January 2009 - Muzikal Mafia

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Muzikal Mafia - January 2009

Various Artist - Notorious Soundtrack Review

January 27th 2009 03:19

Release date: January 13, 2009

Genre: East Coast hip hop, Gangsta rap

Length: 67:45

Label: Bad Boy

In order to make a great movie, you definitely need a great soundtrack, and thay's what we get with the Notorious Soundtrack - a great mix of Biggie's best jams with some minor new tracks from various rappers.

The classic Notorious Thugs featuring Bone Thugs-N-Harmony starts things off with a bang. There are no words to describe this song. It is simply beautiful when compared to the rap we have now. Biggie's voice fits well the beat but unfortunately, Bone Thugs doesn't fit with Biggie on this track.

Hypnotize is another classic track from Brooklyn's finest. The bass is dope and the lyricism is just as sick as it was when it first came out. It is followed by Notorious, the kind of song you jam to for years and years without ever getting tired.
HYPNOTIZE MUSIC VIDEO

The song Juicy – an autobiography of B.I.G. - is simply WOW. The beat is classic, the lyrics kill it, I played this song at least ten time non-stop, no joke.

JUICY MUSIC VIDEO

Party & Bullsh** is a new track for me. I loved it in the movie. It's the kind of song you can use to liven up a party. It's a banger, another classic in my opinion. I'm going to play this at every party now.

Warning is CLASSIC BIGGIE, one of his sickest track. The beat sounds gangster and hardcore, and Biggie murders the mic.

One More Chance Remix features Faith Evans and is the kind of song you can just chill and relax too. The rhythm is sweet and smooth. Play this song, it's just... The original version is also on this album as the twelth track.

Brooklyn Go Hard by Jay-Z features Santogold. This track came out at the end of 2008 and could seriously be considered as Brooklyn's anthem. Produced by Kanye West, this song is off the hook, you won't be disappointed. As usual, Jay-Z does his thing, making this track sick as hell.
BROOKLYN WE GO HARD MUSIC VIDEO

Letter To B.I.G is a track by Jadakiss and features Faith Evans. It's the kind of song you listen to because of the lyrics, not the beat. Still, the instrumental is pretty sick, and the song is cool – a nice one from Jada.

The tenth track is Kick In The Door. WOAH. Biggie on the mic, Prem on the beat, what more can you ask for? The way DJ Premier flipped this sample is crazy. Biggie's verse is crazy and the hook is great.

The beat on What's Beef is pretty sick thanks to violin. Unfortunately, the snare was annoying in the sense that it was hitting too much. But other than that, the song is nice.

World Is Filled features Too Short and is pretty average when compared to previous tracks. It has a smooth bass line but nothing makes it special.

Similarly, if you listen to the original version of Microphone Murderer, it's going to sound ugly. But, it was sick in the movie, BIG simply took the mic and ripped it.
Guaranted Raw's beat has those killer big-ass kicks. It's a motherf**** banger but the low quality makes Big's lyrics incomprehensible.

The bass line in Love No Ho starts like the classic “Nuttin' But A G Thing” but gets different as the song advances. I found this track boring. Big didn't sound like he wanted to eat the mic that day. He's simply story-telling, the beat is just kick and snare so...

I couldn't find The Notorious Theme by Danny Elfman which is the thirteenth track of the album.

In the end, I give this album a 8.5/10. 1/3 of the album is classic, the second third did what it had to do, and the last one could've been better but it was really old school; that's why I give it a 8.5. I wouldn't recommend buying it because there's really nothing new if you already have all of Biggie's albums. I say the label don't need more money for not even working hard except making a compilation. Still, it's a nice album.

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Posted By: Alain - Category: Rap / Hip Hop

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Good Charlotte - Greatest Remixes Album Review

January 12th 2009 05:37

Release date: November 24, 2008

Genre: Dance rock, synthpop, hip hop

Length: 55:37

Label: Epic, Daylight

After releasing four successful albums, pop-punk band Good Charlotte decided to release a greatest hits compilation. However, instead of putting all their hits together in one neat – but familiar – little package, they opted for remixes of their singles by various artists in the music biz. Perhaps inspired by Linkin Park's 2002 Reanimation, the album is heavy in hip hop material but also techno/electro and reggae.

