For years, the entire public image of D-Block was that it was basically the three members of The Lox, plus some boring guy named Jae Hood. Then, after a few of those years passed without him ever getting anywhere close to a solo album or any kind of major promotion, Jae Hood flew the coop and dissed the people who were responsible for him having any kind of fame at all, and it was all pretty embarrassing for everyone involved. But obviously, the D-Block brand is still valuable enough to keep going for 2 reasons: there are other hangers-on that were in line behind Hood ready to get their menial amount of shine, and putting out D-Block projects on indie labels is a nice way to stall while the Lox wait for a major deal to get in place for their long-promised 3rd album.

No Security is ostensibly the first official D-Block album, and I'm surprised I copped it all considering how half-assed that 'CD/DVD mixtape' was. It's not as bad a rip-off as that was, although there's still a general shortage of Lox verses (out of 12 tracks, 7 have Styles P. and 7 have Sheek Louch, while Jadakiss is on only 3). Jae Hood was always kind of a loser, more annoying than actually bad, and the other B-listers now on the squad are generally kind of inoffensively anonymous, although maybe if I ever get around to telling Bully from Straw from Large Amount (who has maybe my favorite rapper name right now), I'll decide that some of them are actually particularly good or particularly bad. But on first couple listens, No Security is pretty solid, with the peak being Styles on "Brother's Keeper." But it also has a song with a "wheels on the bus go round and round" chorus, which might actually be worse than Jada's single with the Swizz hook based on "if you're happy and you know if clap your hands." What the fuck is with Ruff Ryders going all kindergarten singalong lately?

This entry was posted on Monday, July 06, 2009 at 11:56 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.