An opinion that I have that is sure to rile up a rage in even the calmest of hip-hop heads is the following - Busta Rhymes' first three album run is my favourite three-album-run in the history of hip-hop. Sure, Busta doesn't have the subject matter most of the time, but, on his first three projects at least, he made up for that with charisma, charm, incredible usage of vocabulary and one of the best flows the game has ever seen. Not only was his singles game the best at the time, with tracks like "Gimme Some More", "Dangerous" and "Woo-Hah!! Got You All In Check" all probably making my top 50 favourite songs of all time, but his deeper cuts were equally potent, and sometimes better - take "Everything Remains Raw" as a prime example, or perhaps "Where We Are About To Take It". I maintain to this day that Busta was, at this time, the best rapper in the world. And so, you can imagine that Busta's fourth album would have had me hyped to no end, if I happened to a) have been alive in 2000, and/or b) have listened to his discography in order (I popped this one in before When Disaster Strikes... - it just arrived sooner, and I couldn't help it, okay!). This was to be a monumental release.
Busta Rhymes released Anarchy in the middle of 2000, and if we're being honest, he had a lot of explaining to do, having spent the past five years telling us that the world was about to end, and there was "no time to be taking time for granted". January 1st 2000 was, scientifically at least, just like any other day, and Busta probably spent the majority of those 24 hours pacing around the city, wondering how and where it had all gone so wrong. Nah, I'm just kidding. He probably just went to the strip club, or to go buy another apocalyptical movie, or something like that. What he didn't do, however, was write any lyrics at all that made apology for his wrongness about Y2K (I'm not expecting anything sincere, as that would be silly, but addressing the problem can only make things better, Busta!) - instead, he seemed to write most of the lyrics to his up-and-coming album while of the belief that the apocalypse had indeed begun, and so-called "Anarchy" had ensued. And so when the album came out, we were greeted with a project that was basically a rehash of his previous work, with no new thoughts put into it whatsoever, and a complete lack of-
Wait - I should probably save the personal views for the end, shouldn't I?
Anyway, Anarchy was pretty much a commercial disaster. The two singles, "Get Out!!" and "Fire" didn't make it to the Billboard 200 at all, and despite a feature list that included Jay-Z, DMX and Lenny Kravitz (among others, but do we really think Ghostface Killah and Raekwon were going to improve sales?), the project only managed to go Gold, a meagre achievement in comparison to the easy Platinum of Extinction Level Event and the albums that came before it. Still, despite the Janet Jackson fans not picking this one up, hip-hop heads were ecstatic to see the back cover - lots of solo tracks, but also guest appearances from, as I already mentioned, Jay-Z, DMX, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon and M.O.P. (Roc Marciano is here too, but no-one knew who he was back then). Not only that, but we had production from Swizz Beatz, DJ Scratch, Nottz, Rockwilder, Just Blaze, Large Professor and (drum roll please) J Dilla, who had been left off E.L.E., much to the dismay of Busta's fans who enjoyed classic joints such as "So Hardcore" and "Still Shining". The album cover is also bloody phenomenal, and was enough to psyche me up about this thing completely.
So, did this album deliver in the way the cover art, feature list AND producer list all insinuated that it would? Well, the long and short of it is this:
NO.
1. Intro: The Current State Of Anarchy (no producer credited)
Unlike the previous three Busta album intros, this one is not entertaining at all. A lot of the news report excerpts are sped up and inaudible, and the little kid that starts shouting obscenities at me towards the end makes me want to take this CD out, bite it in half, and use the shards to stab myself in the ears. It's that bad.
2. Salute Da Gods!! (prod. D.J. Scratch)
Despite using a prominent sample and interpolation of a song titled "Betcha, By Golly, Wow!", this opening song isn't all bad, you know. If you ignore the relentless screaming in the background, Busta's singing on the hooks is pretty solid, and the long-ass verse in-between is lyrically sound and has quite a proportion of memorable lines. The beat also really does offer the same mood the cover art was going for, so that's great. This would have been a far better way to open the album than that godawful intro, that's for sure.
3. Enjoy Da Ride (prod. Jay Dee)
Well, that was weird. J Dilla's incredibly passive instrumental seems to force Busta into using a weird, slightly babyish tone throughout this one that kinda distracts from the hardcore shit that he's saying. Still, nice to see him experimenting, and the hook is all kinds of catchy. Once again, pretty good stuff.
4. We Put It Down For Y All (prod. Swizz / Swizz Beatz, Part II)
Despite his apparent love for the exclamation mark, this track's title on the back cover would lead one to believe that Busta was allergic to the apostrophe, or at least he was until the later tracks "We Comin' Through" and "C'mon All My Niggaz, C'mon All My Bitches". Anyway, this song is home to arguably the best Swizz beat of the man's entire career, giving a bleak and haunting atmosphere through the use of hard and dizzying sythns. It's a pity, then, that Busta wastes this instrumental by spitting two verses completely devoid of creativity, and a hook that could potentially be used to torture prisoners of war it's so bad. This beat had so much potential, but Busta's awful performance ruins it from the get-go. Damn.
