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| Vintage | Aug 4 2006, 12:14 PM |
Angel
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Artist: DMX Album: Year of the Dog...Again Year: 2006 Label: Sony/BMG Reviewer: Joel "EIB" Thomas/McDonough/Shea-Tanner Pre-listen: First of all, all of the reviews i've read for this album have been terrible, either sucking up to X or completely slating him, and yes thats from "respected" reviewers and fans alike. Both of those are wrong cause the album has its good and bad like every so-called great album of 06 has had. So now i'm going to get into the whole of the 15 tracks, which i have listened to multiple times, to be able to give a fair review. Intro - Well the first thing i hear is "RUFF RYDERS YOU KNOW!" followed by an explosion, so i knew Swizz Beatz was around somewhere *rolls eyes* and sure enough the song begins with Swizzy chanting "When i say DM ya'll say X... DM *croud shouts X*" and thats the hook. Now we see X come in being lyrical, flowing nicely and overall ripping up this short track in classic old school X fashion, which is refreshing, it may have only been 1:33 in length but it made an impact. Rating: 4.0 We In Here feat. Swizz Beatz - Now here comes a Swizzy produced track to let the album out of the gates fully, Swizz has the hook, he is catchy in the hook and annoying at the same time, the production is very cheap sounding and lazy, with gunshots and sirens everywhere, you would of thought this would be a bad thing, but the production is so cheap and crappy sounding it started sounding good to me, it didn't sound clean and clinical like all the other US production it sounded very gritty and that combining with X delivering hard on this track and being nice lyrically in places made for a suprisingly good track. Rating: 4.0 I Run Shit feat. Big Stan - Here we go again... Swizz Beatz production, although this time it being crappy and cheap sounding didn't come off as raw and gritty, it came of as crappy and shitty, X sounded like Grand Champ again on this, he was poor and repetitive lyrically and sounded cracked out of his fucking mind, i've never heard "I Run Shit Here" and "WHAT!" said/shouted so many times in a song, maybe it was simple and trying to get a point accross, but this not working in any area, this is a horrible track simple as. Rating: 1.5 Come Thru (Move) feat. Busta Rhymes - Is Swizz going to be on everysingle track on this album or what? i'm becoming concerned, luckily this Redman Lets Get Dirty rip-off track had a lot of energy and was very catchy, again Swizz had the hook and was annoying but catchy, X was portraying some violent images as usual but he was pretty nice on this track, Busta however was the star of the track with brilliant flow, high energy and strong lyrics, it all made for an exciting track overall. Rating: 4.0 It's Personal feat. Jadakiss and Styles P. - Well finally Swizz has left us alone by the sound of the more developed production on this track, X started talking about guns and dogs instantly which bored me, once he got into his verse he became stronger though so not bad from X. Styles had the hook, not bad, his verse was boringly delivered but not bad, Jadakiss was the same as styles, boring but got his point accross. Rating: 3.0 Baby Motha - Well i thought the production on this track was sick, i had heard a different version from X to this album version, and unfortunetly the album version isn't as good, its longer and the hook isn't as well done, the wife bashing and swearing got a little tasteless, X sounds very... very gruff, Production carried this track. Rating: 3.5 Dog Love feat. Amerie & Janyce - Right well i guess this is the track that makes up for him verbally assaulting his wife for almost 5 minutes on "Baby Motha" this is a chick joint so you know i wasn't really feeling it, felt it more depending on what kind of mood i'm in, Amerie sounded very nice on this track, X was repetitive in places, the singing vocals saved this track, the hook was very nice. Rating: 3.5 Wrong Or Right (I'm Tired) feat. BZR Royale - Is this supposed to be a joke or something? first of all X should stay away from Rock/Rap and 2nd of all fire BZR Royale off Bloodline Records he reminds me of Pete from the 2006 big brother (the one with terrets who says WANKERS! all the time), BZR sounded like he should be in the "special" rap olympics with his crutch and jaw spasms followed by the occasional scream of terrets-style nonsense about "WHATS REALLY HOOD!!". The hook was laughable from X. X's verse wasn't bad flow wise and neither was the production in places. But this track was embarrasing. Rating: 1.5 Give 'Em What They Want - This is the kind of track you should leave off the album, it serves not much of a purpose, mediocore Scott Storch production and a stupid nursery rhyme style hook. The verses wern't bad, some parts of them sounded above average but overall... average. Rating: 2.5 Walk These Dogs feat. Kashmir - Production was pretty good actually down to Dame Grease, X was eccentric, Kashmir was dope, good effort. Rating: 3.5 Blown Away feat. Jinx and Janyce - Finally, the kind of thing i want to listen to when i listen to X, hot production, X was fire, the guest artists held it down this is one of the best tracks of the year. Rating: 5.0 Goodbye - This is another highlight track of the whole year, lyrically very developed, and an emotional track, classic DMX, he's dug himself a hole but he's desperetly trying to get out of it with these tracks. Rating: 4.5 Life Be My Song - This is probably my favorite track of the album, i like the production a lot, very simple but simple is effective, X delivered some of his classic matieral again, i like the hook dispite his gruff singing voice. Rating: 5.0 The Prayer VI - One of DMX's prayers which he has on every album, of course every prayer is special so i cannot rate that, but it makes a perfect setting for the final track. Rating: N/A Lord Give Me A Sign - This is without doubt the best single of this year, and arguebly X's best track since his 2nd album, brilliant track in every way, you can't dislike this track unless your a hater - where your opinion doesn't count. Rating: 5.0 Conclusion: Well its been 3 years, so i expected something special, i wouldn't say i was disapointed although it seems like everybody else is, this is an underrated album when you break it down, but it can be looked at in so many different ways, its very borderline, it was the best and worst of DMX, the end of this album saved it from being almost as bad as Grand Champ. The track selection was terrible and partly was what hurt the album so much, Swizz was all over the beginning which was highly disturbing then it was all deep and insightful come the end, it ended on a high which is always a good idea. But basicly X should of been a lot better after a 3 year break, he should of had more to say, can he ever return to his 90's dominence? slim chance. Album Rating: 3.0 Rating system for albums 1: Horrible, one of the worst albums you will ever come accross, pure garbage from start to finish. 2: Mediocre, below average, not worth buying unless your a hardcore fan of the artist in question. 3: Average, an album could get this rating if its solid from start to finish, or brilliant in places and terrible in others. 4: Strong, overall a very good album but not quite great, something is missing to make it a 5 but regardless its still good. 5: A classic or future classic, a complete album with some unforgettable tracks. |
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| Albums, Exclusives&Favorite Tracks & Reviews... · US Urban Music | |
11:53 PM Nov 26
