Drama f/ Lloyd, Willie The Kid and T.I. - "No More" (mp3)
A year, maybe a year and a half ago, DJ Drama's Gangsta Grillz: The Album seemed to have serious potential to transcend the usually drab middle ground of official major label DJ compilations, and become an actual event album on the level typically only achieved by solo albums from A-list rappers. And when the RIAA staged an ill-advised raid on Drama's base of operations and the hip hop community rallied around him in a moment of apparent injustice, it looked like those tribulations would only strengthen his following and make the album that much bigger. Instead, his moment came and went, and all the critics and publications who in 2006 were practically proclaiming DJ Drama a musical genius, on the basis on the fact that he happened to host some hot CDs by Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy, have since calmed down. And by the time Gangsta Grillz came around this month, it was more or less ignored outside the DJ's hometown in the same way a new Kay Slay album would be.
Of course, Drama probably could've used a hit single on the level of the ones DJ Khaled's been racking up for his fairly successful DJ albums. Last year's street burner "Cannon" might've done the trick if the album had come out in time to capitalize on it, and this year's "Feds Takin' Pictures" just didn't have radio appeal (or, really, any appeal at all). So in a moment of clear desperation, Drama went outside his usual stable of artists and producers who've actually had hits in the past 3 years and went to Nelly and Jazze Pha, of all people, for "5000 Ones." That's strike three.
I'm not hating, mind you. I was fucking with dude when he was "DJ Dramatic" and he made more East coast-centric mixtapes like this one from 2003 (the first place I ever heard "Slow Jamz" or "Never Let Me Down," both of which had mislabelled titles on there a few months prior to College Dropout's release). But the hype over him last year (particularly that XXL list of the greatest mixtapes of all time, which was literally 25% Gangsta Grillz shit) got kind of out of control, and it's funny to think how many rave reviews this album would've gotten back then from critics that aren't checking for him at all now.
Never mind sizing up its commercial fortunes, Gangsta Grillz just isn't much of an album. Drama's handling of his legal troubles begins and ends with generic bookend skits featuring clueless white law enforcement stereotypes. And while there are a few songs that are, on their own, event records, like Outkast's "The Art Of Storytellin' Part 4," it's pretty much the same hodge podge of major and minor rappers that you'd get on the average crack tape that all those prestigious single-artist Gangsta Grillz mixtapes were presented as an antidote to. The album would've been better off as a full-length showcase for the Aphilliates' resident producer, Don Cannon, who only gets 4 beats in on here that nonetheless happen to be easily some of the best songs on the album, including "No More." An album with a singular sound, tied together by a capable producer on Drama's own team, might've actually meant something more, even if it was still just a compilation that got lost in the 4th quarter shuffle.
A year, maybe a year and a half ago, DJ Drama's Gangsta Grillz: The Album seemed to have serious potential to transcend the usually drab middle ground of official major label DJ compilations, and become an actual event album on the level typically only achieved by solo albums from A-list rappers. And when the RIAA staged an ill-advised raid on Drama's base of operations and the hip hop community rallied around him in a moment of apparent injustice, it looked like those tribulations would only strengthen his following and make the album that much bigger. Instead, his moment came and went, and all the critics and publications who in 2006 were practically proclaiming DJ Drama a musical genius, on the basis on the fact that he happened to host some hot CDs by Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy, have since calmed down. And by the time Gangsta Grillz came around this month, it was more or less ignored outside the DJ's hometown in the same way a new Kay Slay album would be.
Of course, Drama probably could've used a hit single on the level of the ones DJ Khaled's been racking up for his fairly successful DJ albums. Last year's street burner "Cannon" might've done the trick if the album had come out in time to capitalize on it, and this year's "Feds Takin' Pictures" just didn't have radio appeal (or, really, any appeal at all). So in a moment of clear desperation, Drama went outside his usual stable of artists and producers who've actually had hits in the past 3 years and went to Nelly and Jazze Pha, of all people, for "5000 Ones." That's strike three.
I'm not hating, mind you. I was fucking with dude when he was "DJ Dramatic" and he made more East coast-centric mixtapes like this one from 2003 (the first place I ever heard "Slow Jamz" or "Never Let Me Down," both of which had mislabelled titles on there a few months prior to College Dropout's release). But the hype over him last year (particularly that XXL list of the greatest mixtapes of all time, which was literally 25% Gangsta Grillz shit) got kind of out of control, and it's funny to think how many rave reviews this album would've gotten back then from critics that aren't checking for him at all now.
Never mind sizing up its commercial fortunes, Gangsta Grillz just isn't much of an album. Drama's handling of his legal troubles begins and ends with generic bookend skits featuring clueless white law enforcement stereotypes. And while there are a few songs that are, on their own, event records, like Outkast's "The Art Of Storytellin' Part 4," it's pretty much the same hodge podge of major and minor rappers that you'd get on the average crack tape that all those prestigious single-artist Gangsta Grillz mixtapes were presented as an antidote to. The album would've been better off as a full-length showcase for the Aphilliates' resident producer, Don Cannon, who only gets 4 beats in on here that nonetheless happen to be easily some of the best songs on the album, including "No More." An album with a singular sound, tied together by a capable producer on Drama's own team, might've actually meant something more, even if it was still just a compilation that got lost in the 4th quarter shuffle.
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