The Quotable Reviews: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...PT. II

“Soldiers in the front. / Let the heat pump!” - “House of Flying Daggers”

From mic to plug, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...PT. II is a masterpiece. 23 tracks. 13 producers. 4 years in the making. The wait was worth it. Lets get that part out of the way.

At 23 tracks in length, OB4CL2 is long. Yet somehow doesn’t feel that way. Its amazingly cohesive, especially considering how many different producers stopped through to drop bombs like Uncle Sam. The primarily crime tale content plays out nearly cinematically. Rae and fam all came spit game tight, vividly depicting all aspects of the drug game - the guns, the grams, the birds, the fiends, the cash, the consequences - all delivered with classic Wu-Tang aggression and vernacular.

OB4CL2 head-bangs in with J. Dilla’s marching drums and subtle sped-up soul sample on “House of Flying Daggers” as Raekwon, Ghost, Deck, and Meth toss the mic back and forth kicking scathing cypher rhymes like its 1995. The vibe turns more soulful on the Pete Rock produced, quintessential Rae crime story “Sonny’s Missing” and continues that way through the nostalgically triumphant “The New Wu.” “Pyrex Vision” finds The Chef “trying to form a rock up and double it” while “Cold Outside” delivers an early image of the dark side of that career path. “Sex, lies, murders, reps / bag the cassettes. / Vets dying on steps. / What’s really taking place in them hoods?”

The Eric Sermon produced, “Baggin Crack” through the sublime album closer “Walk Wit Me” is arguably the best track sequence on OB4CL2. Rae kicks the perfect flow over Alchemist’s gritty drums and trippy keys on “Surgical Gloves.” “Broken Safety” makes you wish Rae, Jada, and Styles would team up for a collabo album. Dilla delivers another soul moving beat on the emotional, Ol‘ Dirty Bastard tribute, “Ason Jones.” Tracks like “Have Mercy” and “Fat Lady Sings” portray the steep consequences of a life in the under world, adding a deeper, realer prospective to the crime rap content. The Dr. Dre produced, Lyfe Jennings assisted “Catalina” is both radio and club ready. Busta Rhymes‘ inspired performance on “About Me” is better than any verse he spit on his B.O.M.B.S. album. And the triumphant “Kiss The Ring” followed by the lyrically ridiculous “Walk Wit Me" wrap the album with an exclamation point.

Honestly what separates OB4CL2 from just about every other album is the extreme level of cohesive, artistic competition throughout. Every beat is doper than the previous at the same time every beat is doper than the next. Icewater and Scram Jones and Allah Justice and Necro brought just as much ruckus as Alchemist and Dilla and Rza and Dre. No one lets up. All did their duty in maintaining the vibe. The same can be said about each rhyming guest appearance’s lyrical performance. Everyone forces you to listen to them...even Cappadonna. The beats are live enough to listen to as background music. The rhymes are tight enough to compel you to run that ish back. The song transitions are near perfect - guiding the listener through a wave of sonic experiences, segued by classic Wu-Tang kung fu movie clips, of course. And most importantly, OB4CL2 improbably upholds if the not competes with the legacy of the original. Nostalgic and progressive. Simultaneously.

When so many different forces change and unite like an Obama campaign, you can’t help but want to know the story behind the creation of the opus. How did something this dope with so many different moving parts come to exist at all? What really went down during those 4 years?

I could nit-pick this album to death, searching for something wack about it. I could harp on minutia like the corny hook on “We Will Rob You” or the fact that after several discussions with my roommate, Maine, I’m still not sure of what’s going down on “Penitentiary.” Or maybe sit perched on my sometimes too high horse and slam the nearly all drug game content (which is rarely compelling these days), ignoring the ample amounts of artistic integrity and lyrical credibility included within.

But I hate to play myself. None of those things is enough to keep this album out of jPod rotation.

The unavoidable downside to OB4CL2 is that the rhymes, at times, are so coded in Wu-isms and 5 Percerter terminology that its difficult for the unfamiliar ear to decipher; to grasp what’s being said; to pick up what’s being put down.

But thats The Chef. Either you like it or your don’t. Either you ride or you walk.

The Company Man can’t fault anyone for being true to who they are. And OB4CL2 represents the best of who Raekwon is - one of the illest crime-storytellers of all time. Hip Hop’s Scorsese.[1] So salute, and toast to the best who done it. Its murder rap shit spit for the vets who love it.”

Rating: QQQQ.5

[1] True Story: My boy Yahnick showed up ticketless to Rae's sold-out album release party last week, hustled his way into the show for free, slithered his way past two different bouncers at two different checkpoints, and quickly swagged his way into Rae's inner circle. By the time we accepted our denial at bouncer #2 (shouts to Raven The Blazin Eurasian at Da Listening Session. Dope underground Hip Hop radio at its finest) and sprinted outside to intersect Rae before his Maybach escape from S.O.B.s back garage, Yahnick was fresh off an invite to roll with Rae to the after hours spot and dapping him up in the middle of The-Quotable's interview. It was there that he coined the phrase "Hip Hop Scorsese." Rae loved it. Props to TRL Management. Now thats relationship building.