The Jamaican reggae sound shows up in three songs – Los Angeles Worldwide, Broken Hearts Parade, and Predictable. Los Angeles Worldwide is the first of three previously unreleased songs on the album. Its pop sound is infused with a reggae-like bassline that can be heard around the first verse and chorus parts of the song. The chorus is hip hop-influenced as Joel sings:

Everything's alright
From the top to the bottom, from the bottom to the top
From the start to the finish
No, we just can't stop

Everything's alright
From the city to the hills
And the streets to the beaches
It feels good to pay the bills
And buy a new pair of sneakers

It's not exactly hardcore rap material, but it gets the job done on MTV if you know what I mean.

Broken Hearts Parade is from their fourth album Good Morning Revival. The version found on this album was remixed by Marshall Arts and features Tabi Bonney and Philieano. This time the Jamaican sound is a lot more prominent in the guitar and bassline. The voice track is virtually unchanged. The result is a really bad remix where Joel's singing doesn't fit at all with instrumental. There's some rapping towards the end, and both rappers' flow match the beat so well that you have to wonder why they didn't just put a completely new rap track instead of keeping the same lyrics. Predictable (from their third album The Chronicles Of Life And Death) has the same problem as Broken Hearts Parade. Remixed by Stress the Whiteboy and featuring Razhii Hi-Power, the song is a mess but after a second listen, it's actually better than Broken Hearts Parade – the remix - if you can believe that. Once again, the voice track is the same and doesn't fit with the instrumental.

The second 'new' song of this compilation is Anxiety which feels like a leftover from the Good Morning Revival album. Imagine the same musical structure as Good Morning Revival's lead single The River and you've got Anxiety.

Fight Song featuring rapper The Game is the third 'new' song on Greatest Remixes. The credits list Jay E as the remixer, so I don't know if there's another version of this track. The Game goes well with the beat. From the lyrics, it sounds like a political song, but it's not as impressive as other artists' work. The chorus is the weakest part of the song. Benji (or Joel) sounds like he's trying to emulate Linkin Park's Chester Bennington but fails miserably. Take out the chorus (or re-work it) and you've got a good song.

The hip hop theme keeps going with Keep Your Hands Off My Girl (from Good Morning Revival) featuring Bubba Sparxxx and Jung Tru, and remixed by Dead Executives. One can easily guess that this is commercial rap, nothing more. It's decent – if you're interested in that kind of music. Joel should leave rapping to the professionals. The original is way better in my opinion. Although it was a weak attempt at a Beastie Boys imitation, it's better than this one.

Another rapper makes an appearance on this record – Hollywood Holt features on The Anthem (from Good Charlotte's second album The Young And The Hopeless) remixed by Million $ Mano. The song has a nice techno beat and this time the original voice track doesn't appear at all except for the lines “This is the anthem” and “Throw all your hands up” which are incorporated into the beat. Hollywood Holt spits a decent verse but like Keep Your Hands Of My Girl, it's only commercial rap.

I Just Wanna Live (from The Chronicles Of Life And Death) was remixed by Teddy Reilly. Here again the voice track is kept intact and doesn't match a slowed-down techno beat with a huge kick. The same problem surfaces in All Black (from Good Morning Revival) which features Mat DeVine and was remixed by The White Affair. Not only that, but the instrumental was also awful.

Little Things (from their debut album Good Charlotte) was remixed by Patrick Stump and is a complete failure. First of all, the chipmunk voice is really really annoying. Secondly, the beat is nothing special. You have to wonder if they actually listened to the stuff before releasing it.

A cover of Dance Floor Anthem (from Good Morning Revival) by Metro Station makes up the tenth track of this album. With another singer on the mic, the voice track actually meshes in well with the instrumental. This is one of the few decent songs on this record, and even then, it's only decent because the others are so bad.

The remix of Girls & Boys (from The Young And The Hopeless) by Ed Banger Allstars has a great instrumental. Unfortunately, the voice track is the same as the original with a couple of delays here and there. It's a decent track, I really love the instrumental on that one, a poor man's version of Nine Inch Nails.

In the introduction, I wrote that Good Charlotte might have been influenced by Linkin Park in the decision to release remixes of their hits. Well, Linkin Park's own Joseph Hahn makes an appearance with the remix of The Young & The Hopeless (from the album of the same name). His signature sound is unmistakable – drum machine, ambient and synthesizer sounds, turntable scratching, and the Madden brothers' singing going through a voice filter all make this track one of the best, if not the best, remix found on this album.

Remixed by The Academy Is..., Hold On (from The Young & The Hopeless) is one of the few tracks where the original voice track goes well with the instrumental which is in the domain of electronica. The only downside to it is that the new instrumental takes away the seriousness of the song's lyrics which deal with suicide.

