Beanie Sigel - "'Bout That (Let Me Know)" (mp3)
I hadn't heard much positive about The Solution in advance, but I was pleasantly surprised how much I like it. Even if it's not as good as the new Freeway album, it still makes a decent companion piece to Free At Last, and I'm happy that these underpromoted (ex-?)State Property projects are turning out more satisfying than the mildly disappointing Jay and Kanye albums. Tom's review makes it sound like he's pretty stuck on The B.Coming (and the idea that it came out "almost four years" ago, when it was more like two and a half), but I'm glad this isn't a retread of the same mood and sound. Beanie actually sounds pretty good on synthy club rap and always has (he was, after all, on Roc-A-Fella a couple years before the soul samples took over), so I have no problem with tracks like "All The Above." Still, it was pretty hysterical to see that MTV News story about how the song came together, which was apparently exactly the way you imagine hip hop singles are made in 2007: they considered getting T-Pain to do the hook, then Akon, then settled on R. Kelly. It really is one of those 3 guys on everything.
In a lot of ways, though, The Solution has the elements of any other Beanie Sigel album, and those are the parts that tend to get pretty dull. There's the obligatory track with Jay (which, unfortunately, has a worse beat than anything on American Gangster) and the obligatory Scarface track. And though they've done a million songs together, I've never really thought Beanie sounded anything like Scarface or even much influenced by him, but on the last track, "Prayer," he sounds like he's doing a straight up Scarface impression, or had 'Face ghostwrite it. And some of the seemingly bad ideas, like the Black Sabbath and James Blunt samples, don't bother me at all (a lot of people hated on "The Day," but it makes great use of those "War Pigs" snare fills). I even like the loverman song, "I'm In," where Beanie spins a cheesy but kinda charming story in the first verse that got me into the song before I even realized how softbatch it was. It's tempting to write off "Dear Self (Can I Talk To You)" as just another post-T.I. Vs. T.I.P. multiple personality rap, but he actually nails the concept better than almost anybody has before. And that weird song with Ghostface and Diddy and Peedi, shit, that should be a single, seriously.
I've already said a couple times this year that Cool & Dre fell off, because pretty much nothing they'd made lately sounded good to me, after a streak back in '04/'05 where they were fairly consistent and exciting. But I might've spoken too soon, because the 2nd track on The Solution really grabbed me before I even took a look at the liner notes to see who did the beat. I don't even mind the Dre hook too much. So they're not dead to me anymore (for now). On another production note, last week I wondered aloud who the Eric Hudson is that co-produced "Flashing Lights." And I got my answer at least somewhat when I saw that Hudson has a solo production on The Solution called "Go Low." It has the exactly same thumping 4/4 drums as "Flashing Lights," but the synth work isn't nearly as impressive, so I'll continue to assume that Kanye is responsible for most of what makes that track great.
I hadn't heard much positive about The Solution in advance, but I was pleasantly surprised how much I like it. Even if it's not as good as the new Freeway album, it still makes a decent companion piece to Free At Last, and I'm happy that these underpromoted (ex-?)State Property projects are turning out more satisfying than the mildly disappointing Jay and Kanye albums. Tom's review makes it sound like he's pretty stuck on The B.Coming (and the idea that it came out "almost four years" ago, when it was more like two and a half), but I'm glad this isn't a retread of the same mood and sound. Beanie actually sounds pretty good on synthy club rap and always has (he was, after all, on Roc-A-Fella a couple years before the soul samples took over), so I have no problem with tracks like "All The Above." Still, it was pretty hysterical to see that MTV News story about how the song came together, which was apparently exactly the way you imagine hip hop singles are made in 2007: they considered getting T-Pain to do the hook, then Akon, then settled on R. Kelly. It really is one of those 3 guys on everything.
In a lot of ways, though, The Solution has the elements of any other Beanie Sigel album, and those are the parts that tend to get pretty dull. There's the obligatory track with Jay (which, unfortunately, has a worse beat than anything on American Gangster) and the obligatory Scarface track. And though they've done a million songs together, I've never really thought Beanie sounded anything like Scarface or even much influenced by him, but on the last track, "Prayer," he sounds like he's doing a straight up Scarface impression, or had 'Face ghostwrite it. And some of the seemingly bad ideas, like the Black Sabbath and James Blunt samples, don't bother me at all (a lot of people hated on "The Day," but it makes great use of those "War Pigs" snare fills). I even like the loverman song, "I'm In," where Beanie spins a cheesy but kinda charming story in the first verse that got me into the song before I even realized how softbatch it was. It's tempting to write off "Dear Self (Can I Talk To You)" as just another post-T.I. Vs. T.I.P. multiple personality rap, but he actually nails the concept better than almost anybody has before. And that weird song with Ghostface and Diddy and Peedi, shit, that should be a single, seriously.
I've already said a couple times this year that Cool & Dre fell off, because pretty much nothing they'd made lately sounded good to me, after a streak back in '04/'05 where they were fairly consistent and exciting. But I might've spoken too soon, because the 2nd track on The Solution really grabbed me before I even took a look at the liner notes to see who did the beat. I don't even mind the Dre hook too much. So they're not dead to me anymore (for now). On another production note, last week I wondered aloud who the Eric Hudson is that co-produced "Flashing Lights." And I got my answer at least somewhat when I saw that Hudson has a solo production on The Solution called "Go Low." It has the exactly same thumping 4/4 drums as "Flashing Lights," but the synth work isn't nearly as impressive, so I'll continue to assume that Kanye is responsible for most of what makes that track great.
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