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If you don't know who Scarface is, then this isn't the CD you
need to pick up. You would be better off swinging through the
mall and finding "The Diary" or even his latest success "The
Fix", although those are hardly his only releases, just the
peak of the glacier actually. When Face left off on "The Fix"
I was mad hyped up over him all over again just like when I
was younger, so when I heard through the grapevine that he was
already releasing another CD the anticipation rose to new
heights. However, isn't it always unfair to expect an artist
to do a repeat performance since they're supposedly looking to
take their flavor in a new direction and try new stuff out?
Not to me. When I got the advanced copy my hopes were floating
pretty dang high. The turnout? <sigh> Not what I was hoping,
but still above the average artists skill level, word is that
many verses from here are taken from some of his previously
layed flow from a few years back.
The intro was pretty nice, he brought back some of these old
school samples that he used on his old joint "Mr. Scarface",
pretty hot. He brings a little heat in "Recognise" when he
spits out "how can a nigga from the south get a pass in every
section / and walk the projects with no protection / be
surrounded by a mob, and not get robbed / can a sinner be a
savoir and not be God?". The beat has that down south style to
it, but not as nice as "On My Grind", this beat is serious
fire with a slow bobbin bass line and piano rift. Face flows
about his days of slinging powder and making connections as a
youngster, Z-Ro laces the chorus and makes it nice.
"Bitch Nigga" samples Dre's hits on his beat and 50 Cent's "In
Da Club", and is aimed at calling out snitches and haters,
Z-Ro spits some hot stuff "look at mama's baby out here
starvin for an ass whippin / beefin with a magician and
trippin, now his ass missin / I'll be damned if I pull a
rabbit out of a hat / but pull a pistol outta a holster and
put a bitch nigga on his back", and if you get a chance to
listen to this track, that third verse is blazing, but I'll
leave that for you to discover.
"Stuck At The Standstill" is still Face droppin street science
over a street beat, nicely done. "Strapped" is a short
interlude of a guy/girl phone conversation that could've been
left out. "Only Your Mother" brings in Houston favorite Devin
the Dude, the hook is saying "only your mother could love
you", and the verses go on to talk trash about multiple
situations on women. Not really a brilliant song or any
notable flow, just brings a derogatory feel to women that is
not contributing anything worthy of praise from a professed
Christian.
Speaking of faith, the next track "Make Your Peace" develops
thoughts on God and afterlife. The beat is provoking and
sparks the mind to listen and think, Scarface goes over
different lines of thought such as God versus science, or
Christian Scientists and the like. The only problem is that
any valid thought in this song is drowned out by the rest of
Face's music and lyrics that reveal the contradiction in his
words leaving no room for one to take advice from a hypocrite.
Aries sings the hook on "Spend The Night" which is about one
night stands. Hot beat brings a vibe of something you would
roll to on a summer night, the lyrics are seriously lacking
though. "Mary 2" is a psychedelic song about weed. I'm sure
Mr. Jordan accomplished what he was going for which is a song
to vibe to while you're high, but since I'm critiquing here,
he should've dropped some of the mid-level sounds to make his
voice more clearly heard. "Dirty Money" mixes in a 70's style
with a little 90's, definitely a nice feel to it. The topic is
obvious from the title, it's all about the street hustle and
Tanya Herron is a nice addition for the chorus since she fits
like a puzzle piece for this bluesy-rap song.
"Fuckin with Face" and "Invincible" are average as far as
Scarface beats go, nothing notable and nothing to track back
to, the latter suffering the same mixing fate as "Mary 2".
Mostly filled with mundane lyrics, but there's a few hot lines
here and there on "Invincible". "Real Nigga Blues" is a hot
spoken word track, very dramatic and some great vocal emphasis
from Lil Papa Roach.
Now I'm a big fan of Scarface from way back, and there's
definitely some pretty phat tracks on here such as
"Recognise", "Bitch Nigga", "Stuck At The Standstill", "On My
Grind", "Make Your Peace", but that's about it (unless you're
in the mood for spoken word over a dark beat then "Real Nigga
Blues" is for you). Face has been a street legend for years
now, and this definitely won't deteriorate that in the least,
but it probably won't be remembered after a couple years
either. Now the only other issue that Face needs to address
outside of the things already mentioned is the marketing, very
few people are even aware of this CD being released, perhaps
he's experimenting and trying to see
if he can produce a more long term sales effect by letting the
music promote itself? Who knows the bottom line is that this
is not his finest work and neither his worst, it's mediocre
when it compares to his other releases and above 90% of other
emcees' work, thus it deserves the very fine rating of 3.5
planets.
Track Listing:
01. Balls and my Word
02. Recognise
03. On My Grind ft. Z-Ro
04. Bitch Nigga ft. Z-Ro and Dirt Bomb
05. Stuck At The Standstill
06. Strapped
07. Only Your Mother ft. Devin the Dude
08. Make Your Peace
09. Spend the Night ft. Aries
10. Mary 2
11. Dirty Money ft. Tanya Herron
12. Fuckin' with Face
13. Invincible
14. Real Nigga Blues ft. Lil Papa Roach
Skrabble Rating:
3.5 out of 5 Planets
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