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1. THE JUMP OFF
Noreaga sounds about as giddy as a crackhead who just sold his Blu-Ray disc player for ten bucks, with another rock to be procured just around the corner. Not surprisingly, this rap album intro is about as worthless as Monopoly money.
2. BANNED FROM TV (FEAT CAM'RON, NATURE, BIG PUNISHER, JADAKISS, & STYLES P)
There's a lot of nostalgic love for this Swizz Beats-produced posse cut, whose participants were selected with the aid of folded-up squares of paper and a comically oversized magician's hat. (White gloves were optional, but recommended.) The reality is that this song is rather fucking stupid. I liked Cameron's verse, and Pun sounded as good as he always did, but as a whole, this “monumental” track is underwhelming. But then again, I didn't like the song that much back in 1998, either, back when all of these rappers were fresh out of the box and "mattered" (except for Nature, who, to my knowledge, nobody ever really gave two shits about).
3. I LOVE MY LIFE (FEAT CARL THOMAS)
This song is altogether pleasant, even though I'm not usually a fan of random collaborations between rappers and R&B singers that probably never shared the same room while recording the track. It appears much too early in N.O.R.E.'s tracklisting, though: you're supposed to reflect on your success after bragging about all the shit you have for at least seven tracks, Victor. Maybe he was just thankful that he wasn't the one in the cell while Capone was building a solo career.
4. N.O.R.E.
The Trackmasters-produced first single, which, had anybody at the label had the foresight as to how game-changing the second single would be, would have probably been quietly deleted from the album. This song has a weird sound and never becomes as catchy as it believes itself to be. Clever as ever, Noreaga changed the meaning of the title's acronym for the radio: it went from “N----z On the Run Eatin'” to “Now we On the Run Eatin'”. It didn't really help.
5. HED INTERLUDE
Groan...
6. HED (FEAT NATURE)
Just the mere fact that I just wrote that a Noreaga song entitled “Hed” (for a song about enjoying blowjobs, that title is even less subtle that N*E*R*D's “Brain”) features another guy (Nature, in a choral cameo that easily could have been deleted) makes me chuckle. The aural mess that make up the “drums” on here are horrible, but the melody that plays in the background is actually quite good. Unlike the rest of this song.
7. IT'S NOT A GAME (FEAT MAZE & MUSOLINI)
Noreaga's middle verse starts off approaching a somewhat serious topic (how to handle an argument between friends without choosing sides), but then, predictably, turns into random Noreaga-type shit. (We get it, man: you love blowjobs. So does every guy in the fucking world, whether they're straight or gay. You're not in the minority: you don't need to shout it from the rooftops. I love blowjobs too, but I don't write about that in every write-up.) The weed carriers are of no consequence, but SPK's piano-driven beat is a good one.
8. FIESTA (FEAT KID CAPRI)
I thought this song was really fucking awful back in the day, and it would always provoke my use of the 'skip' button. However, even though it still sucks today, I'm surprised at how much this one crappy song foreshadows Noreaga's excursions into reggaeton. Huh.
9. 40 ISLAND (FEAT KOOL G RAP & MUSOLINI)
In contrast, I loved this song back in the day, and it remains one of my favorite Noreaga tracks, even though it is, admittedly, a blatant rip-off of an older Kool G Rap song (but at least he included the song's original players, both on the mic and behind the boards, so that was nice of him). Marley Marl's beat is dramatic as fuck, and although G Rap is the only guy that sounds comfortable over it (naturally, as it was his song before), Noreaga and his chief potholder do alright for themselves.
10. THE WAY WE LIVE (FEAT CHICO DEBARGE)
Sure, the fact that Chico DeBarge is making an appearance on a Noreaga album (the man who created the catchphrase “Thugged Out!”) is amusing, but you can't help but feel bad for the guy. It definitely doesn't help that the man sings a chorus that rips off the hook from Atlantic Starr's “Secret Lovers”. Hmm.
