isbell@athena.mit.edu (Charles L Isbell) (06/26/91)
What up, G?
I'm in here. I'm maxed.
This time: _And Now The Legacy Begins_ by Dream Warriors
Next time: _The One_ by Chubb Rock
Catch Ups: _Seminar_ by Sir MixALot
_Sex Packets_ by Digital Underground
_Movement X_ by Movement X
(some EPMD stuff and probably some Heavy D)
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Distinctiveness: A bit, musically, but not much at all lyrically
Dopeness Rating: Good stuff. I'll give it a dope on average.
Rap Part: The lyrics are okay the first time thru, but grow on
you after awhile. My first impression was an Okay,
but now I'll go for a NotQuiteDope+ (now what the
hell does that mean?).
Sounds: Pretty good stuff, here. Different. Jammin'. It varies
but I'll hang it a Dope.
Message: None, really.
Tracks: 16 tracks at 56 minutes.
Label: 4th and BWay
Profanity: With the nullnessness.
Dream Warriors is King Loo (Lou?) and Capital Q. I'm not sure how you could
miss hearing them, but in case you have, they're not hardcore Bomb Squad
type rappers, rather they're a bit like a danceish version of Brand Nubian,
at least sound wise (they're not even on the same planet lyrically). So
adjust your dopeness scale appropriately.
This was my original intro two days ago:
I bought Dream Warriors the same day I bought KMD. I expected Dream Warriors
to be the better album. I was wrong. But fear not, that's just because KMD's
was so smoov. _And Now The Legacy Begins_ is a nice effort, better than
the average bear and genuinely creative, although I'm afraid the lyrics
don't live up to the sounds. Like Criminal Nation, the music is what
you remember (as opposed to say, LL Cool J or Slick Rick or even the more
balanced groups like PE and Ice Cube or Eric B and Rakim). I think that's
too bad, but your mileage may vary.
Now, after listening to it a few more times, I'll have to say that the
lyrics require a bit more listening. The King loses points for tone
on microphone. He has a nice smooth tip voice, but his lyrics suffer
because his voice doesn't play them up (like Eric B or Chuck D).
So what does this mean for you? Well, it means you might buy this album
and say, "this is a nice sound, but, yo, the lyrics are not up to the
Homeboy From Hell's Dope standards; I've been ganked" and then feel the
need to front on me. Before you treat me like a step cousin, do as I did
and listen to it for another week. I predict that the lyrical level will
become apparent to you.
"Mr Bubbunut Spills His Guts" is a 12 second intro to "My Definition of
A Bombastic Jazz Style." According to radio listening friends, this song
gets played to death, so if you've heard anything by Dream Warriors,
you've probably heard this. I find it hard to describe the sound, other
than to say that it sounds, I dunno, like a psychedlic 60's Tv show. That
isn't a bust because this is a a good track, and pretty representative of
the CD. The composition of sounds is pretty creative here and comes
off well.
"When I kick rhymes it's often said I do damage
Skin so hard even Superman needs a hand.
So bob your head dread as I kick the funk flow.
This rhyme is subliminal, yet you don't think so."
"Bags of mostly water search to find my definition."
"Follow Me Now" is a nice follow up. The sounds switch during the track
much like they do on "My Definition..." and the rest of the album. On first
listen the sounds stay with you longer than the words.
"Who is more the fool?
The fool or the fool who follows the fool?"
"Ludi" must mean something to someone, but it's all lost on me. I guess
it's a game of some sort. It's a fairly short track, but he says something
important here:
"Sometimes I might sound confusing, yes
But the end I'm sure you will find
that makes my style different from the rest
That's why you all bail out REWIND!"
Of course "confusing" != "originality" and "originality" != "good." This may
be my problem with the lyrics and the album in general. I like it, but I
do get the feeling that King Loo and Capital Q looked at De La Soul
and Brand Nubian and decided that "different" is in this year. As a result,
they aren't really different. They still manage to be good at what they
do, but they aren't all that. On the other hand, he's right, in the end
the lyrics sound better.
Anyway, "U Never Know A Good Thing Till U Lose It" uses the same main
line as Brand Nubian's "Feels So Good." It still sounds good, but the
lyrics are partcularly null and void.
"Pause the tape deck--record the intellect."
"And Now the Legacy Begins" is a bit funkier than what has come before.
It makes good use of the sample from whatsthatsong. You know which
one I mean. Remember "Nasty" from back in the day? I hate this. You know
the sound was originally in the song "whatcha gonna do when you get
outta jail? I'm gonna have some fun... fun natural fun." AAAGGGHHHH!
Anyway, "Tune From a Missing Channel" is a particularly dope track. I
really, really like the sounds on this one and the way they're put
together. It really moves me, y'know?
"Oh well they got us living in his hell
fighting for freedom, what a de ja vu
hell and back, oh what a trip
scratch the record until it sticks in my King Loo"
The sounds are dark, somehow, and I picture people moving in slow motion
while the sun sets behind them (hmmmmm, maybe I should sleep more).
The we go off in a totally different direction with "Wash You Face In
My Sink." This is pretty nice, if a bit strange-to-be-strange.
"How does it feel now that I got ya'll to think?
So wash your face in my sink."
"You leave a ring around the basin
when you wash your face in...."
"Voyage Thru The Mulitverse" starts off like thump-thump reggae, but then
thinks better of it. It goes too far, however, and comes off as sort
of standard. It's very different than "U Could Get Arrested" even though
that track, too, is straightforward, lyrically. The drum and the tamborine
do sound very nice, tho'.
"I never said what I was going to do--I just did it."
"Journey On" follows up with a nice sparse sound. Either this helps
show off the lyrics or they are just tighter here. I'm not sure which.
"Don't tempt me, I'm empty.
Don't get too close,
I might absorb your energy.
If you're not a friend of me
I'll grow you like cannibis
Make you give me a hand,
you can't handle us."
"Face In The Basin" is another good sound mix with a good use of
the switch and bait sound that characterizes these guys.
"I'm microwave safe and all that."
I also like both "Do Not Feed The Alligators" and "Twelve Sided Dice."
How could you not like lines like:
"I got my mind on my rhyme like an optical disk drive."
Anyway, both have good sounds and round out the album well.
"I got a hole in my soul about ten feet wide."
"Maximum 60 Lost In A Dream" isn't worth mentioning because it's only
three seconds long and "Answer For The Owl," the CD-only bonus cut isn't
worth mentioning because it's that bad. We'll pretend it isn't there.
Well, I think that this is a pretty good album. The sounds ARE better
than the lyrics tho', so make your purchase accordingly. Before you give
this a try, listen to "My Definiton...', "Tune From The Missing Channel"
and "U Could Get Arrested." If you really like those then go ahead
and pick it up. Otherwise, punt and pick up KMD and Brand Nubian. And
even if you like DW, you might want to pick up one of the other two first.
But that's just one Black man's opinion--what's yours?
Peace.
"It's not up to us to try to understand [rap music].
It's not even up to us to buy it. We just have to
get the f*ck out of the way."
- Pete Townshend
--
Don't just adopt opinions, | \ / | Charles Lee Isbell
develop them. | \/ | Homeboy from hell, living axiom and
------------------------------| /\ | anonymous absolute ruler of the cosmos
MIT has no opinions to adopt. | / \ | isbell@athena.mit.edu, isbell@ai.mit.edu