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| Track List: 1. I Can't Live Without My Radio 2. Rock The Bells 3. I'm Bad 4. I Need Love 5. Going Back To Cali 6. Jack The Ripper 7. Jingling Baby 8. Big Ole Butt 9. Boomin' System 10. Around The Way Girl 11. Mama Said Knock You Out 12. Back Seat 13. I Need A Beat 14. Doin It 15. Loungin 16. Hey Lover 17. Ain't Nobody Running time: 77 minutes Released: 1996 |
Ah now we step back in time. I went through a hip-hop phase in my teens and bought this based almost entirely on Ain't Nobody. I retain a fondness for the odd rap tune here and there - or at least a platonic ideal of a rap tune, too much of it is simply misogynistic garbage - but it is not an area I keep up with in any way. Just the odd relic like this, with associated nostalgia.
I don't remember ...Radio being so bland. Its the only word I think fits. There is some fire in the tone of voice, but the delivery is also pretty one-note for most of the piece and it is properly old school with nothing but a percussion track. Man, beats can be good, but there needs to be a little more to it than that. I had also forgotten how much some rappers liked their own names as lyrics.
I like the medium. Like spoken word material it can be very powerful for conveying a message, and when it does that well you get some pretty brilliant work. For me, personally, it's a bit of a crapshoot trying to find that material amongst the other trappings. I am not 15 any more; I am not interested in self-aggrandisement, insult hurling or power fantasy. That said, I'm Bad is a much more palatable track than the prior two - there is more going on, the sampled sirens and musical interludes make for a more rounded tune. The thought occurs to me that LL Cool J must have a horribly dry throat. That much shouty/raspy-ness in the delivery must have taken its toll over the years.
The tone shifts then. I Need Love sounds more like a plaintive needy whinge than a love song to me these days; it seems to go on forever and bores me to tears. Going Back to Cali is also less visceral. The soundscape is nice enough in spots (it goes a bit faux-jazz later in the song), but I cannot help but think the recording levels are all over the place. Half the time the percussion, scratching and samples seem to obliterate the lyric which just seems like a mistake. So far this listen is reinforcing the idea that nostalgia is looking back fondly at stuff you have never re-examined and never should. Oh well!
This feels closer to the birth of hip-hop than I remember ever thinking before, but the timing makes sense I guess: the second wave prior to the rise and rise of gangsta rap. This best-of pre-dates 2Pac's (coming later) by just 2 years but covers material back to a lot earlier - which means that there is not actually too much disagreeable subject matter here so far. I have to pause the listen for a bit though, as I am really not feeling this right now and need to go get some food having not eaten all day.
Resuming, sated, I have 2/3rds of the disc still to go. All is jingling... or rather it should be. Really if you use that in a title, and do not actually include any jingles you have dropped the ball. The way the line is delivered it sounds more like jiggling and the song has a sleazy vibe to it that makes that reading stronger. I am not a fan. I have also noticed a weird interruption on a few tracks here, annoying - just like the changed tone/theme. Two sleazier numbers back to back.
My ears prick up a little with the change of sound for Around the Way Girl - a brighter, more upbeat sound, and the first use of a sung chorus (sample?). It is a much more listenable tune as a result, though I am not really parsing the lyrics at all though and I am glad when it gives way to Mama Said Knock You Out, this chorus is an old memory, familiar. The song is supposedly a hit back against critics thinking his career was over. It gives it a visceral, personal edge and whilst I am not a great fan of the sampling here, or the violence described in the verses, that strength of feeling makes it a much more powerful song.
Back Seat is back to the sleaze and instantly forgettable as a result. A shame because it returns to the lighter style of backing which I think can be really effective with a good lyric. Not overshadowing the message. Instead here it gets to be accompanied by simulated sex noises. Ugh. As a greatest hits album this is all over the place stylistically and it makes for an odd end-to-end. Percussive to musical to sleazy to percussive, back to sleazy and over again. I note that whilst the subjects of sex and violence have arisen, lyrically there is far less cussing and swearing than you might expect, so that is something. I am not enthused about the lyrics here though. It is hard to see looking back almost 20 years to why this interested me.
Ah, I forgot cheesy. It swings to that, too (Loungin) though maybe it is just a subtype of sleazy. Actually I quite like this tune because the sample just has groove, an easy swagger, and fits well with the vocal. To be fair, Ain't Nobody is ultimately cheese too, but very fine cheese, and mostly because the milk from which the cheese was crafted was unbelievable. OK, I am stretching the metaphor. Ultimately this has made me somewhat apprehensive of the other hip-hop listens coming up. I all but left the genre behind for all intents and purposes ~15 years ago, with only a handful of purchases since, and those leaning towards spoken word. I cannot say that I have enjoyed this listen, but I will be keeping some tracks for posterity. Not many though - just 5 of 17: I'm Bad, Around the Way Girl, Mama Said Knock You Out, Loungin and Ain't Nobody pass the interest test for different reasons. Slimming down is good; I do not go for big ole butts.