5. Bladow!! (prod. Scott Storch)
Ridiculous title aside, this one seems to juxtapose the previous track. Busta actually does a good job on here, offering some nice quotable bars and interesting flows, and a hook that is far, far better than the miserable one on the last song. Unfortunately, Scott Storch's beat has a rhythm that feels too sea shanty-ish, and that makes it very difficult to take this one seriously. Another let down.
6. Street Shit (prod. Just Blaze)
Okay, now this one is straight up garbage. Just Blaze offers up an instrumental that is so far from Jay-Z's "Soon You'll Understand" and Prodigy's "Diamond" that it is impossible to tell that it was made in the same year and by the same man as those two. The melody is made up by a series of beeps that grate on the ear like a fire alarm, and Busta decides to give up on the idea of "creativity" completely, opting for generic braggadocios, thuggish and rough bars that for some reason shout out Xzibit and Tash of Tha Alkaholiks at some point. Other than that, there's really nothing of note here - you would do well to skip through this. "Shit" indeed.
7. Live It Up (prod. Jay Dee)
Imagine "Enjoy Da Ride" if it was dull and stupid, and you've got this. Sure, the beat's quite pleasant, but even that's poor for Dilla's standard. Remember, he made Common's "Dooinit" this same year. Busta, what happened to the dope-ass beats on your first three albums? Then again, what happened to the dope-ass rhymes?
8. Fire (prod. Busta Rhymes)
9. All Night (prod. Swizz / Swizz Beatz, Part II)
And then we're presented with, of all things, this? Swizz Beatz' production has fallen straight back into mediocrity, and Busta once again doesn't come across as interesting at all - in fact, he's downright boring, a criticism I should never have to level towards the man. This guy made "Gimme Some More"?
10. Show Me What You Got (prod. Jay Dee)
J Dilla provides a much richer instrumental than his previous contributions here, and the result was possibly the most meaningful track of Busta's career up to this point, not that that's much of an award - it's like saying "the least obnoxious NBA Youngboy verse". Despite Busta apparently having lost his ability to sing properly, the verses and melodies on here are very entertaining, and Busta's raspy voice that is utilised throughout this thing is put to good use here, with it accentuating his wide vocabulary very well. This was, all in all, very good.
11. Get Out!! (prod. Nottz)
12. The Heist (feat. Raekwon the Chef, Ghostface Killa & Roc-Marciano of the Flipmode Squad) (prod. Large Professor)
That's right, folks: Roc Marciano's first big break was as a member of Flipmode Squad, presumably as a replacement for the now departed Lord Have Mercy (anyone else wonder where the hell he went?). Who knew? Well, I did, so there. More importantly, this one features Ghostface and Raekwon of Wu-Tang Clan, the former of which was just about in his prime at this stage, and as such, this song succeeds. Rae does a solid job, but Ghostface really brings it on this one with an excellent verse and track presence that is a nice contrast to what Bus had done on the previous 10 solo joints (yeah - that was too much). Busta himself has a great verse on here too, and the Large Professor production work is eerie as anything. This was a great cut.
13. A Trip Out Of Town (prod. Nottz)
Having spent a short session with Rae and Ghost, it seems Busta was looking over their shoulders, and noticed that they both seemed to, rather than going on about partying and the end of the world, be telling something called a "story". Busta then decided he wanted in on that action, and wrote this crime tale that would be at home on a Raekwon project, but sounds very unique on this Busta Rhymes album, and it's all the better for it. Nottz' violin-led beat is intense and hypnotic, and Busta's rhymes are everything you would want - exciting, filled with nice vocabulary, and actually saying something of importance for once. Honestly one of the best Busta songs released after 2000.
14. How Much We Grew (prod. DJ Shok)
While I appreciate Busta doing a more personal song, and an autobiographical one at that, the beat and singing on this one both equate to straight arsecrack. This song is truly horrible to listen to - you're better off just reading Busta's lyrics on Genius, which standing alone are pretty good.
15. Here We Go Again (feat. The Flipmode Squad) (prod. Just Blaze)
Anarchy was the first Busta album to be released after Lord Have Mercy's departure from Flipmode Squad, and rather than seek out someone similar, they decided instead to induct a fairly high-pitched and, well, normal MC in the shape of Roc Marciano. Just thought I'd bring that short piece of information up. Anyway, this is easily the worst Flipmode Squad track up to this point, and probably the worst full stop. Just Blaze's beat sounds oddly similar to his only other one on here ("Street Shit"), which is to say not very bloody good, and none of the crewmen even really seem to try, offering dull and uninspired flows over a beat that sounds like it belongs in the circus. This is not good, my friends.
16. We Comin' Through (prod. D.J. Scratch)
Jeez, this album is long. Busta Rhymes chooses the worst and most annoying DJ Scratch beat in existence to spit over, and relays his lyrics with a whiny tone and godawful flow. This is one of his worst songs ever.
