Review of G Malone's Beachcruiser LP

[FOC]

Glasses Malone
Beach Cruiser: The Story
Presented By: Universal / Cash Money Records
Rating: 4/5 Stars

When rap is at its best, it is cinematic.  That's because rap hits hardest when it is like an audio movie that takes you to the block, the club, the bedroom -- or on a journey through the highs and lows life supplies.  On his major label debut album, 29-year-old underground rap sensation Glasses Malone delivers a sonic opus that features the Watts, CA lyricist offering a conceptual gem.

If it sounds like Glasses Malone's Beach Cruiser:  The Story could be the album of the year you're on to something -- and Baby, Mack 10, Lil Wayne, Dr. Dre and The Game have been among his many legendary co-signers.  Beach crusiers, the stylistic, long-standing bikes popular in Southern California, serve as a metaphor for G's music and his album.  "No matter how many bicycles come out, beach cruisers will always be there and that's kind of what I wanted my music to represent," Glasses says.  "I want it to have the same staying power as a beach cruiser does.  And, the beach cruiser represents the West Coast.  It's gangster.  It's smooth.  It's steady.  It's classic."

Growing up, Glasses Malone (born Charles Penniman) was in line to get involved in academics, not the streets or a gang -- and certainly not the rap world.  His mother owned a house in Compton and his father owned a house in Watts.  He was a strong student, going through high school with a 3.5 GPA and scoring a robust 1320 on his SAT.

But the other side of his parents' lives rubbed off on Glasses once he hit eleventh grade.  They were both hustlers, and when his mother was incarcerated, G went to live with his father.  "I witnessed losing everything, then getting everything again, then losing everything again kinda early," he says.  Feeling like he needed something to do, he started selling drugs and gangbanging.  He earned the handle Glasses because of his poor eyesight and was given the Malone surname by a big homie who simply felt it fit.

Glasses had always listened to music with more passion than most given his mother's infatuation with tunes.  He started battle rapping when his friends started doing the same, using his admiration for Westside Connection, N.W.A, Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel as lyrical inspiration.  G noticed rapping kept him from getting in as much trouble -- and that people thought that he was talented.

By 2004, his underground material had impressed Dr. Dre and The Game enough to earn him a spot with The Game, a position only strengthened with Glasses' subsequent White Lightening mix-tape.  "That's what really built me up on the West Coast," Glasses says.  "People started latching on to it.  The Game, that's a part of my history and he influenced my music a lot at the time.  Dude's success played a big part in my success."

Glasses and Game eventually parted amicably.  Then, during a 2006 visit to Los Angeles-based radio station KDAY, Glasses met Mack 10.  Real recognized real, and Mack 10 promised to look out for Glasses.  Mack 10, who released his 2001 album, Bang Or Ball, on Cash Money Records, put in a call to his good friend and Cash Money boss Baby.

"Mack called Baby and was like, ‘There's this cat you've got to check out,'" says Ronald "Slim" Williams, Baby's brother and partner in Cash Money Records.  "Once we heard Glasses' music, we could tell he had great skills -- and he's a humble person.  Plus, he's got that eye of the tiger."

Baby and Mack 10 decided to team up to push Glasses, paving the way for Malone's current deal with Hoo-Bangin'/Cash Money/Universal Motown for Beach Cruiser, a conceptual album that instantly places Glasses Malone among rap's best and features guest appearances from Baby, Lil Wayne, Mack 10, Tyrese, Lupe Fiasco and others, as well as production from DJ Toomp, Mannie Fresh, Cool & Dre, Tha Bizness and Goldeneye, among others.

The high powered collection kicks off with "Time Is Up," a DJ Toomp-produced track set up by an intro in which Malone leaves a club with a woman and is shot by her offended man.  It's an urgent moment accented by medical machinery.  "I have an EKG beat going through it, and as music goes on, the EKG beat gets slower and slower," Glasses says.  "I'm trying to put you in the song."

Realizing he was just having a nightmare, Glasses wakes up and gets his day in motion with the horn-highlighted "My Turn," which features Kam, Wyclef Jean and Lupe Fiasco.  "If I could make a gangster song for church," G explains, "this is what it would sound like."

From there, Glasses Malone puts his dreams into song with "Good Life," a tune that details his struggle as a rapper aspiring to achieve superstardom while balancing meeting his other real world obligations.  "I wanted to make that song for every rapper striving to do it," G reveals.  "I know what you're going through, whether you're trying to quit the game and do this or works and do this.  I wanted to make a song where people know it's real and I know every rapper is going to dig it."

The next section of Beach Cruiser features Glasses detailing the hustling mentality and includes the fiery lead single "Certified" with Akon and the piano-accented, Goldeneye-produced "G Malone," a testament to his street status.  This batch of muscular songs ends with a collect call from Glasses Malone's incarcerated mother, which leads into the emotionally draining "I'ma Pray" with Tyrese.  "Just hearing that record, I really almost cry," Glasses reveals.  "My mom was there for me growing up.  She was a hustler, but she was there for me and did everything that she could.  I struggle sometimes just talking to her.  I'm going through so much, but then how can I compare my struggles with hers?"

But a faulty phone system leads into "Nobody," where G defends his status to his lady, setting up the final section of Beach Cruiser.  The thumping "Go Big" featuring Mack 10 showcases Glasses taking a rare moment to brag, while "Hataz" with Lil Wayne and Baby features the trio brushing their shoulders off of detractors.  Glasses also takes it to the club on the Mannie Fresh-produced "You Should F*%k With Me Shawty," a percolating cut that will be an instant favorite from coast to coast.

You'll be able to say the same for Beach Cruiser, one of the decade's great rap albums.


http://loud.com/12inch

[1234]

Yeeeaaah! This albums is gon be nuts! This was a real good read. I just found out a lot. I already heard Certified, Malone and Fuck Wit Me Shawty and I thought they were all crazy!

[teletomble]

Is He Not Releasing "The Sermon" Anymore?

Is Game On The Album?


When Will the Offical Tracklisting B Out?

[AnybodyKilla]

So this albums only gonna have like 9 or 10 songs?

[Lunatic]

i'm starting to really anticipate this album

[Bones01]

dam man didn't relise this was comming so soon. Disapointed to hear Malone and Fuck Wit Me are on it, there old as fuck

[bgko1]

FUCK I DOPE COVER 2

[Lil Jay]

damn, Kam, Wyclef Jean and Lupe Fiasco together on a song? thats bananas

[.:Hercy Buggz:.]

damn, Kam, Wyclef Jean and Lupe Fiasco together on a song? thats bananas

i agree that sounds good as fuck

[Tha G In Deee]

Damn, this album sounds REAL dope. I can't wait to hear it when it drops.

[LodiDodi]

I didn't even realize until a month ago that "Certified" was by Glasses Malone and not by Young Jeezy (who it sounds like).  I wonder if the album will have examples of traditional west coast music, or the Dirty South-meets-West Coast vibe of Certified....

[BOX5 the best poster on this site yell]

i like how they set the album up,seems like it's gonna be good,i'm checc'n for it,good lucc to glasses and his camp yell

[Blood$]

FUCK I DOPE COVER 2

that's not the album cover, that's the cover for the "Certified" single, I seen it on iTunes...

anywayz, can't wait for the album... definatly buying it when it drops

[stephen619]

CAN'T WAIT!!!

[AnybodyKilla]

Why did they give the album 4/5 LOL!!!