|
I was sort of struggling to get into this album at first (like Gutter Water), but a few of the posts in this thread confirming that Alchemist is unintentionally funny as a writer for a lot of people combined with this RateYourMusic review has me starting to sing a different tune. He likes it a LOT more than I ever could but that's not really my point. The beats on this are pretty much universally great, though, I'm glad Oh No got the majority (9 vs. 5) because I felt like Gutter Water didn't feel very cohesive, but this format allows Alc to focus on his raps and the two can grab an Alchemist beat when it fits the sound.
Anyway, the RYM user (http://rateyourmusic.com/~crakpot) thoughts:
Since Ghostface recorded "Nutmeg," there's existed in hip hop a sub-culture of pimp-trick-gangsta-clique that, for, lack of a better word, I'll call Dada Thug. While, on paper, the words spat don't look particularly menacing, or even sensical, somehow when coming out of the artist's mouth (pause) they create an aura of gangster. There's a great moment in Camron's "Welcome To New York City" when he manages to make the line "Carry eight guns, two in the trunk/ Two in the waist, two in the ankle, two to just spank you/ You can jam with them jammers, blam with them blammers" incredibly believable. So if Dada Thug starts with Nutmeg and is re-tooled by Diplomats (Think Juelz Santana's infamous "Like Kurt Cobain was here"), it gets perfected by Vodka & Ayahuasca. It's 42 minutes of blissful randomness uninterrupted.
To be clear, there is nothing ironic about Dada Thug. Das Racist's hook for "Michael Jackson" is not Dada Thug. Tyler The Creator's "I'm awesome and I fuck dolphins" is not Dada Thug. DT abandons humor or pretentiousness and prefers to just bask in the glow of intricate rhyme constructions.
The thing that makes this album great is the level of consistency. For Oh No and The Alchemist, two individuals for whom the idea that they would be judged as a rapper rather than for their work behind the boards is ludicrous, to bring the weirdness they do to every track is amazing. The production is grimy and classic and bust-your-shit-open and punks-jump-up-to-get-beat-down-esque, and yet wobbles in a way that betrays more than just pure braggadocio. And the guest rappers ALL bring fire. Kool G Rap, who has been more or less a linear rapper his entire career, proves he's learned quickly when he spits "Souls of Red October with red hot toasters/ Rockin mittens up in the kitchen with bread pie holders." I am not making this up. Prodigy, who perfected Dada Thug's precursor, Straight-Up Thug (I am neither questioning his trends, nor what he brought to the table) also brings the heat, as well as frequent Gangrene collaborator Roc Marciano.
At the end of the day, there's not a way these two could have executed the concept for Vodka & Ayahuasca better. That's not to say there aren't better albums, because there certainly are. But this is the most successful anybody's been with this particular style. 2012 is looking up.
~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." © Jay Bilas
http://www.last.fm/user/NodimaChee
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Nodima/run_that_shit__nodimas_hip_hop_handbook
|
Printer-friendly copy 
Email this topic to a friend
The Lesson
