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08.20.04 03:59 PM
Godfather Buried Alive - On First Listen
Just in case y'all missed it on vibe.com.
And I'm not saying he's got the illest flow, or even the tightest lyrics — I'm just saying he spits truth.
Preview: Shyne – Godfather Buried Alive
A visit to the Def Jam offices reveals that Shyne's debut from that label, entitled Godfather Buried Alive, offers us a matured artist far more skilled at painting on a lyrical canvass to uncover harshful realities and unbridled pain. In the beginning, it was his voice. All we wanted and cared about was his voice, the one remniscent of the nasally guttural flow of our beloved Notorious B.I.G.
Shyne was set up to take over the throne, as one of Brooklyn's finest. But those were big shoes to fill - no pun intended. With that voice, we longed for the same depth and wisdom, and verbal gymnastics. Yeah, he gave us cocky, sure, certain, steady, but it wasn't the same. And we thought it was all a gimmick anyway. That was before all the drama.
You know the drama. The gun, the club, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs gets off, Shyne does time. Shyne signs multimillion dollar deal with Def Jam and gets his own label to speak the truth, to speak from prison, but in some cases it's almost as if he's a lost son speaking from the grave.
At least 65 percent of this album was recorded before Shyne went away, when he was filled with the stench of anger. That's what overwhelmingly comes across on this album. It reads like a diary of a wretched life on the streets, not much unlike Claude Brown's autobiograhpical novel, Manchild In The Promise Land. There's a dark cloud hovering over this album, and yet through the darkness there is a glint of illumination brought forth via witful morality tales. There's no aims of party bangers and commercial penetration, this album comes from the streets and it's breathing life for the streets.
One single already filtering through the airwaves is Shyne's collaboration with Foxy Brown, the Kanye West produced "More Or Less." This track sounds hauntingly eerie, dark, and grim. "Hip hop ain't responsible for violence in America/ America is responsible for violence in America," Shyne explains in the midst of recollections of life in Brooklyn — Vietnam. With all the darkness flooding over this track, although Shyne talks about seeing big things and doing big things with celebrities, it's the gripping vision of the street life he's lived that lays it all bare.
Then there's "For The Record," a cautionary freestyle straight from phone to DAT aimed directly at 50 Cent. The track hints that 50 is nothing more than a music industry gangster and more talk than reality. Most importantly Shyne's lyrics appear to affirm what former G-Unit members have cited in various interviews - that 50 Cent is a snitch. Production on this track is extremely minimal, most likely to accomodate the non studio recorded lyrics.
These tracks are not what you're used to in terms of radio-friendly listening or party joints. Take for instance "Quasi OG," produced by Bucwild. The track samples Bob Marley's "No More Trouble," and treads some serious Jadakiss "Why?" territory. In fact, Shyne says "George W. Bush fear me." On the rest of the track, Shyne explains what he calls a 300 year problem that created young black men like him. He talks about the problems of the world in the hands of a secret society, and how capitalism breeds money and power leaving others starving and hungry creating situations in which they become messed up. "I'm here, do something 'bout me," he demands.
This is the tenor of most of the album. The closest anything comes to a party track is the Swizz Beatz produced "Shyne," with a hook sung by Ashanti. It's one of those party and bullshit tracks, on which Shyne reps it up for Brooklyn. "For all of y'all/ keeping y'all in hell/ it's cool when you ridin' with a nigga' like me."
"Martyr," is another serious track. You hear urgency in Shyne's voice and lyrics. It was originally recorded before he went away, but the beats have been redone. There's life or death, and the battle of good .vs evil flowing through the track like water — perhaps an attempt to evoke purification images.
Shyne unmasks himself and faces the mirror for us all to hear. This is no industry cat. He has nothing to lose. Nothing to fear. His raucous delivery brash — unapologetic. There are moments when you feel the catharsis seeping through the track. When Foxy joins him again, we get hit with a banger. It's straight-up, rugged, and raw. There's no more gangster that one could become. On "Edge," Shyne laments, "you wanna be me/ know what it's like to have a gun charge/ time running out for my flesh." The tinkling piano on the Just Blaze produced "Here With Me," opens up for "Thesis leaving niggers speechless/ All my life ain't never been right."
The final track, another Just Blaze joint, has a larger-than-life feeling. It's full of horns and trumpets making you feel as if you're in the middle of a coliseum. The snares are tripping out all over the place and yet it's somber. Shyne goes on about the Lord's Prayer and says, "God listen it was him or me." And then bang. You realize what you've been listening to.
This album is not going to be for the faint hearted. If you want to know the truth, then here it is. Shyne's truth is the truth for a lot of young black men in the inner city, caught out there, on charges. America's nightmare, but at the very same time, America's baby — born and raised within its systems.
One session of listening to this joint doesn't entitle one to make or break it. It feels a lot more like hip hop than rap though. The beats are not dense or multilayered. There's a seriousness to them, on par with Shyne's message and cadence.The ethos is grimy. If you want to keep it real, if you want to keep it gangster, then this sounds just about right.
Written by Lynne d Johnson. Originally published on vibe.com, July 27, 2004.
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tracked on August 24, 2004 10:37 AM
Comments
Lynne,
I respect your ears and your hip-hop pedigree very much, but I think you lost your mind.
Shyne has nothing to say. He should be rapping about how not to get caught up in silly, bullshit pride, which landed him in this unpleasant jail situation.
Instead, Shyne disses 50 Cent through a phone tap, which is barely inaudible. The material is dated. Shyne raps about things that happened in 1999 -- pre-shootout -- and in 2000 -- pre-jailhouse stint.
