Sunday, April 29, 2007

Can I Borrow A Dollar? - Album Review

The album that shoulda, coulda, woulda been a classic.

I'm gonna write as if I don't really know what's coming next, for those who may or may not have heard it. I'll quote, cuz there's quotables all over this album. Okay then.


A Penny for My Thoughts
First of all, the samples in the beginning are kinda interesting, tryna place where they came from. I think I caught Superfly in there and some snippets from In Living Color. All right, the beat is great, classic material. A very sped-up sample of Eddie Kendrick's Intimate Friends... And Common drops a couple of great verses to go along with it. Pretty much one of those confessional life tracks... There's not too much to be said for this track, but the first track on the album should pretty much always be good, and this one
delivers.

"I'm comin' around the mountain high, ass lower than a valley
I'm the cat from the alley, from the back, I'ma rally
and tally up points, rollin' joints, risin to the tops
Somewhat of a playwright, 'cause like a stage, I got props
My crew's a strange brew, a drink a day'll keep the stink away
We been through A.A., but hey, what can I say?"

Charms Alarm
The beat is just decent, but Common flows on the track real well, if anything. Well, it's the first beat that 2 pc. DRK work on as a team. This is like one of the earlier types of songs he does that criticizes the state of hip hop, before H.E.R. comes around. Not sure what the sampled hook has to do with anything, but whatever. The beats not so bad that it's unlistenable, so this song ain't that bad.

Take It EZ
Ah... the next 2 pc. DRK beat, and I really like this one. Very jazzy touch, but more lively than most jazz rap beats tend to be. You can tell Common's real young on this album, because this is one of the few songs where his voice cracks really loudly. Lyrically this song's great as well. It's mostly about how dope Common is, but some of the lines he drops are stinging. He rhymes the same word for a pretty impressive length of time, and the pace of his flow reminds of early Jay-Z, back when he used to run with Jaz-O. Also, I didn't know the Allstate motto was the same back in '92, interesting... Either way, the future for this album looks good by now.

"I be kickin' it with the doubly-dope rhymer
I'm trippin' and dippin' and slippin' with the rhyme like Slimer
[Who ya gonna call?] Ghostbuster
I'm Petey Wheatstraw, and I'm just a
Hustler, I tried to scheme for a sec
But the record got wreck, tried to write a bad check
So I checked myself, before self got buck-
wild, tried to live how I had to fluctuate
To a snake, and metriculate, yo, I had to elevate"

Heidi Hoe
WOOOOOW... This is bullshit, any way you hack it. Production and hype-man chorus done courtesy of the Beatnuts, who I honestly never liked anyway, but since they're Native Tongues peripherals, I acknowledge their existence. Common at his very worst, making these immature threats at hoes around his neighborhood and how he hates them shit... I tihnk he says somethin' like, "after I bill you, kill you/'cause your shit smells like mildew"... This is the kinda song I wish had never been made, but, alas, it was. The only saving grace is that it is Common here, so the lyricism is competent. But still, terrible song.

Breaker 1/9
So yeah, No I.D. sampled the Isley's Between the Sheets before Biggie ever rapped over it. However, he only uses two bars of the song and repeats them, rather than letting it go into the bridge, which I always thought was a mistake, because it makes what could have been a really good beat into just a decent one. This song's about girls and skills, nothing we haven't hear before, but Common spits capable rhymes that makes the song worth listening to anyway. Not an album highlight.

Two Scoops of Raisins (feat. No I.D.)
Album highlight! Well, sorta... You have to listen to it real loud to catch, but the beat's actually dope in a very subtle kinda way. Funky, no other word for it. They're basically rapping cleverly about cereal and life, lol... But it works. No I.D. is a very good rapper, as far as producer rappers go, because they usually care too much about their beats to really try and kill the song. Not too much to say about the song, lol, it's about cereal. One important thing to notice, tho, is that No I.D. and Ynot seem to have schizophrenia on this album... several of the songs completely change around into another beat. A very different one. It's actually nice to hear, because it gives the song a different pace. It's not so blatant here, but it's there.

No Defense
Ynot showing off his DJ skills.... this is really an interlude. However, he's pretty good at it, seeing as he's looping 5 or more sources saying the words "No defense", "against" and "Common Sense."

Blows to the Temple
Ynot's first solo beat debut, and what a beat it is. Best song so far, by far. It's some kinda piano riff with an electric bass underlying... And the drums are sick, and then it sorta switches into a neo-Jamaican style cover for a few seconds before the hook comes around. This is essentially a diss track to no one, but anybody who thought that Bitch In Yoo is the only type of flow that Common can diss someone with will have another thing comin'. Speedy rappin', overall good song with some great quotables.

