ODB AKA Dirt McGirt - A Son Unique Review

I didnt know this shit was even coming out, so at first I thought it was just some creative internet pirate's compilation of random ODB songs (a theory supported by that 2 of the 13 songs feature someone else, but I guess that happens in post-humous albums a lot), but judging from the cover art and shit, it seems official.

01 LIFT YA SKIRT feat. Missy Elliot
I seem to recall this shit from a mixtape a while back, but maybe not. I dig the piano (very M-E-T-H-O-D Man). I probably could do without the non-ODB vocals (Missy and a chorus of what seems to be little girls, but I guess that would be innapropiate considering the subject matter), but whatever. Missy mentions "shame on a n*gga".

02 POP SHOTS feat. Lil' Fame of M.O.P.
That Premo-produced song from a year ago or whatever, now featuring Lil' Fame. It's still pretty cool. Fame mentions "shame on a n*gga". 2 of 2.

03 OPERATOR feat. The Clipse & Pharrell
Very N.E.R.D. Or maybe not. I didn't actually listen to them, but this is what I imagine they would sound like. It would've been alot cooler if it wasn't so Neptunes-ish and more ODB-ish.

04 BACK IN THE AIR feat. Ghostface Killah
Thankfully more Wu-Tang-ish and less Neptunes-ish. The beat is not even that Wu-Tang, but it's pretty good.

05 WORK FOR ME feat. Young Chris of Young Gunz
Pretty cool drums and claps and ODB is awesome, like always, but really Young Chris? And they should re-think the synths as well. Come on people, this is an ODB album!

06 ODB DON'T GO BREAKIN' MY HEART feat. Macy Gray
When I first saw the song title, I was like "oh shit is this referencing that one Elton John song with that one bitch?" and the answer is YES. Either severely retarded or funny or both. Can't decide.

07 STOMP feat. RZA
Pretty disappointing, actually. What the hell is it with that clicking sound? RZA got too "creative" here.

08 HOW YA FEELIN'?
Miraculously not featuring anybody else, but again with the stupid synths and the chorus of chicks. I guess ODB kind of makes it work, though.

09 INTOXICATED feat. Raekwon, Method Man & Macy Gray
Pretty meh beat and hook. What the hell? THIS IS AN ODB ALBUM DAMMIT.

10 DIRTY & GRIMEY feat. N.O.R.E.
I should mention that ODB kills 90% of this shit, even when he's working with a pretty meh beat, hook, and guest. Case in point.

11 DANGER ZONE feat. Joe Budden
See above. It's got its Indian tinges, but whatever.

12 SKRILLA feat. RZA
Better than the other RZA song, but still you'd expect better.

13 DON'T HURT ME, DIRTY
The album closer, the other song with no guest appearences. They should've put more thought into the beat, it seems like they were onto something but then just gave up.

FINAL COMMENTS:
Call me whatever, but as much as I like ODB (no homo), most of these songs don't have good beats or guests. ODB makes it an entertaining record, to be sure, but you'd wish they'd put more thought into the whole thing. This is ODB's final album (hopefully, lest they come out with some duets-style shit), its really not the time to put a few random Roc-a-fella (or whatever it is now) weedcarriers on the songs.

BEST TRACKS:
"LIFT YA SKIRT", "POP SHOTS", "BACK IN THE AIR"

Where have I been?

Shit. Seriously. Its been like 4 months now. what the fuck. But im so fucking pissed off at the state of hip-hop, and music in general. There has just been some really depressing shit, and I'm not even talking about the death of Proof from D-12 (im sorry but who ever truly gave a fuck about him anyways?) and not even the ethering of J-Dilla by way of lupus. What I'm talking about is this: I like hip-hop. But there's no good albums anymore. There's no good artists either. There may or may not have been a decent song here or there, but mostly it all sucks. Hip-hop in 2006 is essentially a good concept that no one really has excuted. Yeah, I know, I'm a backpacker and yadda yadda yadda, but honestly, shame on you if you think the ray-gay-ton shit and the Laffy Taffy shit is any good.

I wear my Public Enemy shirt every now and then, ignoring the fact that their last album was 90% trash (the last song was absolute genius though, its also probably one of the longer hip-hop songs ever, a miracle in the "all samples cleared" era). I also wear my Run-DMC shirt even though "Distortion" took 8 years or whatever but it's only like 10 minutes long. Oh, and I heard DMC's new abortion of a song, which I think was a pro-life rap jam (I may be wrong though, I wasnt paying attention). I mean, I'm sorry you were almost ethered by way of abortion, man, but that doesn't mean it should be illegal. It's also no excuse to put this random beeyotch in the chours, even if she saved your life from whatever. And honestly, if your voice has been destroyed (dare I say ethered) by some disease, give it up man. No one wants to hear unadvanced rhymes coming from a guy who sounds embarassed by them.

What else. This Mobb Deep shit. What the hell. Remember when they used to be hardcore? Remember "Shook Ones, pt. II" or "Hell on Earth"? Are they so broke they need to suck 50 Cent off (no homo) and make this gay shit? Prodigy, man. What happened? I mean, I know random 6 year old girls could beat Prodigy up, but "Keep it Thoro" was some hardcore shit. What happened to "heavy airplay all day wit no chorus"?

How long can we go on with Wu-Tang being the only semi-bright spot? There's Ghostface's "Fishscale", which is some cool shit for the most part, but it can't carry this year. Then there's Raekwon's shit. I mean, it's cool that they haven't fallen off that bad, but at the same time you wish they'd still make classic shit where you could go, "yeah 06 sucked but did you hear the 3 Wu-Tang releases?"

Killah Priest, where is you. Back 11 years ago or so I claimed you were pretty much the best of them currently. But you've disappeared. I mean you were on the Masta Killa shit like 2 years ago but thats about it.

Does anyone besides the Abercrombie and Fitch crowd really buy into this Kanye West hype? Young okayplayer types know that when it comes to egotistic "alternative" rappers, there's the much better Talib Kweli, who can, you know, actually rap. I have a poster of Talib too (no homo) but he has to put a stop to this whole gangsta posturing, 1) cause I just don't buy it and 2) cause it's not actually helping him make good music. Honestly, I don't care whether he's a nerd or a thug or whatever, I'd just like for him to stop making random songs with random southern rappers about whatever the fuck. Then the southern rap stans (even more annoying than the backpacker pseudo-intellectuals who listen to shit like Buck 65) don't really like Kanye cause he's a fag and cause he's too "smart" for them (southern rap stans are really stupid, these people think Bun B is some kind of intellectual). The only people who claim Kanye to be some sort of savior are people who have NO idea what they're talking about, usually dumbass old rock critics but also random rich kids.

So here's the deal, hip-hop. Either you produce an album I enjoy all the way through this year, or I just give up. I dont want another "Nation of Millions" or "Illmatic" or what have you, just something where I wont have to delete half of it from my hard drive cause its just garbage (Ghostface, I'm looking at you, no homo)

As for music, same deal. Ozomatli is probably the only band I have any faith left in, and if their new album coming in September is no good, that's it. I quit new music.

(NEW music, that is. I'm still entitled to listen to the 8 million Frank Zappa albums no one has heard of or whatever old shit I please.)