Rich Boy - "On The Regular" (mp3)
I didn't have very high hopes for the Rich Boy album, despite the lion's share of it being produced by probably the most exciting producer in rap and R&B at the moment, Polow Da Don. While I still think he's Canibus's long lost twin, Rich Boy is not a real lyrical dude, and it speaks volumes that he kicked the same verse on the 2 best songs I'd heard by him (the "Back In The Mud" remix and "Throw Some D's"), and it wasn't even the best verse on either song. But I was kinda surprised when people I knew would give the album a fair chance were reporting that it was terrible.
Still, as the first quarter drought of major label rap albums slowly comes to an end, I'm pretty desperate for anything new to jam to, so I went ahead and picked up to make up my own mind. Apparently I wasn't alone, either, since the album did pretty respectable numbers the first week. I mean, not T.I. numbers, but Yung Joc numbers, which was more than I would've bet on. And honestly while I'm not gonna stick up for it hardcore, it's pretty enjoyable. Rich Boy even displays more vocal range that I knew he had, occasionally throwing a melodic riff into that sticky thick accent. But the real strength of Polow's involvement is that Rich Boy is the rare commercial rap album where the softer, more R&B flavored tracks like "Good Things" and "On The Regular" are actually highlights. Instead, it's the mean mugging shit, like that new single that was in the last Rocky movie, that bore me.
The liner notes themselves are kind of illuminating; for instance, Butta produced "Throw Some Ds," Polow only co-produced it (although it's pretty obvious that the synth riff is his, if nothing else). I'm also kind of ashamed of myself for not knowing until I read it that the sample is "I Call Your Name" by Switch, because that song blew my mind a few years ago hearing it on the radio late at night. In other surprising production news, "Get To Poppin'," which was hyped up a couple years ago almost purely on the basis of it being ostensibly produced by Timbaland (at least, I assume so because I can't think of any other reason people got so excited about that boring song), is credited solely to Brian Kidd, with no Mosely acknowledgements in sight. Kidd was in Timbo's camp a few years ago and produced "Ryde Or Die Bitch" (I guess he was Danja Handz before Danja Handz), so I'm not surprised. But it's interesting that Kidd's now getting all the credit, considering that Tim is looking more and more these days like a Dr. Dre-style brand name for all sorts of ghost-producers to toil under (he just disguises it more subtly by beatboxing and doing a bad Nate Dogg impression over everything).
I didn't have very high hopes for the Rich Boy album, despite the lion's share of it being produced by probably the most exciting producer in rap and R&B at the moment, Polow Da Don. While I still think he's Canibus's long lost twin, Rich Boy is not a real lyrical dude, and it speaks volumes that he kicked the same verse on the 2 best songs I'd heard by him (the "Back In The Mud" remix and "Throw Some D's"), and it wasn't even the best verse on either song. But I was kinda surprised when people I knew would give the album a fair chance were reporting that it was terrible.
Still, as the first quarter drought of major label rap albums slowly comes to an end, I'm pretty desperate for anything new to jam to, so I went ahead and picked up to make up my own mind. Apparently I wasn't alone, either, since the album did pretty respectable numbers the first week. I mean, not T.I. numbers, but Yung Joc numbers, which was more than I would've bet on. And honestly while I'm not gonna stick up for it hardcore, it's pretty enjoyable. Rich Boy even displays more vocal range that I knew he had, occasionally throwing a melodic riff into that sticky thick accent. But the real strength of Polow's involvement is that Rich Boy is the rare commercial rap album where the softer, more R&B flavored tracks like "Good Things" and "On The Regular" are actually highlights. Instead, it's the mean mugging shit, like that new single that was in the last Rocky movie, that bore me.
The liner notes themselves are kind of illuminating; for instance, Butta produced "Throw Some Ds," Polow only co-produced it (although it's pretty obvious that the synth riff is his, if nothing else). I'm also kind of ashamed of myself for not knowing until I read it that the sample is "I Call Your Name" by Switch, because that song blew my mind a few years ago hearing it on the radio late at night. In other surprising production news, "Get To Poppin'," which was hyped up a couple years ago almost purely on the basis of it being ostensibly produced by Timbaland (at least, I assume so because I can't think of any other reason people got so excited about that boring song), is credited solely to Brian Kidd, with no Mosely acknowledgements in sight. Kidd was in Timbo's camp a few years ago and produced "Ryde Or Die Bitch" (I guess he was Danja Handz before Danja Handz), so I'm not surprised. But it's interesting that Kidd's now getting all the credit, considering that Tim is looking more and more these days like a Dr. Dre-style brand name for all sorts of ghost-producers to toil under (he just disguises it more subtly by beatboxing and doing a bad Nate Dogg impression over everything).
Labels: hip hop
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