Yup, I said it! Biggie's
Life After Death dropped on March 25, 1997. Ten years and two days before Redman's release date, March 27, 2007. I've just listened to
Red Gone Wild once through, and I can say without hesitation that there hasn't been a hip-hop album this good, this complete in at
least a decade. Redman has single-handedly put to rest the "Hip-hop is dead" arguments. Hip-hop is ALIVE, and it's off the chain!
LYRICS: We all know that Funk Doc is super-lyrical. Anybody who would even
attempt to argue that point should stop reading this review right now and go listen to Young Jeezy or whatever you think is hot. This is
not for you. Wordplay, punchlines, witticisms...it's all there. The thing that sets Red apart from from other punch-liney rappers is the fact that he spills all these metaphors all over you without making it sound forced. He doesn't sound like like he spent 30 minutes on one line just to get a hip-hop quotable. It's effortless. It all just comes across as part of his personality, rather than some persona he's trying to project. He doesn't come across like he's trying to impress you. He's just this wacked out dude spittin' fire.I think it's got a lot to do with the fact that he's so grimy. When he says, "My watch ain't for showin' time, it's for show-n-tell/And I got it from sellin' dimes on AOL", you can't do anything but smile. Just that quick, he threw out your typical bling-bling, "I'm cool because I'm rich" line...and turned around and shit on the whole idea. Come on! Selling dime bags of weed on AOL?!!? That nigga's
nuts! But, he's so complete. His lyrical game covers 360 degrees. The commercialism of Jay-Z, the lyrical content of Talib Kweli, the humor of Eminem, all wrapped up into one crazy mutha-fucka.
PRODUCTION: The beats on this album are fuckin' FAN-TASTIC! There's only ONE Timbaland track. ONE Scott Storch track. NO Neptunes. NO Just Blaze. Redman didn't use a who's-who of producers to make this album hot. The choice of beats isn't a reflection of what's hot in rap. It's a reflection of Redman. Every track on this album sounds like it was tailor for Redman. And most of the tracks are from no-name producers. Out of 20 songs (the other three tracks are skits), 9 are from recognizable names. And of those 9 tracks, only two from producers that are considered HOT right now. The others are Pete Rock, Rockwilder (3 tracks) and Erick Sermon (3 tracks). This is by far not your typical paint by numbers album.And again, every track seems custom fit for Redman's flow. Nothing on here (even the Timbaland and Storch tracks) overpowers Red's flow. Everything is kept very simple. Very old school. Nothing over-produced. There's not a single track on here that uses the beat to carry the song. It's all about the flow. And the flow is ridiculous!
ALBUM FLOW: This is
one solid project. This project doesn't come off as just a bunch of tracks tossed together. The album has a very seamless flow. That may be the album's one flaw. The songs gel so well together, it's almost hard to imagine any one song having a life of it's own as a single. There's no "Insert club track here. Insert smooth song for the ladies here." It's all one continuous groove. I mean, even the skits are great, and I'm not one for album skits. But, Redman has got to be one of the funniest dudes on the mic. And, again, it doesn't come off as if he's
trying. Most album's skits are just the artist's attempt at being a comedian. Here, it's just Red being Red. Check out the "Mr. Ice Cream Man" skit. It's fuckin' laugh-out-loud funny! And the best part? You can sit and listen to the
entire album all the way through. Yep. Without skipping a single track. It's just
that good! I was just listening to track 14, "Pimp Nutz". And I like it so much, that I was really planning on running it back one more time, but then track 15, the ice cream man skit, came on and I figured, "Okay, I'll go back to Pimp Nutz after this." After the ice cream man skit was "Hold This Blaow!", and I really didn't want to stop the track to go back to "Pimp Nutz". I just couldn't do it. So, here I am now on track 17, "Get 'Em", and I'm really trying to figure out how I'm going to get back to 14. I figure if I stop the song at the exact end before the next song begins, I'll be able to pull it off.Yeah, it's like that.
CONCLUSION: Red Gone Wild is completely perpendicular to everything in "so-called" hip-hop right now. A complete departure from the cookie cutter formulaic crap that's been strangling the music. We're back to the real, people. Buy this album! If you're one of the "Hip-hop is dead" people, and you do not
PURCHASE THIS ALBUM, you are officially a hypocrite. This is the album you've been waiting on. Support it. Matter of fact, I just changed my
pre-order at Amazon ($9.99) to 5 copies instead of 1. I'm gonna bless a few people who I know would not otherwise pick up this album. And I haven't done that since The Roots dropped
Things Fall Apart.
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