50 CENT THE MASSACRE G-Unit/Aftermath/Interscope
GETO BOYS FOUNDATION Rap-A-Lot/Asylum/Warner Bros
CHINGO BLING THE TAMALE KINGPIN Big Chile Enterprises (Houston, TX)
So I’m fresh off listening to Fat Joe roast 50 Cent during Kay Slay’s Drama Hour show on Hot 97 in NYC. I’m sitting here thinking that this nigga 50 is a fuckin’ marketing phenom. The man knows how to create a blistering buzz for any project that he’s involved with.
This album is appropriately titled. The Geto Boys are most certainly the true foundation of this Southern rap shit. You gotta love it. I sure do. I had to wait seven long years for a new studio effort from the familiar lineup of Scarface, Bushwick Bill, and Willie D.
After all the backlash I got from our readers about my positive review of The Mind of Mannie Fresh for its entertainment quality, I’ll tell you straight-up: If you don’t have an open mind and don’t appreciate humor and creativity, don’t even bother listening to this album. It has a crock-pot full of both, and a lot of fuckin’ tamales!
Honestly, I had the bootleg as soon as it leaked, but I didn’t listen right away. Really, how different could it be from Get Rich or Die Tryin’? But when I heard Fat Joe admit that he was getting caught up in 50’s plan by even responding to the diss, I had to go listen. Setting off the album is an intro where a young lady receives a Valentine from 50 Cent. As she opens it, she gets blasted by about six AR-15 assault rifles. She should be thanking 50, because if she’s dead she won’t have to sit through the monotony that is The Massacre. There are two things that jumped out at me about this album: 50 Cent is an excellent songwriter, and Eminem is far better at smashing MCs than making beats. The album is packed with the prerequisite gangsta shit bravado mixed with 50’s sing-songy hooks. Ja Rule would be pulling his hair out, if he had any. There are a few times where 50 actually has some shit to say. For example, he spits, “Sometimes I sit and look at life from a different angle / I don’t know if I’m God’s child or Satan’s angel” on “I’m Supposed to Die Tonight.” Flashes of brilliance like that lyric are far too scarce on this album. If 50 Cent was concerned with making a creative album instead of what the sheep of the world want to hear, how great and influential could he really be? But shit, man, what do I know? He’s fuckin’ rich. He’s sold eleven million albums, and will probably sell close to that with this album. Like he says on the controversial “Piggy Bank,” “Buck’s shit sells / Banks’ shit sells / Game’s shit sells / I’m rich as hell,” so he’s obviously doing something right. 50’s cut with Eminem, “Gatman & Robin,” is whack, but I kept rewinding it because Eminem went the fuck off. Now I’m off to get some Q-tips, because my ears need cleaning. They seem to be deceiving me. How could music so simple make me listen to it over and over again? Is there some subliminal new world order shit going on over at Interscope? 50 Cent, the anomaly. - Wally Sparks, wally@ozonemag.com 28
OZONE MAR 2005
This right here is some gangsta shit for grown-ups. The lead single, “Yes Yes Y’all,” is proof positive that neither of the three have lost a step. Scarface is still spittin’ the real, Willie D is as amped as ever, and Bushwick is - well, he’s still Bushwick Bill. Like any real OG’s, they have stories that are designed to give the young bucks a quick lesson on the streets. This is evident on this album with cuts like “Leaning on You” and “I Tried.” On the latter, Uncle Face gives it straight up with no chaser on the hook. One of the dopest things about this album is the fact that each of the members has a chance to get their solo shine on. They’ve each got a solo joint on here. Willie D tells tales of counterfeiting money and the desperate measures he’s taken to make sure he won’t die without a little piece of change. Next we have Bushwick Bill’s twisted love letter to his ex-wife, “Dirty Bitch.” He gives it to her raw with lines like, “Burned my car and my clothes like you was Angela Bassett / I left town, you moved out, all you left was a mattress.” Lastly, the realest of the real is Scarface’s solo effort, “G-Code,” which is basically a confirmation of the #1 rule of the streets: Don’t snitch. There are times where Scarface seems to be carrying the other two members on his shoulders, but there’s hardly any mistakes on this album. If you’re 25 years or older and you’re from the South, you need to have this album. The same goes for all you new rapper dudes and young chicks, too. I love Young Jeezy, T.I., Mike Jones, Slim Thug, and Trick Daddy just as much as you do, but you need this album. Learn the Foundation. - Wally Sparks, wally@ozonemag.com
Chingo Bling is nowhere near a lyrical threat, but I’d be willing to bet that he could make a better album than almost any chart-topping rapper today. His latest effort The Tamale Kingpin is led off by a pretty damn good cover of the Scarface classic “Money & The Power.” Chingo aptly applys his twist, titling it, “Masa & Da Flour.” We all know you can’t cook up those tamales without that white powder, ya dig? The thing I can’t figure out about Chingo is if he’s trying to be funny, or if he’s just naturally entertaining? Anyway, the production on this album is Grade A. The men behind the boards on this album have given Chingo Bling a sonic landscape that almost any two-bit rapper could make a hit from. This is especially evident on the cut, “Fuck a Major Label,” featuring Max Minelli. Other standout cuts include the hilarious “Osama, Who Got the Keys to the Humma,” which is, of course, an interpolation of Beenie Man’s “Who Am I.” In Chingo’s version, a fake-ass bin Laden is hiding in a hole, dropping underground tapes, and Chingo is there to expose the real. Another notable record is “American Pie,” featuring PaulWall and Mike Jones. This song is a Texassized lovefest for all races that believe in one color: Green. All in all, The Tamale Kingpin satisfied my appetite. Now I’m off to my favorite Mexican restaurant to get another fix! - Wally Sparks, wally@ozonemag.com