Finally, the album concludes with Where Would We Be Now remixed by Troublemaker. The original track found on Good Morning Revival was very similar to Coldplay's Clocks instrumental-wise (especially the drum pattern) and the remix is another electronica track. Nothing impressive.

Apart from two or three tracks, this album is pure garbage. Fans will cry that they tried something different, and it doesn't matter anyway because Good Charlotte is currently working on their fifth record, but you have to wonder who approved for this... thing to be sold at music stores around the world. It will probably appeal to the pre-teen and thirteen/fourteen-year-old crowd, but other than that avoid this one at all costs. I give it a 2.25 out of 5. 2.5 would be the average mark but I feel that it's lower than that. The 0.25 comes from the fact that one or two tracks got better after a couple of listens.

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Posted By: Ann 2 - Category: Pop

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Scarface-Emeritus Album Review

January 6th 2009 00:36

Release date: December 2, 2008

Genre: Hip hop

Label: Rap-A-Lot Records, Asylum Records

Houston rapper Scarface, one of the South's best, released his album Emeritus a month ago. Scarface has then gone on to say that this would be his last record.

Emeritus starts with a four-minute long Intro in which J. Prince talks about his arrestation and prosecution.

High Powered featuring Papa Reu follows. The beat of this song is sick and G with the big bass, big kick, and big snare mixed with some claps. Scarface kills it as usual, but I didn't like the chorus. I don't understand why they had to add the singing.

The third track, Forget About Me, features Bun B and Lil' Wayne. With the names Cool and Dre behind the boards, you know this is gonna to be a great BANGER, and it is. Weezy gets the first verse. I usually think that he sucks, but I gotta hand it to him, he has the skills on this one. Scarface still manages to kill it despite ordinary rhyming. Bun B kills it – you can tell he's a true G by hearing only his voice. But the best part of this track is the chorus. I don't know if Cool and Dre used a sample or if they found a singer, but the way the girl sang with the beat was sick.

Can't Get Right features Bilal and is produced by Nottz. The beat is sick and sweet. How can you judge Face's lyricism. Bilal sings on the chorus. Personally, I think his singing was right for this song.

Can't Get Right Music Video

Still Here features Shateish. Both performers fit well with the beat. The beat is sweet but when you listen to Can't Get Right which was produced by the same person (Nottz), you can't help but feel that Still Here's beat is weaker than the previous track. Still, this beat is pretty cool.

It's Not A Game has a Dirty South kind of beat. What can I say? Scarface does his thing as usual. The chorus is sick with a girl singing. The beat is dope, and was produced by newcomer Illmind.

Who Are They features K-Rino and Slim Thug. It's another Dirty South beat once again produced by Illmind. This one is dope but I prefer It's Not A Game. Some people say the Dirty South is killing hip hop. I beg to differ. See, Who Are They is also a Dirty South beat, but Scarface, K-Rino, and Slim Thug have the lyricism to keep that shit banging and smart. At first listen, I didn't even notice that K-Rino and Slim Thug were on this until I saw the featured guests list. I thought it was Scarface all along. The chorus is nice, again with the girl singing.

The eighth track, Soldier Story, is unusual because Face is not on it. The Product and Z-Ro are the only performers here. The beat is smooth, but I didn't like neither rapper's voice – they didn't fit with the beat. I have no idea why Scarface put this song on his album.

Redemption Song starts with the beat and Scarface spitting on it straight away. It's a pretty simple song, not a banger, only average for me.

The beat on High Note is sweet as hell. Scarface fits on it very well. The chorus was even better with the girl singing in the background.

We Need You features Wacko and has the Southern sound. It's a pretty ordinary track, it even started to get repetitive.

Unexpected also features Wacko on the chorus. And again, it's an ordinary track. Nothing special.

Emeritus is the final full-song of the album. The beat sounds like some kind of military drill song due to the snare. This song is tight. Scarface spits non-stop, getting sicker and sicker. He took some lines from G-Code, but that's what made it sick.

Finally, the Outro is just a dope, sick-ass beat.

Sweet, nice, and G is all I got to say about this album. It has everything: from the new gangster shit to the old, smooth gangster shit.Scarface rips it and I wasn't disappointed by the featured guests. I give this album a 9/10. The album starts really well then calms down a bit until Emeritus brings it back to the dope shit. Scarface – King of the South, no doubt.

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Posted By: Alain - Category: Rap / Hip Hop

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