"A tisket a tasket, you're gonna get your ass kicked
You better wonder what's in my jacket, fuck the basket
Oh, God damn child, I mean it's drastic
You end up on a stretched cause I stretch you like Plastikman
Fuck with me ("you end up the in the cas-ket")
You flaw ass pussy nigga sucka duck bastard
(Yo Common calm down, you gots to calm down!)
This Grape tried to step to me, with his arms down
Lesson number one: when you're ready to throw
Never step up talkin'
That's like tryin to pitch, but you're balkin'
And I'ma steal first, hide the base, but you base
You can call me Pencil Petey cause the marks I erase
In case of emergency, it's urgent see, that you see a doctor
You tried to Gamble, but I'm the Proctor
I knock that ass, bringin' it down and then slash
Tried to play me with a skit, but now you got a cast
You character, 'fore ya inherit a, neckbrace
Makin' ya thousand deaths times worser than a Screwface"

Just In the Nick of Rhyme
And ya don't stop... This beat is also good, quieter, but Common basically brings the same heat, like he didn't burn all of it off the last time. His flow is really fast here. It's crazy. But this is the biggest beat change, in the last beat they do as 2 pc. DRK. I have a theory that No I.D. did the mellow part of the track, but it changes very quickly into this crazy Salsa beat that's insanely effective, and I think Ynot may have did this. Common doesn't lose it through the beat change, this song's fire as well.

"Fella a city dweller, it's poison salmonella
Auntie's name is Stella, style as def as Helen Keller
Nail a flammer with the Hammer for comin 'incorrect
Not with his grammar or bad mamma jamma
Similar to Bruce Banner
So don't get me angry, or maybe you won't like me
Kid just in the nick I kick more ass than Bruce Lee's Nike's did"

Tricks Up My Sleeve (feat. Rayshel)
So I don't much care for this song... I never noticed this before, but it's pretty much like the '92 version of Water for Chocolate's A Film Called Pimp... and I don't really like either so much, but this one doesn't even feature MC Lyte. Plus, it's disturbingly graphic... rappin' slowly about fucking girl's philopian tubes. Charming. Also, Rayshel sounds really implausible to me, because she sounds a lot like a lesbian. But hey... Skippable song.

Puppy Chow
ARRGH!!!! Now this song pisses me the fuck off. Ynot makes what is arguably the best beat of his career, sampling the Isley Bros and then following it with some dope guitar tune... Great. Only problem is, it's Common rapping about why girls are just dogs that he treats accordingly. Hey, interesting factual here... the woman singing on the track is Miss Jones from Hot 97. Weird, right? Well appropriate also, because she certainly is a bitch.. And I mean, the song is clever with its references, but it's one of those bad clever songs instead of good. Disappointed in you here, Com.

Soul By the Pound
Ahhh, another great one as we wind down in this pretty short album. The beats actually pretty cool in a minimalist sorta way, and it's covered by some wonderfully offbeat whistling sound It's cool because it's like the whole hip hop consciousness within the "I'm dope" flavor. Lyrically, I don't know what's better, this or Blows to the Temple. Either way, it's insane. I love it. Quooooooootable.

"It's sick you sick, I'm sicker, I flick a flea flicker
Think of that boa constrictor but the venom I inflict-a
is stricter, I stick, I stick the stinkin' to a stunk
If soda was a forty dog, then I would be like, drunk
If if was a fifth I would lift the fifth and a spliff
it's not a myth about our dick width
I'm swift and I shoot the presents
In essence count your blessings I got a Wessun if you riff
I'm a nigga with SOOOOOOOUL
My last name should be Smithsonian
I'm gassin girls heads, just like petroleum
Get 'em ready to bone me and, then I play custodian
And turn off the lights this is the likes of a
Ticketing wallowing high jumping radio rumping brother
Got Seoul like Korea, gimme an inch, I'll take a liter
A chick is a chick that's how I treat her
never go pop I'm not a two liter
A true leader, don't choose to follow, choose what I swallow
Whether water or a beer bottle, of course I play the lotto
Wear 'em? No, share 'em? A hoe
I like the girls, the girls I share a life with a bro
'Cause U-A-C is family, much tighter than foundations
that holds up the walls, so you better proceed with caution"

Pitchin' Pennies
This is disappointing too, but only 'cause the No I.D. beat is very very dope, but he only uses the song to name all his Chicago buddies. Maybe Kanye and Lupe got it from him, but hey, who knows. Then he... pisses at the end. WTF. Complete waste of a track, but if you're like me, you enjoy the song and then turn before he actually says "I gotta piss."



Overall, this is a very solid album, with a few fundamental mistakes. But it's a good debut anyway. Common's grown a lot since then, and hey, this is just him when he's a teenager. But still, great album, sorta an explosion of talent and some immaturity, but the more you listen to it, I think you'll learn to really really like the good songs and really really hate the bad ones. It's that catchy.

Rating: 8.7/10

Labcabincalifornia - Album Review

Just an overall appreciation for the album's dopeness. The rapping is slower, but I think you can also take in way more of it, which I think is most important.
And I think it's just as good if not better than their debut... So shoot me.

One thing to remember, this album is full of early Dilla... Like 7 tracks I think. I'm talkin' pre-Stakes Is High Dilla. In a lot of ways tho, the production on this album seems ahead of its time. Anyway.

Bullshit
The beat (courtesy of Dilla) isone of those smooth and slightly haunting jazz loops that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Do You Want More?!!?!, which I think came out the same year... Maybe. Anyway, this is a cool smooth song, nice way to open an album.

