Must-have music from the Game. He's still defying all those "best rappers in the game" and shutting off Kanye's flashing lights on this new track "Turn Off The Lights." Enjoy!
As G-Unit adds to its entourage, newest member Spider Loc reps the west coast with the release of West Kept Secret: The Prequel (Baymaac/RBC/Koch) setting the stage for his major label debut. Spider Loc uses his laid-back flow to bring subtle realism back to Los Angeles gangsta rap. He keeps to his hustler status without flashing meaningless rhymes, and he does so without getting up in your face. Could it be that G-Unit has finally found the perfect verbal sparring partner to fight off The Game?
Spider's first single, "Blutiful World," throws back to his Crip roots and gang bangin' lifestyle. He spits about the luxurious appeal of bangin'—having everything in life from clothes, and women to drugs and his homies—without coming off as an egomaniac. The best example of his gangsta status is heard on "Big Blacc Boots" featuring Ice Cube. Spider gives props to Cube for being an original gangsta, and Cube's solo proves he'll never be deadbeat, has-been rapper: he kicks, “Drive by music use it don't abuse it/Please don't confuse it with R&B bullshit/Ice Cube ain't no broke back rapper/I'm one flop away from a fuckin' kidnapper/Hip-hop or Hollywood, bitch, I gotta win.”
Spider Loc reflects on the rough life growing up in a gang and always hustling just to get by on "All I Know." He brings conscious lyrics to his not-so-right lifestyle without being regretful. "Pursuing paper is such a dangerous race/He's got hustle in his blood though/His veins are laced/He's still hangs out where his gang is based." And like every hustler out there, Spider puts together his business plan on "Hustle To You Come Up," and raps about the everyday ghetto grind on "Close To The Edge."
West Kept Secret: The Prequel is packed mostly with gang bangin' anthems, but Spider Loc does attempt to show his soft side on "Cry And Cry," a plea to his woman to accept his lifestyle because it's the only way he knows. But "Make You Love Me" sums up who Spider Loc is—a west coast rapper who's going to do anything and everything to come up those charts as the newest spit fire member of G-Unit. "Look close tell me what you really despise/Understand haters make up the silliest lies/I know it's kinda hard to believe and you're hard to deceive/And a lost trust is hard to retrieve/I'm gonna keep it 100 make it harder to breathe in this rap shit/Serenade the heart of the thieves."
Spider's prequel blends 90's gangsta rap music with the current hustler status of Hip-Hop culture. This is just a taste of what we have yet to hear from Spider Loc's G-Unit debut – he's brings more meaning and realism to gang culture than other wannabe hustlers who have suffocated today's rap music. The verbal attacks from The Game have already started; we can only imagine how the retorts will sound.
Originally published @ http://allhiphop.com/blogs/reviews/archive/2007/09/11/18571239.aspx
Welcome to Hustlenomics 101, today we learn to get it done by any means necessary. That pretty much sums up Yung Joc’s latest Hustlenomics (Block Entertainment/Bad Boy South)—lying, cheating, stealing, and genuinely being sly are the building block to any successful hustler. And Joc plays an amazing hustler because he sure did a great job hustling the public into thinking this album would make bank.
Between Joc’s southern drawl and weak rhymes about dealing drugs and being the greatest hustler known to mankind, Hustlenomics is packed with much-needed guest appearances from Hip-Hop’s biggest names Snoop Dogg, Diddy, Jim Jones, The Game and Rick Ross. Joc’s collaborations manage to save this album from itself, yet it’s still a lame collection of get-rich quick anthems.
On the Fixxers produced “Cut Throat” featuring The Game, Jim Jones and Block, Joc and his boys brag about kickin’ it with the greatest gangstas from the east to the west coast. Jones outshines the rest of the players on this track with his solo: “You either slang crack/Or had a wick jump shot/Either or there was no between/It was either be poor/Or move coke and feigns.” On “Getting to da Money,” Joc not so cleverly manages to connect the dots of hustling—it’s all about making money. Really? We had no idea. Thanks, Joc.
“Coffee Shop” has already become a summer favorite because of its playful beat and childish, anthem-like lyrics, but Hustlenomics features jumpin’ club tracks like “BYOB” where Joc rhymes over a Neptunes provided, slinky-like beat, “Gotta make the quota/I mix it with the soda/I chop the dope and sell it/With the rings of the Motorola.” Then there’s the R&B flavored track “Livin’ The Life” where Joc tries to show off his soft side for the ladies as he boasts about his hustler ways and player status.
Giving thanks to his mother on “Momma,” Joc unconvincingly attempts to come off as a newer version of Tupac by showing respect to the game and respect to the woman who made him who he is. Hustlenomics features snippets of greatness which comes mostly from guest artists; on “Brand New,” Snoop’s OG status overshadows Joc’s weak chatter. Joc put this album together with a “go get it” attitude, and unfortunately he fails to actually get anything going. This Bad Boy hustler's ideology lacks a strong thesis as to what really makes a hustler; instead, Hustlenomics is a collaborated effort of weak songs with no vision.
Originally published @ http://allhiphop.com/blogs/reviews/archive/2007/08/27/18484996.aspx
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