11. ANIMAL THUG INTERLUDE
This is actually really fucking racist.
12. THE CHANGE
Beat-wise, Kurt Gowdy's production sounds like a leftover from The War Report. And probably because of that fact, I found myself liking this track, save for the corny-as-hell chorus.
13. SUPERTHUG (FEAT TAMMY LUCAS & PHARRELL WILLIAMS)
Beat-wise, this Neptunes-produced track sounds absolutely nothing like anything Noreaga had done up to this point. This is frequently touted as the track that broke Pharrell and Chad through to the mainstream, and hearing N.O.R.E.'s second single today is still an amusing experience, as it sounds kind of like a primer for their sound: Neptunes Club Banger 101, as it were. Still, it sounds really good, and is preferable to the shit that Pharrell passes off as “Neptunes” production when it's really work that he has done by himself. For my money, Noreaga is in the top five when it comes to the best rappers to ever work with the Neptunes. It shouldn't be a surprise to learn that the Neptunes influence grew exponentially over the rest of Noreaga's catalog.
14. DA STORY (FEAT MAZE)
I've decided that whenever Noreaga channels his past self who appeared on The War Report, his lyrics are far more tolerable. The presence of his bored weed carrier on the hook is a detriment, though.
15. MATHEMATICS (ESTA LOCA)
I'm not sure about my two readers, but if my kid's first words were “What What!”, I would be more than a little bit concerned. If my kid released a song that was as convoluted as this shit, I would assume that they just didn't have any sense.
16. THE ASSIGNMENT (FEAT BUSTA RHYMES, SPLIFF STAR, & MAZE)
If this song were released today, you could tag it as a Kanye West production and nobody would question it (except maybe Kanye himself). (Instead, it was created by Nashiem Myrick, of Puff Daddy's Hitmen (he's the guy who creates the cinematic moody beats) and J. Waxx Garfield, who later worked with Gza/Genius and Cormega.) Sure, this track would have had much more of an impact had Nore and Busta left their respective weed carriers in the car, but the song itself is still pretty decent. Not only does Busta dismiss Noreaga's potholder by failing to mention his name in the hook (although he makes damn sure to name-drop Spliff Star), Nore also pushes poor Maze out of the way to spit a second verse. Hi-larious!
17. BODY IN THE TRUNK (FEAT NAS)
Dame Grease's beat is distracting, which isn't a good thing, considering that Nas and Nore are trying to tell a fucking story. It shouldn't surprise anybody to discover that Nas outshines his host on so many levels that I've lost count, but Noreaga doesn't entirely suck on here, which is a plus.
18. ONE LOVE
Oddly, this is not a song, but an overly long interlude featuring Noreaga on the phone with an incarcerated Capone. The sentiment is sweet, and from a marketing standpoint, I understand the importance of keeping the Capone-N-Noreaga brand alive, but there's no reason this needed to go on forever.
19. OUTRO (FEAT EVE BRENNER)
At least Noreaga thanks me for listening to the entire album. Not many artists go out of their way to do that, and I appreciate it.
FINAL THOUGHTS: N.O.R.E. Is the rare rap album that starts off sounding pretty awful, but picks up steam in a serious way during its second half. (Usually it's the other way around.) Noreaga sounds excited at the prospect of a solo career, even though it was kind of forced upon him,and even though most of his beats sound like shit, his own energy is infectious. While this isn't an entirely good (or even decent) album, Noreaga proves that he may be capable of big things in the future, (Obviously, that didn't pan out in real life, but N.O.R.E. gave us the possibility of potential.)
BUY OR BURN? I wouldn't recommend that you go out of your way to pick this up, since the first half is almost uniformly terrible, but the second half is intriguing enough to warrant a burn. Go in with low expectations and you may find this one entertaining.
