Author Topic: Lyricist Lounge Vol 2  (Read 639 times)

On The Edge of Insanity

Lyricist Lounge Vol 2
« on: June 11, 2002, 07:52:56 AM »
Lyricist Lounge Vol 2

After the release of Lyricist Lounge Vol 1 paved the way for the success of many of the rappers featured on it including Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Q-Tip the Lyricist Lounge is back. This time around they have brought back the previously mentioned talent, and mixed it with other well known and some unknown guests.

Notorious BIG: 16 Bars – The opening track on the album, is basically a Biggie freestyle live from the lyricist lounge. The freestyle is pretty tight with that normal lyrical brilliance from the Notorious, and is a good opening for the album, showing what the lyricist lounge is all about. 4/5

Mos Def & Pharoahe Monch feat Nate Dogg: Oh No – Well I think everybody has heard this one, as it was the lead single from the album, and received a lot of airplay. This song introduced the mass market to Mos Def who drops a tight verse to start the joint. As ever Nate Dogg provides a great hook, and Pharoahe spits fire, which all combine to make a classic track. 5/5

Q-Tip & Words: Makin’ It Blend – Typical Q-Tip song here, a slightly strange beat and a memorable hook it between Tips nasal flow which is also pretty much replicated by Words on this track. A pretty good track, but sometimes seems wrong about the way it flows that I can’t quite put my finger on. 3.5/5

Cocoa Brovaz: Get Up – this track has a sort of annoying loop of Get Up during the hook and a sound effect which is practically the same throughout the whole song. However despite of this Cocoa Brovaz drop some tight verses and although this is not great it’s certainly an above average track. 3.5/5

Beanie Sigel: Get That Dough – this is the normal Beanie Sigel or indeed ROC song, it just maintains their normal New York sound, and although Beanie performs well on this track you just wish that for once the ROC would try something a little different. 3.5/5

Royce Da 5’9”: Let’s Grow – this is a tight track but Eminem protégé Royce Da 5’9” who talks about his life growing up on the streets and how his rapping has progressed. He mentions Eminem on this track, thanking Em for helping him with his rapping. This is a good track ,which really shows the potential that Royce has to be a great rapper. 4/5

Mos Def & Ghostface Killah: Ms Fat Booty 2 – the follow up to Ms Fat Booty off of Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides album, maintains the haunting female vocals of the original and remixes it with a different beat and new vocals from Mos and well as an appearance from Ghosface Killah from the Wu Tang Clan.  Good lyrics from both the rappers plus that haunting hook make this track great, but I can’t help like feeling that this could have been more than just a remix of the original. 4.5/5

Saukrates feat Redman: WKYA – this track has a very up tempo, guitar based beat which at first sounds a bit weird although you will get used to it. This track brings a lot of energy from both Redman and Saukrates and is a good song to get you pumped up. 4/5

Talib Kweli & Dead Prez: Sharp Shooters – as ever, both of these rappers bring good lyrical performances, although this song just seems to be lacking something which means that it does become a little boring after a while, and is normally one of the track that I skip when I listen to this CD. 3/5
Kool G Rap & MOP: Legendary Street Team – just by looking at the rappers involved on this track you know that it is going to be a banger, and you won’t be disappointed. Both MOP and Kool G Rap bring their normal aggressive flows to the table and the hard hook compliments the rest of the track perfectly. One of my favourite tracks on the album. 5/5

Big Noyd & Prodigy: The Grimy Way – I don’t know what it is about this track but I am just not feeling this joint at all. Big Noyd is just plain annoying and Prodigy seems lazy on this track, meaning that the whole track just feels half baked, plus the beat is nothing special. 2.5/5

Erick Sermon feat Sy Scott: Battle – with Erick Sermon producing this joint was always going to be pretty funky, although this doesn’t really fit the battle topic of the track very well. Plus Erick and Sy Scott don’t exactly light up the mic on this one which makes it kind of a dull battle. 3/5

Punch, Cobra Red, Planet Asia, Guilty & Phil Da Agony: Da Cipha Interlude – well this is the track where all the relative unknowns are put together onto a track so that they don’t mess up the commercial tracks. Of course this just means that they are even hungrier and eager to impress and therefore as far as lyrics, this track is the best on the whole compilation. Almost all of the MC’s light up the mic, and this is just a lyrical chaos track. 4.5/5

Big L feat C-Town: Still Here – good to see that there still is some Big L material about because that guy really did have skills on the mic. This track has a memorable hook, and the lyrics from Big L are top notch, and although collaborator C-Town doesn’t reach the same heights he still puts in a solid performance which lead to a great track. 4.5/5

Dilated Peoples: Right and Exact – yes, finally a decent West Coast representative, and the People’s don’t disappoint with a killer track which has to be one of the best on the album. This track just made me want to buy The Platform even more and basically turned me into a Dilated Peoples fan. Nuff said. 5/5

Master Fuol feat JT Money & Paster Troy – this is a pretty average track, the hook is just about acceptable and nobody really puts in a great performance, but nobody really does anything wrong. Just plain average. 3/5

Macy Gray feat Mos Def: I’ve Committed Murder (Gang Starr Remix) – when I first saw this on the track listing I was a bit dubious of how this would turn out, but when I listened to it my mind was put at rest. Macy Gray’s haunting vocals combined with some great storytelling by both her and Mos make this a very deep and meaningful track. The beat is great as always by Primo and the whole tracks has class written all over it. 5/5

Q Tip: Outro Live At The Lounge – this is basically just the outro to the album where Q-Tip tells us to remember the Notorious Big and all the BIG’s that you know.

Bonus Track, Kool G Rap & MOP: Legendary Street Team 2 – this is basically a remix of the song already featured on this album. The beat is slightly changed and I think that I actually do prefer this version to the original. 5/5

Overall this album is a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping for something more along the lines of the original Lyricist Lounge compilation, but this was basically an attempt to get the Lyricist Lounge accepted by the mass market which is why this album has gone away from the roots of the Lyricist Lounge to a more commercial sound. There are still some great songs on here, Mos Def performs well on his three songs, Dilated People’s put in a good performance as do the double act of Kool G Rap and MOP. The unknowns on Da Cipha Interlude really showed what they could do, but other than that the most of the rest of the album was a disappointment. I wouldn’t bother buying this album because it isn’t really worth it, just download the good tracks and you will save yourself some money. If you enjoyed the first Lyricist Lounge compilation don’t be fooled into thinking that this is more of the same because it is far below that standard and you will just end up being disappointed.

Overall: 5/10
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