I don't remember ...Radio being so bland. Its the only word I think fits. There is some fire in the tone of voice, but the delivery is also pretty one-note for most of the piece and it is properly old school with nothing but a percussion track. Man, beats can be good, but there needs to be a little more to it than that. I had also forgotten how much some rappers liked their own names as lyrics.
I like the medium. Like spoken word material it can be very powerful for conveying a message, and when it does that well you get some pretty brilliant work. For me, personally, it's a bit of a crapshoot trying to find that material amongst the other trappings. I am not 15 any more; I am not interested in self-aggrandisement, insult hurling or power fantasy. That said, I'm Bad is a much more palatable track than the prior two - there is more going on, the sampled sirens and musical interludes make for a more rounded tune. The thought occurs to me that LL Cool J must have a horribly dry throat. That much shouty/raspy-ness in the delivery must have taken its toll over the years.
The tone shifts then. I Need Love sounds more like a plaintive needy whinge than a love song to me these days; it seems to go on forever and bores me to tears. Going Back to Cali is also less visceral. The soundscape is nice enough in spots (it goes a bit faux-jazz later in the song), but I cannot help but think the recording levels are all over the place. Half the time the percussion, scratching and samples seem to obliterate the lyric which just seems like a mistake. So far this listen is reinforcing the idea that nostalgia is looking back fondly at stuff you have never re-examined and never should. Oh well!
This feels closer to the birth of hip-hop than I remember ever thinking before, but the timing makes sense I guess: the second wave prior to the rise and rise of gangsta rap. This best-of pre-dates 2Pac's (coming later) by just 2 years but covers material back to a lot earlier - which means that there is not actually too much disagreeable subject matter here so far. I have to pause the listen for a bit though, as I am really not feeling this right now and need to go get some food having not eaten all day.
Resuming, sated, I have 2/3rds of the disc still to go. All is jingling... or rather it should be. Really if you use that in a title, and do not actually include any jingles you have dropped the ball. The way the line is delivered it sounds more like jiggling and the song has a sleazy vibe to it that makes that reading stronger. I am not a fan. I have also noticed a weird interruption on a few tracks here, annoying - just like the changed tone/theme. Two sleazier numbers back to back.
My ears prick up a little with the change of sound for Around the Way Girl - a brighter, more upbeat sound, and the first use of a sung chorus (sample?). It is a much more listenable tune as a result, though I am not really parsing the lyrics at all though and I am glad when it gives way to Mama Said Knock You Out, this chorus is an old memory, familiar. The song is supposedly a hit back against critics thinking his career was over. It gives it a visceral, personal edge and whilst I am not a great fan of the sampling here, or the violence described in the verses, that strength of feeling makes it a much more powerful song.
Back Seat is back to the sleaze and instantly forgettable as a result. A shame because it returns to the lighter style of backing which I think can be really effective with a good lyric. Not overshadowing the message. Instead here it gets to be accompanied by simulated sex noises. Ugh. As a greatest hits album this is all over the place stylistically and it makes for an odd end-to-end. Percussive to musical to sleazy to percussive, back to sleazy and over again. I note that whilst the subjects of sex and violence have arisen, lyrically there is far less cussing and swearing than you might expect, so that is something. I am not enthused about the lyrics here though. It is hard to see looking back almost 20 years to why this interested me.
Ah, I forgot cheesy. It swings to that, too (Loungin) though maybe it is just a subtype of sleazy. Actually I quite like this tune because the sample just has groove, an easy swagger, and fits well with the vocal. To be fair, Ain't Nobody is ultimately cheese too, but very fine cheese, and mostly because the milk from which the cheese was crafted was unbelievable. OK, I am stretching the metaphor. Ultimately this has made me somewhat apprehensive of the other hip-hop listens coming up. I all but left the genre behind for all intents and purposes ~15 years ago, with only a handful of purchases since, and those leaning towards spoken word. I cannot say that I have enjoyed this listen, but I will be keeping some tracks for posterity. Not many though - just 5 of 17: I'm Bad, Around the Way Girl, Mama Said Knock You Out, Loungin and Ain't Nobody pass the interest test for different reasons. Slimming down is good; I do not go for big ole butts.
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