Cassidy - "Intro (B.A.R.S. Vs. Da Hustla)" (mp3)
Cassidy kinda won me over with his last album (which deserved better than a C), so I was really rooting for the dude through all the crazy shit that he went through the past couple years that made it seem unlikely he'd ever drop another album. I'll be the first to admit that he does damn near everything possible to come off unlikeable, though: ego tripping about wanting the XXL cover to himself (to be fair, he is too established to share the "Leaders Of The New School" cover with a bunch of dudes who've never gone gold or, in some cases, even dropped an album, but he's just not on that cover star level), and insanely insinuating that he'll sell more than Jay-Z, who, as expected, moved about 6 times as many units as Cassidy last week. Truth be told, I probably like B.A.R.S.: The Barry Adrian Reese Story at least a little better than American Gangster. But then, I'm one of those weirdos who'd rather hear a good rapper at his best than a great rapper at his near-worst. One thing's for sure, though, Cass's production team (Swizz, Bink, Hi-Tek, Neo Da Matrix and Nottz) kills everyone on American Gangster except No I.D. and Just Blaze.
And thankfully, Cassidy makes up for the boneheaded bravado of some of his recent publicity stunts with the first track on the album, which follows the same split personality theme as his first album, as well as the battle-rap-against-himself concept of his second album's intro, "The Problem Vs. The Hustla." It's a cheesy idea, but it works, mostly because neither version of Cassidy (which are completely indistinguishable from each other in every way) pulls any punches, breaking himself down mercilessly with the kind of lines that would get a huge reaction if someone said them to him at a real battle. T.I. Vs T.I.P. would've benefitted greatly had either of his personas had been willing to savage each other as brutally as Cassidy does on here, shit you're almost shocked he's self-aware enough to say like "the record 'I'm A Hustla' was stupid/ cause Jay got more money off that record than you did/ and Swizz got more money off that record than you did" and "you only got a few hits and a couple fans/ and I could get you bodied for a couple grand" and "you went gold on your first disc and I'm A Hustla sold less than your first shit."
The album isn't solid all the way through, and it's kind of disconcerting that, after he beat a murder rap and kept promising that he'd have something conscious and real to say on this album, he spends two of the first handful of songs explaining how he still has lots of guns and isn't afraid to use them (on "Where My Niggaz At") and that he's not a snitch and would never snitch and hates snitches (on "I Will Never Tell (Uh Uh)"). Maybe these are just his natural responses to his situation, but it's a shame that after that ordeal he's still saying basically the same shit every other studio gangsta in the world says on every record. "Cash Rulez" featuring Bone Thugs and Eve is the 4th song this year to jack the "C.R.E.A.M." chorus (after Swizz's "It's Me Bitches," Fab's "Return Of The Hustle," and Wyclef's "The Sweetest Girl"), and I'm getting pretty sick of hearing people other than Meth do that hook. Swizz is more hands off than he'd been on Cassidy's previous albums, producing only 4 tracks (although that's the same number of beats he did for his own album, so go figure), but as I said already, there's a pretty great production team assembled on this album as it is. But this is one of those albums that really would've benefitted from the inclusion of some of those pre-release mixtape tracks, "You Already Know" and "It Is What It Is" would easily trump most of the songs that made the cut.
Cassidy kinda won me over with his last album (which deserved better than a C), so I was really rooting for the dude through all the crazy shit that he went through the past couple years that made it seem unlikely he'd ever drop another album. I'll be the first to admit that he does damn near everything possible to come off unlikeable, though: ego tripping about wanting the XXL cover to himself (to be fair, he is too established to share the "Leaders Of The New School" cover with a bunch of dudes who've never gone gold or, in some cases, even dropped an album, but he's just not on that cover star level), and insanely insinuating that he'll sell more than Jay-Z, who, as expected, moved about 6 times as many units as Cassidy last week. Truth be told, I probably like B.A.R.S.: The Barry Adrian Reese Story at least a little better than American Gangster. But then, I'm one of those weirdos who'd rather hear a good rapper at his best than a great rapper at his near-worst. One thing's for sure, though, Cass's production team (Swizz, Bink, Hi-Tek, Neo Da Matrix and Nottz) kills everyone on American Gangster except No I.D. and Just Blaze.
And thankfully, Cassidy makes up for the boneheaded bravado of some of his recent publicity stunts with the first track on the album, which follows the same split personality theme as his first album, as well as the battle-rap-against-himself concept of his second album's intro, "The Problem Vs. The Hustla." It's a cheesy idea, but it works, mostly because neither version of Cassidy (which are completely indistinguishable from each other in every way) pulls any punches, breaking himself down mercilessly with the kind of lines that would get a huge reaction if someone said them to him at a real battle. T.I. Vs T.I.P. would've benefitted greatly had either of his personas had been willing to savage each other as brutally as Cassidy does on here, shit you're almost shocked he's self-aware enough to say like "the record 'I'm A Hustla' was stupid/ cause Jay got more money off that record than you did/ and Swizz got more money off that record than you did" and "you only got a few hits and a couple fans/ and I could get you bodied for a couple grand" and "you went gold on your first disc and I'm A Hustla sold less than your first shit."
The album isn't solid all the way through, and it's kind of disconcerting that, after he beat a murder rap and kept promising that he'd have something conscious and real to say on this album, he spends two of the first handful of songs explaining how he still has lots of guns and isn't afraid to use them (on "Where My Niggaz At") and that he's not a snitch and would never snitch and hates snitches (on "I Will Never Tell (Uh Uh)"). Maybe these are just his natural responses to his situation, but it's a shame that after that ordeal he's still saying basically the same shit every other studio gangsta in the world says on every record. "Cash Rulez" featuring Bone Thugs and Eve is the 4th song this year to jack the "C.R.E.A.M." chorus (after Swizz's "It's Me Bitches," Fab's "Return Of The Hustle," and Wyclef's "The Sweetest Girl"), and I'm getting pretty sick of hearing people other than Meth do that hook. Swizz is more hands off than he'd been on Cassidy's previous albums, producing only 4 tracks (although that's the same number of beats he did for his own album, so go figure), but as I said already, there's a pretty great production team assembled on this album as it is. But this is one of those albums that really would've benefitted from the inclusion of some of those pre-release mixtape tracks, "You Already Know" and "It Is What It Is" would easily trump most of the songs that made the cut.
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