Motion Man - Pablito's Way: Album Review
Motion Man, Pablito's Way (Threshold, 2006)
Way, way back in the early part of this decade, Bay Area rapper Motion Man put out a collaborative album with Kool Keith as well as his own solo debut Clearing the Field. What has he been up to in the interim? Gee, that's a good question.
DOWN FOR THE FIGHT
I'm assuming Kutmaster Kurt produced most, if not all of the tracks on here. He's not up to any new tricks, but I'm not sure new tricks is what hip-hop really needs at this point anyway.
CONFIDENCE
Motion Man's flow and voice call to mind Sadat X from Brand Nubian, though he might even be more gifted in a purely technical sense. That said, he can ramble at times. His best songs, at least in my opinion, are the ones where he sticks to some sort of topic.
GAB MESSAGE
I was wondering how long it would be until there was some sort of skit. This is, after all, a rap album.
ONE TIME FOR YOUR MIND
Very Blackaliciousy, both in its beat and in the fact that Gift of Gab, who never really did it for me, does some guest rappin'.
WHOOLIO IGLESIAS
A skid involving a spanish-speaking fellow.
PABLITO'S WAY
Followed by a song that's vaguely Spanish sounding. Is Motion Man hispanic, or is this some sort of bizarre concept album? Both?
I CRACK TALL ONES
Motion Man is known to crack a tall can of beer. When it's done, he's known to crack another one. Um, way to be.
MY FAVORITE BODY PART
A soundbite of California's governor (I know) Arnold Schwarzenegger revealing that his favorite body part is the ass.
DAT ASS
Motion Man has a Ph.D in bootyy watching. I suppose that's better than a Ph.D in dancing. This beat has a cool '83-era Run-DMC vibe to it.
TOP DOWN
Vaguely Too Short-ish, and wouldn't you know Too Short kicks the same verse he's been kicking since 1983 or whatever.
MEGALO MANIAC
Another one of the vaguely hispanic numbers, this time even less so than the other one.
EXPLOIT THE AVERAGE MAN
I wonder if that's Bootsy, of "Groove Is in the Heart" fame, on this tracks intro or just some d-bag doing his version of the Bootsy voice. Bootsy's still alive, right?
PROFESSIONAL EXPERTS
Ooh, it's Kool Keith. Honestly, I'm surprised he hasn't done a song called "Professional Experts" before. He's prolific like that, and that sounds like the kind of bullshit he'd come up with.
BRING IT TO THE FRONT
Vaguely apocalyptic not unlike that one Non Phixion song, but way less worth listening to.
BLAH BLAH
There's an almost Premier-like thump to this one, which is nice.
LULLABYE
An ill-advised attempt at something futuristic-sounding. This is how Kool Keith eventually disappeared up his own ass.
SLEEPING GIANT
Speaking of which, this wouldn't be out of place on the likes of Matthew. In a bad way, I mean.
TO ALL
An attempt at an old school (like mid '80s?) West Coast sound. Just what I was looking for.
THANG BOUTCHA
A song for all of the bitches in the house tonight. As if any girls will ever cop this album.
WHO'S HOLDIN YA BACK
Dizzy Dustin from Ugly Duckling drops a guest verse. In a bad way. of course.
COMMENTS: I spent a significant amount of my legendary college days listening to crap like this, but I'd be lying if I said I remember what Motion Man's two other albums sound like. This one is similarly less than memorable; but for what it's worth, it's probably better than the bulk of Kool Keith's oeuvre. Recommended if you're into that sort of thing.
BEST TRACKS: "Down for the Fight" "Dat Ass" "Blah Blah"
