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REVIEW:
Overall Rating:
 
Lyrics:
Beats:
Written By:
The Reccollectah
“Revenge of the 9th Prince” …
an album announced long time ago ( long ago as in “Check
inlay of the Granddaddy Flow album/2003” -long ago ) and now
finally here.
2 announcements about this album had me hyped for a while
now:
- The fact the album was entirely produced by one person
only ( which always scores good points in my book) : a
certain BP who 9th called a “crazy talented white dude” .
After hearing “I will rise” with the surprising but very
effective Tom Jones sample , he certainly had me interested
in the rest of the beats for this album. Just listening to
9th’s previous solo albums, we know he has an ear for
picking good beats, so nothing but high expectations for the
BP beats !
- The other fact was hearing 9th Prince calling this album
his “Illmatic”, his “Ready to die” album, his contribution
in the return of the Wu Tang … As we all know bragging and
boasting is a major part of hiphop attitude since it’s early
days so was this just heavy promo talk or had the 9th Prince
really used his absence from the scene to sharpen his swords
and work on his ( rather lack of) flow till his skills
reached new heights ? Had he indeed raised the lyrical
standard for him and his Killarmy brothers ? Time to find
out .
But before we measure up the darts, let’s have a look at the
music first:
BP certainly uses this chance to showcase his talents. From
start till finish he makes the most of this opportunity
using very varied beats, all kinds of instrumentation to
keep our interest going and crazy surprising samples ( or
did you ever suspect to hear a Bruce Springsteen sample or a
sped up “Delilah” mariachi horns section on a Wu album ??? )
. 9th’s new producer manages to find suiting beats/music for
every mood 9th wants to handle: from rage ( Raised Cain) to
melancholy ( Younger Gods Pt II) to Killarmy anno 2010
tracks ( Lyrical disaster) to menacing monster funk tracks (
Double O9, I will rise) … BP delivers the goods . Stamp
“approved”. If the new Killarmy album does come through, plz
give this man a spot or two on it.
So far the good news …
When it comes to reaching the self- heralded new high
lyrical standards … I feel 9th Prince has missed the ball …
completely .
His flow has not gotten any better , au contraire I fear.
When one really focuses on his poor flow instead of the
great music, sitting through this album seems like hard
work, which is a shame . The flow problem is especially
clear whenever a guest appears : 9th Prince gets outshined
by every guest on the album ( except for Islord and Boy
Jones who tries to bring his own ODB style on the mic and
fails miserably at it . I really think someone should have
told Boy Jones he needs to look for his own style instead ,
because as we all know “ODB: there ain’t no father to his
style” … and quite clearly no son too I’m afraid).
Subject wise this album is also rather disappointing to me :
In the very first track 9th claims “my wisdom is deep” and
on the last track he assures us he’s “better than Nas “ .
But unfortunately between these 2 statements we get the
exact opposite : numerous references to his time in jail ,
endlessly repeating the fact he has a bulletproof car,
“wise” lines like “ shooting at cops for fun”, “show my
daughter how to bust a gun, at 13” ( but at the same time
saying “Thou shall not kill” … ??? )
When 9th tries to do a concept song like writing a love
letter from prison to R ‘n B “chicks” or a street crime tale
with the help of Islord, the end result is rather mediocre,
leaving me wonder what Ghostface would come up with if he
had a go at it , sigh … The most disappointing example here
is surely “Love/hate” in which 9th Prince sums up a list of
things he hates followed by a list of what he loves . A bit
of irony could have sparked things up but now it’s the
equivalent of a grocery list … that interesting, yes.
Which leads me to the following conclusions :
Musically this album is very entertaining and enjoyable but
for a 9th Prince solo album this is lyrically a major
letdown, mostly saved by the well-chozen guests on the
tracks … which really can’t be the aim of a solo album , can
it ? Not saying he doesn’t come through anywhere, there’s
still a good effort here and there but is it enough to still
look for a copy in the nearest store ?
Well , as the production is very solid and the many guest
verses save the day I’m inclined to recommend a purchase
anyway.
Other conclusion is that (lyrically) I’m now looking more
forward to the announced 4th Killarmy album than the next
9th prince solo album. His flow and bars fit better on a
group album where he gets help from his comrades to share
the mic and hold the weight. Let’s hope that when 9th prince
brings his next solo album, he will by then really have
worked on his flow and darts so we can experience a true
revenge of the 9th prince that time around.
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