Pharcyde
I actually like this beat, sort of a sonic piano thing, but the sample is sorta atmospheric and the lyrics are great. And Slim Kid 3 is great scratching, I think. This one was produced by Bootie Brown. Fatlip and Bootie's verse are ones to look out for. Still, the album has yet to truly start flowing.

Groupie Therapy
After about a minute skit, the beat finally kicks in. I think most experienced hip-hoppers can automatically tell who produced this track, I could immediately. Beat's cool, very catchy and pretty fast paced. Fatlip and Bootie fight over the ownership of this song too... Personally, I think Bootie wins. It's about groupie's by the way, but it's still very likeable.

Correction, way more paid is why she laid and played
The charade in the game of deception
This mysterious mistress is just an actress, of the mattress
Cuz, she's a wanna be macktress
Well built, but equipped with the tackiest of tactics
-Bootie Brown

Runnin'
What can I say, if you haven't heard this song, odds are you aren't really big on hip hop. Dilla's second beat, my personal favorite song off the album, dope lyrics all around, one of my favorite songs out there, and a definite candidate for top 10 hip hop songs.

She Said
This is about I guess classy type women, but not always. Anyway, I like the beat by Slim Kid 3. It's one of those songs you can drive while playing. I think the outro singing's a little long, but this track's infectious.

So I commenced the mackin' to baby to see what's crackin
So maybe I get her back at the cabin and start attackin'
Threw back a shot of yack and started jabberin' gibber
Fibbin' and ad libbin', just to get her to my crib then
We was chillin' on the bed bumpin' some Isley
Thought I was about to spread the thighs but she surprised me when she said
-Fatlip

Splattitorium
One of those weed tracks, which I guess weren't so popular back then, so whatever. Nice instrumentals by Dilla, which, especially now that he's passed, gotta wish they rapped over, you know? It's nice either way... Mellows you out, like weed! Weird how these things work out.

Somethin' that Means Somethin'
As close as The Pharcyde gets to criticizing public hip hop, another dope beat from J Dilla... One of those Dynamite type beats that are simple but catchy as hell. Fatlip steals this song.

You best believe I put in time to conceive
Deep concentration from sunrise to eve
And even in my feet sometimes rhymes formulate
We form lyrical storms falling from a cloudy brain
In my dreamlike state
Then I awake to make these silly saps collapse
As I dilapitate the wack
When it comes to rhymes I'm kinda like a mack
I got these flows strollin' up and down the track - Fatlip

All Live
De La-esque interlude.

Drop
Another Dilla beat, I hear this uses a sample backwards, which is SICK. Lyrically it's another album high. I can't really decide who's best here. The beat's weird, but nice nevertheless. A lot of people should know this song too, it was the first single.

Hey You
Ahh... I like this song better than Drop. The beat's really heavy, made by Slim Kid 3. It's really dope. Lyrically, this is better than Drop too, all of 'em at the top of their form. Imani might take this actually. Nah, gotta give it to Bootie. Sorta storytelling of hip hop artists. Check it.

Because of my high altitude
The attitude of this one dude was so lewd
That he was viewed as rude
And pursued by the side he was BOOED
And chewed like food in the feud
Ending the career WAAAY shorter than an interlude
And dude, the word I heard was that your vision was blurred
-Bootie Brown

Y?
One of those tracks, just like Jadakiss' in terms of intent for the song. Tell me why, blah blah... Great song. Bootie keeps takin' this shit. Dilla beat, so guess what? It's dope.

Know why I said it
Hear me clearly though, it's so severe and dreaded
That they need to be beheaded
Why I'm, readily, steadily, stimulatin' and mutilatin'
All sloppily copy imitations, cuz they irritatin'
So I'm intimidatin' them over the snare - Bootie Brown

It's All Good!
Interlude.

Moment In Time
DOOOOOPE... One of those reminiscent beats that feel slightly sad as well... Think Summertime or Reminding Me [of Sef]. Produced by this excellent nobody named M. Walk who really deserves exposure. It's a Bootie Brown solo, so yeah, he takes this one too. Lyrically it's sick, it's dedicated to a friend who died, but it's not like T.R.O.Y. Great song. This album is really consistent, something you accept by this time.

The Hustle
Bootie Brown produced. Another great song. Has sort of one of those movie scene type feelings to the beat. Lyrically top notch performances from all MCs concerned... I could listen to this song all day. At one point, Bootie's voice sounds scarily like Andre 3000's. I'd say Fatlip or Imani take this one, but I really can't decide. Imani's still in it tho, have faith. Get it?

Little D
Interlude, actually kinda fucked up.

Devil Music
By Fatlip, the beat, which is cool. Smooth, reminiscent of Bullshit. Not what you would expect from the title, but very nice song. Check it. Don't sleep.

The E.N.D.
Another beat by that dope nobody, M. Walk. It's just nice to listen to, and it's a great finisher. Lyrically their bringing the heat again, and the lyrics are all about their lives. Gotta love this track, you really can't. It's amazing, 17 tracks and odds are you won't be ready for the E.N.D. Nice closer.

Excellent album. Cop it, download it, listen to it and hit me up.

Score: 9.5/10