Then Vibe puts him on the cover, which eerily looks like the infamous Tupac Shakur jailhouse cover, glasses and all.
There's a Biggie soundalike in Cali.
And Ma$e -- don't forget the dollar sign -- is making a comeback that, in my eyes, looks more legit than anything Shyne is doing right now. I just saw Ma$e's video for "Breathe . . . " and it's off da chain.
What the hell is going on?
Is 2004 going to be the year that Bad Boys do mediocre things without the P.Diddy hype machine getting in the way?
But back to Shyne. He's a corny rapper.
There are moments when you feel the catharsis seeping through the track.
I also felt it through my brain -- it was the "catharsis of sleep" as I was dozing off listening to Shyne mumble about being in jail. Aww, poor baby.
Shyne says "George W. Bush fear me."
Yeah, Bush is worrying about Shyne. The Prez doesn't want to see Shyne release more cryptic bullshit from prison.
The ethos is grimy.
Wrong, the ethos is corny. And it's NOT worth $15 million.
I'm sorry Lynne. I'm just tired of reading and/or hearing about how real Shyne is supposed to be with this album.
You wanna hear some real shit?
Peep Kam's "The Message"
http://www.hiphopgame.com/player1033.php
[props to hiphopgame.com]
This is the realest rap song I have heard this year. And guess what? Kam doesn't have a $15 million record deal.
Now how real is that?
posted by Trent | August 21, 2004 1:54 AM #
To be quite honest, as a rapper, no I'm not feeling him. His lyrics are harsh reality of the streets to me though. I can't say I'm feeling what I've heard from Mase so far either - though I do like him on that "Jesus Walks (Remix)." I'm not even feeling Lloyd Banks as everyone is talking about he's the next rapper to hold New York down.
I'm more interested in what Jadakiss is doing and what Styles P. will do next. I'm also more interested in hearing more of Nas and LL's albums.
It's funny, and Shyne is not included in this, there's a lot of songs I'll dance to in the clubs, but as when it comes to critical acclaim, a lot of "rap" music is garbage right now. Can somebody please just hit me off with Jill Scott please?
posted by lynne | August 21, 2004 10:14 AM #
in a way it's ironic you say you're not feeling shyne as a rapper, yet took the time to listen to and write a detailed review about his album. i think that's very telling about where we are as music listeners. it's almost as if we simply accept what others tell us is worth checking out, or what's hot, or what's not. don't we know what's good anymore? and shouldn't we be giving our attention to those acts, rather than stuff we admit we aren't feeling?
see, i don't blame okay artists for getting big time promotion, and blowing up. more powere to them. i blame music listeners for not taking the time to find all those great musicians out there, with no promotion, with no deal. i blame all us so called "real" music lovers for not making sure the great ones blow up. one.
posted by hardCore | August 22, 2004 1:44 PM #
corey,
i did it b/c i was invited to a private listening session and b/c it's my job. if i were simply a "music listner' than maybe we wouldn't have even seen such a write up. but at some points, it is also my job to be music critic, which means lots of music comes across my desk - and there are certain albums and aritsts we are expected to review etc. but every now and then, depending on particular editors in this field, we do dig for diamonds in the rough and write about them as well.
for instance, if you were to ever microscopically read each review, article, interview, written during the breadth of my career, you would find that i most often write about artists and music that are not receiving commercial and critical acclaim - so to speak.
but overall, i do get your point of this post and agree with you to a large extent. b/c even in my case, in order to pay bills, writers and editors do have to pay attention to the music of the labels that pay their bills and the artists and labels who you will hear on the radio or see on MTV or BET. so trust me, I totally get your point.
guess i just needed to clarify what happens when a "music listner" has the job of being a music listner and not just the pleasure.
as for shyne though, at the end of the day, i do feel it was worth listening to the album.
peace
posted by lynne | August 22, 2004 2:51 PM #
the general consensus i've gotten from this album is that either you really love it or you think it's garbage. i'm inclined to lean towards the latter, but i definitely need to give it a few more runs.
posted by girlwonder | August 23, 2004 12:01 PM #
to be fair and honest i probably would have checked out this cd anyway, as i check out a lot of music, because i am a "music lover" and a "music critic" so i check out both the over rated and the under rated
#2 - after listening to both shyne again and now mase, i'd chose shyne's album over mase's any day - and it's not b/c mase is not cursing or blinging out or whatever - i've just always thought of his rhymes as "cornball" and i still do
posted by lynne | August 24, 2004 1:55 PM #
Hey, I like the blog.
I hate to be spoilin a pretty fine spit session on rap and all, but...
Do you know Knox Robinson? Went to a school in North Carolina, travelled to China?
Where can a brother find the man? Can you get back to me if you do? Thanks!
posted by hk | August 25, 2004 10:38 AM #
I'm feelin' a few of Shynes songs on Godfather Buried Alive, like track 9: Godfather. But Shyne needs help on his beats, his rhymes take talent, even though they are pretty violent,he's just sharing all the things he's been through unlike most BK rappers. He confuses me sometimes, on the inside of his first album cover he said "God bless my enemies" but in his songs he talks about "letting their fucking brains hang." I'm not saying he's a liar, he's a good rapper, he just hasn't had enough time to show what he's really got. Remember he's only 26 years old, he's got alot of time left to do that.
posted by lloyd slade | June 2, 2005 4:09 PM #
Excuse my dutch but fuck that Prick Lynne that kid don lost in some dream world shyne po bangs for real shit God father buried alive carrys weight both albums got the baddest lyrics and beats that twat diserve a good dirty slap
posted by Jong godd | November 30, 2005 2:15 PM #