17. C'mon All My Niggaz, C'mon All My Bitches (prod. D.J. Scratch)
The past three paragraphs may lead you to believe I'm straight hating on this album, but I absolutely promise you I'm not - I really did want to like this thing, believe me. Now, this song - this is the type of shit I'm looking for on a Busta album. DJ Scratch provides a brilliant violin-led beat ("A Trip Out Of Town", the other genuinely incredible track here, did something similar - interesting...) that is the complete antithesis of the whack-ass random shit he did on the last track, and Busta Rhymes experiments with the lightning-fast flows for the first time on here, with incredible results. This is almost like a middle ground between "Gimme Some More" and "Break Ya Neck" - the creepiness of the former and unpredictable flows of the latter are both present here in spades, along with numerous other similarities of course. This shit is absolutely wonderful. "Even though it's kinda ill, nigga, follow the flow!"
18. Make Noise (feat. Lenny Kravitz) (prod. Rockwilder)
Having inspected the tracklist of this album, I deduced that, out of all the songs here, this was the one I was looking forward to the least, as Busta's last attempt at a rock collaboration, "This Means War!!" with Ozzy Osbourne, was a bit of a disaster, and Rockwilder's production seemed to be more miss than hit once the millennium struck. Still, I didn't mind this joint too much. Yes, the Rockwilder instrumental is goofy and underwhelms after the enticing introduction, and the Lenny Kravitz guitar solo is out of place, but the latter thankfully doesn't provide any vocals at all, and Busta's flows are pretty electrifying on this one. Even the hook is bearable. Yay!
19. Ready For War (feat. M.O.P.) (prod. Busta Rhymes)
Now, it seems, we're getting into the section of the album with all the big name features, and next up is M.O.P., the unusually enraged duo who can tear up a track, but also have the ability to bring it down to the dirt if they don't fit the mood right. Here, they affect the track for the worse, although Busta's entirely sleepy self-produced beat doesn't help with the song much either. This motivational content is complete drivel to me, and the fact a lot of people seem to like this one is pretty puzzling if I'm honest. Still, each to their own. I find this to be pretentious and pointless bullshit, with one of the worst hooks of Busta's career. "This is hip-hop in the wrong way" - you got that right. Who wanted to hear this after "Ante Up (Remix)"??
20. Why We Die (feat. DMX & Jay Z) (prod. P. Killer For Trackz)
Now, this one is pretty good, but for the names appearing on this cut - three rappers who easily slide into my top 20 - it could have been better. PK's production starts off sounding pretty damn good, but unfortunately it seems to get more and more monotonous throughout the song's runtime. X starts things off with a powerful verse, with great bars about his struggles as a poor and angry young man: "want the truth? I kinda miss robbin' and stealin', 'cause it kept a nigga hungry, only eatin' when I starved. I was ugly, so I robbed; no one loved me—shit was hard". Jigga and Busta do well too, and the hook is pretty nice, but the beat kinda lets this one down, I'm afraid. A shame.
21. Anarchy (prod. Nottz)
Nottz provides a beat that really does sound like anarchy has taken place, and it exhibits the cold and bleak feeling of the album cover very well. Busta finally gets down to business on this one, rapping about the end of the world with competence, and giving some reasons that seem to point to why he believes the world is at an end, even if it being the year 2000 seemingly had nothing particularly to do with it. The lullaby hook also works quite well, even though it shouldn't. Yeah, I enjoyed this one quite a bit.
22. Outro (no producer credited)
Quick outro that's pretty interesting, even though it's nowhere near as grand as those on his previous three albums.
Bloody hell, that was long. Anarchy is, to put it kindly, a huge fucking letdown. Not only a letdown for how bloody incredible that album artwork is, but also for how brilliant Busta's prior work was. Hell, even if I heard the lead single "Get Out!!" before the album, I still would have been disappointed - at least Busta retains his great abilities on there, even if the concept was stolen and played out. This album is unbelievably bloated - not only is the sequencing horrible, with every single feature showing up in the second half, but this thing is over 78 minutes long, which is just ridiculous. Pretty much every song is of average length, and if you're going to make a 22 track album, then you should probably a) vary the track times, b) chuck in some skits, and c) not make a 22 track album. The problem is that Busta might have been able to pull one off, if his lyrical content hadn't become so stale. On this album, Busta is sometimes excellent, but more often pretty uninteresting, and occasionally annoying - not a good thing. The rapping here is pretty one-dimensional, but some of the flows and vocal inflections he uses are just wrong. This album also has quite a few utterly horrible moments - the track run from 14 to 16 comes to mind - and a large proportion of godawful beats and hooks that leave the thing as a very inconsistent mess that more often strays into bad or mediocre than actually great. Yes, there are a few gems on here, but for the most part you'll want to steer clear of this thing. Busta could have and should have done better, and Elektra let him know this by promptly dropping him from the label - hah!! (Okay, he left on his own terms, but still, "artistic license" and all that).
Best Tracks: Salute Da Gods!!, Fire, Show Me What You Got, The Heist, A Trip Out Of Town, C'mon All My Niggaz C'mon All My Bitches, Anarchy
Worst Tracks (these are all dreadful): Street Shit, All Night, How Much We Grew, Here We Go Again, We Comin' Through, Ready For War
Want to read some other, far more positive Busta Rhymes reviews? Say no more...
All images taken from Discogs
No comments:
Post a Comment