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1. ROAD TO THE RICHES
First-time listeners (like myself) may be surprised to hear how much a younger G Rap's voice resembles that of Black Thought from The Roots. (That may be due more to a conscious effort by Black Thought than anything else, though: ?uestlove has told many stories about how Road To The Riches is one of Thought's favorite albums.) G Rap completely destroys Marley Marl's beat, and younger listeners will be amazed that rap music sounded like this in the 1980s.
2. IT'S A DEMO
Kind of a really stupid title, since this song is clearly not a demo track, but G Rap demonstrates his craft (hey, I just got it!) over a relatively decent beat that will remind you of Eric B. & Rakim's “I Know You Got Soul”.
3. MEN AT WORK
There's just something about rapping over the “Apache” breakbeat: Black Thought sounded great on “Thought @ Work” (which was obviously influenced by this track), and Wale did alright by himself on his Black Thought tribute, but for the hip hop heads that have been in it for the long haul, Kool G Rap is the end-all be-all, and this song is fucking awesome, even today. Go ahead, my younger readers: go to Youtube and give this track a spin before finishing this write-up. It's okay, I can wait.
4. TRULY YOURS
Hey, welcome back. Pete Rock was obviously a fan of this song, since he remade it (with G Rap in tow) for the first Soul Survivor disc. G Rap's second verse is incredibly homophobic, and would never fly today, but it is still impressive that he went the entire verse without saying the f-word. (And no, I'm not talking about “fuck”, although he doesn't say that, either.)
5. CARS
Ultimately, this song is kind of silly, but it's still entertaining. What is it about sampling Gary Numan (a revelation that you should have been clued in upon after reading the very title of this song) that makes rappers want to stand out even more? (See: Gza/Genius and The Rza on “Life Is A Movie”.) Hearing rappers sample New Wave tracks is always a plus for me.
6. TRILOGY OF TERROR
While that is a cool fucking title, it would have made more sense if there were two other rappers on this track, or even if G Rap had three verses, but with what we're given, this track is pretty blah.
7. SHE LOVES ME, SHE LOVES ME NOT
The “love rap” that was mandatory on hip hop albums back in the day. G Rap fares better than Big Daddy Kane did, since G Rap's song actually has a really good beat (except for the flourishes during the chorus). It's not that great of a song, as G Rap sounds uncomfortable with the subject matter, but it could sound a lot worse.
8. COLD CUTS
Uses the same sample (one of many, many samples on here) as an Ultramagnetic MC's track, which I can't remember the name of at the moment. After the last song, this gets listeners back up to speed, energy level-wise, since it's essentially the deejay cut, although G Rap does pop up at the beginning.
9. RHYMES I EXPRESS
I wasn't that impressed with this song. It's because of the beat, though: it just didn't work for me.
10. POISON
I never realized that the vocal sample shouting the song title from that Bell Biv Devoe song was from this fucking track. There was no way I could have seen that coming (since I've never owned a Bell Biv Devoe album, so I never would have ever looked at any album credits). Just like most of the tracks on here, “Poison” features G Rap ripping the shit out of the backing Marley Marl beat, with fantastic results.
11. BUTCHER SHOP
G Rap spits an ode to his deejay, Polo, over a beat that is only alright. The lyrics are delivered with a ferocity that is solely lacking from hip hop today, though.
THE LAST WORD: With the exception of a couple of songs, Road To The Riches fucking rocks in a legendary manner, and is completely relevant to today's hip hop audience. Unfortunately, Kool G Rap isn't necessarily the first rapper younger fans think about when they decide to research the history, so this album has likely been bypassed numerous times. Make no mistake, this CD is really good, especially of you're a fan of lyrical delivery. Road To The Riches contains some classic Marley Marl production and choice cuts by DJ Polo, and comes highly recommended by me, which is always nice. Also, the links scattered throughout the post lead you to the 2006 re-release, which is full of demo tracks and alternate takes, which should satisfy the collectors that I know read this blog. Enjoy.
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July 21st, 2009Uncategorized