Anthems Interrupted - The Downside to the 2009 Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival

“They givin‘ us the boot, man. They tellin‘ us we gotta go, man!” - Pharoahe Monch’s DJ

Pharoahe Monch’s raucous headlining performance met an unfortunate fate during the 2009 Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival. Midway into the first hook of his classic anthem, “Simon Says” - just as Monch writhed into his groove, spitting “New York City, gritty committee pitty a fool that act shitty in the midst of the calm and witty” as the capacity tent rhymed along with the Queens bred Emcee - his DJ unexpectedly cut production, bellowing “They givin‘ us the boot man! They tellin‘ us we gotta go, man!”

On a micro level, the metaphorical “WTF??” unleashed by those in attendance reflected the collective frustration behind witnessing this festival’s apogee castrated by an imposed curfew. Pharoahe Monch was the headlining performer. “Simon Says” is his most popular song and an immediate party starter anywhere in the Hip Hop Universe. A live performance of that track, karaoke or otherwise, should NEVER be interrupted.

FACT.

Where the micro view bred frustration, the macro breeds concern. Not only was Monch’s anthemic performance of “Simon Says” curtailed at its apex, but his scheduled 30 minute set was severed at the nineteen-minute-and-forty-four-second mark. Attending fans were denied ten-minutes-and-sixteen-seconds of the headlining action!

The assumption is that a series of overages in earlier performances led to the headliner’s time reduction. Similarly to Pharoahe Monch, Styles P’s DJ - exclaiming “We gotta get up outta here!” - bogarted “I Get High” like a shot clock violation. Looking back over BHF’s past, Ghostface Killah (2007) and KRS-One (2008) received less egregious interruptions (neither had their production shut off), but the same issue persisted - headlining performances were penalized by the time constraint.

The BHF packs in so many acts and artists (and politicians) that headlining acts are penalized. The build and pace of the festival is great. Generally speaking, each performer brings more energy and more fans to the event than the previous, allowing for a beautifully rising cascade of Hip Hoppery. But given The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy’s curfew, any potential overage is subtracted from the acts The City paid to see. Styles P and Pharoahe both had anthems interrupted. ANTHEMS!! As a festival organizer, live music planner, or paying concert-goer, this is the most unacceptable outcome.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Summer Jam and Rock The Bells host festivals outside of NYC. Both events are more established in patronage, Giants Stadium and Jones Beach Amphitheater are much larger venues (than Empire Fulton Ferry State Park), and both shows rock much later than 8 o’clock. Are New Jersey and Long Island more accepting of late running concerts than Brooklyn or New York? How much higher is the cost within The City than in other cities in the tri-state area? What is the effect on ticket prices if the curfew is extended?

Or maybe Brooklyn Bodega’s proposed solution was circumvented by the rainy day. The initial two stage format - newer acts performing on the Second Stage, Main Stage reserved for the headliners - was condensed into one stage for weather related reasons . How would the 2-stage format have effected each artist’s time allotment? Would the Main Stage have been set up by the river a la 07 and 08 BHF’s and the Second Stage within the Tobacco Warehouse? Would there have been a scheduled overlap between stages allowing two acts to perform simultaneously? Would that set up have provided better time spacing allowing Styles P and Pharoahe Monch to rock longer?

Could it be that the artists themselves caused this problem? Are headlining acts accustomed to more lenient venue operating hours and longer set times? dead prez, Styles, and Monch rock longer sets “on the reg” (word to Kenny Powers). Are the artists the reason The City shut us down right as we were about to climax?

Does the BHF need an earlier start time? Should there be fewer scheduled acts or shorter set times? Is adding an extra day the solution? What is keeping NYC’s largest Hip Hop festival from extending past 8pm?

If the strategy is to continue growing the BHF as it has over the past 5 years, then Brooklyn Bodega seriously needs to find a way to give the people all of what they want (and paid to see). These questions must be addressed. No organization wants to be known for cutting the paramount performances. The headliners are the ones moving the tickets. Never should they be the one’s Sandman’d off stage Apollo-style.

FACT.

In the end, its Brooklyn Bodega's choice to address this situation. Either way, the Bodega Fam deserves props and recognition for once again assembling a mostly fantastic Hip Hop experience for both artists and fans at an affordable price. I mean, how can I complain? I’d pay $10 to witness a live set from any of these acts.

Shortened sets or otherwise, it feels like I stole something.

[Editors Note] Pharoahe Monch was allowed to finish his performance of "Simon Says"