Redman - "Doc's The Name 2000" Def Jam | |
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The Funk Doctor is back again. And with a year 2000 theme?!?!
Hell naw, we get another dose of Redman fun to take us
into the year 2000. It's hard to believe that this is
Red's fourth album... damn! How many people have
reached that milestone ? Common's on three, Nas is about
to drop his third, and homie Method Man just on two! Do we
get a jaded album or is it still hittin' the spot ? Well,
after listening to the album, I gotta say I like it.
The first single off the album "I'll Bee Dat!" and the familiar sample in "Brick City Mashin'!" give a sense of some commercial appeal, but this is quickly dissipated when listening to the lyrics. Remember "My Big Brother" that was big in the clubs off the last album? It succeeded without having the obligatoray sing-a-long hook that feeds gold and platinum sales, and "Brick City Mashin'!" is similar, and will strike with the commercial crowd with the "Genius of Love" sample that Mariah Carey was rocking. "I'll Bee That" sounds like a radio slow burner, but check the chorus - the curses just take out any hint of radio playability, and you know the Doc don't give a damn. Busta Rhymes appears on the "Dangerous"-sounding "Da Goodness", another potential radio/commercial hit showcasing the talents of the eccentric two (all we need is Ol' Dirty here to form the trinity), but as usual the radio potential is extinguished with the hook, even dumping a quick "It's All About the Benjamin's" riff that would surely please the mainstream! Busta takes care of business as usual, so expect it to hit the clubs. "I Don't Kare" is a diatribe against commercialism, using some scratches on the hook ... and as usual the Redman flow and delivery is tight (just like on the rest of the album). We also get the staples associated with Red; the saga continues with "Soopaman Lova IV", the smokin' "Boodah Break", the Method Man featuring "Well All Rite Cha" (also featured on the flip of the single), the skits: "Million Chicken March (2 Hot 4 TV)" and the "G.P.N.": the Ghetto Psychic Network, a take on the ads plaguing daytime TV. As the theme of the cover shows, we get a song paying homage to his town in "Jersey Yo!", re-working Cube's "Once Upon A Time In The Projects" much better than Ice Cube himself on part 2. We have the rest of the Def Squad on the self-explanatory "Down South Funk" and respect to the Beasties on "Beet Drop", and the long player is rounded off nicely with "I Got A Seecret", paving the way to the millenium with the space age sounds, and the return of drum & bass to its hip hop roots, this infusion of top DnB producer and artist Roni Size is fresh with Redman rhyming in double time to the beats. After all this time, four albums, a family, Redman is one cat who truly understands the meaning of the much overused phrase "Keeping it real": he has kept it real to himself and in turn to his fans ... that is all one can ask for. Dope as ever. - Roni |
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