The Raw Deal [ 2024 March 13 ]

2024

jameshfetzer.org

audio review : The Movie ( song ) … Too Short ( featuring George Clinton + Belita Woods )

“It ain’t the kind of Movie where the leading man gets the girl,” George Clinton announces at the four-minute mark. It’s presented as a single ad-lib, but it should’ve been looped as the base of the chorus. The beat is funky, but the one thing missing from the song is a catchy hook. The “broadway” bit sounds nice, but it serves as more of a refrain.

my rating : 3 of 5

2002

audio review : Volume 2 [ Hard Knock Life ] … Jay-Z

audio review : Volume 2 [ Hard Knock Life ] ... Jay-Z

This is supposed to be the sequel to In My Lifetime. The reason for the missing title is anyone’s guess; perhaps to avoid the double Life; but that oddity is the album’s one major flaw. The songs themselves are mostly okay. 2 are actually quite good.

Those aforementioned highlights include A Week Ago, on which a surprisingly poignant Jay-Z plays the role of a drug dealer whose long-time friend turns snitch after getting locked up, and a group collaboration entitled Reservoir Dogs.

my rating : 3 of 5

1998

audio review : Richmond Hill ( album ) … Masta Ace + Marco Polo

audio review : Richmond Hill ( album ) ... Masta Ace + Marco Polo

Masta Ace and Marco Polo are skilled at what they do, especially Polo. His beats are pure hip-hop; the boom-bap type that originated in the ghettos of New York City. He’s actually from Richmond Hill, Ontario, hence the title. Breukelen native Masta Ace has been dropping funky rhymes since The Symphony, but he’s sometimes too innovative for his own good.

The rapper has long had the tendency to limit himself to specific lyrical concepts that, over the course of a whole song, come across as somewhat gimmicky. The first word of almost every bar on Connections connects with the word before it. Outside Inside, with C-Red, puts the title words on repeat. All I Want, with Wordsworth, is a list of Christmas wishes.

Brooklyn Heights, all about what it “ain’t”, is one of the best songs though, along with Below The Clouds and Heat Of The Moment. Plant Based and Life Music deal with health, but Ace stays silent on the topic of MS. As a sequel, Hill is on par with the first Story. The worst bits are still the skits, though there should be an epilogue to match the prologue.

my rating : 3 of 5

2024

Truth Versus News Incorporated [ 2024 February 18 ]

2024