopefully, Prince Paul can bring the heat for the entire project.


Common, ELECTRIC CIRCUS

pre·ten·tious [pri ténshəss] adjective
1. self-important and affected: acting as though more important, valuable, or special than is warranted, or appearing to have an unrealistically high self-image
2. made to look or sound important: presenting itself unjustifiably as having a special quality or significance, and often seeming forced or overly clever .


What? You thought I wasn't going to mention this?!

Experimentation is a GAMBLE. Like any kind of gamble, sometimes it will pay off and sometimes it won't. It's one of those things about being an artist, figuring out what works and what doesn't and sometimes, not everything you try is going to be accepted by your fans.

Common failed to realize this. He and the Soulquarian collective simply went to Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios, thinking that the ambiance of JIMI HENDRIX'S ELECTRIC LADY STUDIOS will make up for the weak material. Then, in the biggest case of 'too many cooks spoiling the broth', Common and his army of musicians try to cram in as much as humanly possible in every song, under the guise of ORIGINALITY. Then on top, Common is at his lyrical worst, rapping in a flat, boring monotone throughout most of the album, all while swearing up and down that it's MUSICAL GROWTH.

And the most sickening thing about it? Any fan that didn't like this BOLD NEW DIRECTION was written off as an ignorant HATER who doesn't know shit about music. Common even went of some mixtape to press the point: "Internet geeks/trying to diss my Hip-Hop physique/WHO THE FUCK WENT AND MADE Y'ALL THE HIP-HOP POLICE?!"

It's not that we weren't receptive to change. After all, LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE was a huge departure from his work with Doug Infinite & No I.D. And last time I checked, WATER FOR CHOCOLATE gave Common his first plaque! It's just that most of his fans were not receptive to ELECTRIC CIRCUS--not because it's different, not because they were ignorant haters, but because it SUCKED!

POINT OF REDEMPTION:

Common feat Kanye West - The Food LiveUploaded by Dante35. - See the latest featured music videos.

…and just like that, the rage died!

NEXT TIME: Part two of my DISAPPOINTMENT list…only this time, I talk about what they need to do to come back!

**************************

MUSICAL OUTRO

After the hilarious interviews, the on-stage hissy-fits, and the subliminal disses, guess who got back together!!!



Good night.