KRS-One - Adventures in Emceein': Album Review
KRS-One, Adventures in Emceein' (Duck Down, 2008)
You wouldn't know it from the cover, which looks like some shit a chinaman put together for the purposes of bootlegging, but Adventures in Emceein' is a real album, supposedly released on Duck Down the other day. If only KRS-One was as good at marketing his albums as he is at making himself look crazy.
INTRO
Kris gets a shout out from Rakim, who doesn't make any statement as to which one is the better MC one way or the other.
TODAY'S TOPICS
And then here's Chuck D, who actually raps his shout out. I wish some of these guys who did interludes actually got down on records.
OUR SOLDIERS
I'm kinda in the air about how I feel about the troops. I don't doubt that they got duped, but what would these people be doing if they weren't in Iraq? But I guess it's more PC to feel for people who might actually die.
MONEY
Lupe Fiasco's sister drops the obnoxious poetry on the chorus. Or is that MC Lyte? Ha! I swear, this album is a regular old man fest. To give you an idea of the level of discourse here, I'm pretty sure he rhymes money with funny at one point.
WE DEM TEACHAS
Keith Stewart, anyone? Me neither. Oddly enough, he kinda sounds like a budget Keith Sweat.
BETTER & BETTER
The album's first real travesty production-wise. Not that the first few tracks in a row were especially good. This sounds like it was done using some cheap keyboard's "dramatic strings" setting.
THE WAY IT'S GOIN' DOWN
I should also note that a lot of these songs sound as if KRS-One is freestyling them. Which I don't even necessarily mean as a criticism. KRS is good like that. On this album, I'm more concerned with some of the beats and the choruses, which aren't as easy to just toss off.
THE TEACHA RETURNS
This month's hip-hop quotable: "I be rocking them drums, all you doing is shouting. What's your address, 69 Brokeback Mountain?"
THE REAL HIPHOP
This isn't Nas rapping on this, is it? I'm pretty sure he just talks at the beginning; then they bring in another guy, who's actually pretty good, to drop a verse.
WATCH THIS
Really bad budget-Timbaland.
WHAT'S YOUR PLAN?
It's like, he guilt-tripped all of these great rappers to make an appearance (if not actually spit a verse), but I guess no great producers could be bothered.
ALL RIGHT
I take that back. Just Blaze is on this, but he's also just leaving a message on Kris' voicemail. I should also note that this is the umpteenth KRS-One record where each line ends with the same word or phrase - in this case, all right - a la Juvenile or somebody.
DON'T GET SO HIGH (DANCEHALL MIX)
Remember when KRS-One albums used to have those token reggae tracks?
I GOT YOU
If they dispensed with the Swizz Beatz-isms and just left the moody electronica, this would be... much more listenable, if not actually a good idea.
ALL MY LOVE
This one almost works despite itself, I think because it's got an old school feel. It calls to mind "Step Into a World." The girl on the chorus is annoying though.
OVER 30
A more D4L take on a track from that album he did with Marley Marl. No, really, that's so what this is. Like, I wish you could hear so you could see I'm not lying.
GETAWAY
The chorus is a take-off on a track from the first Organized Konfusion album. But this beat sounds like incidental music from an '80s-era soap opera. Again, I'm so not lying.
DON'T GIVE IT UP
Like if Crime Mob made an inspirational record for today's youth.
GRO---OH! (HIPHOP NATION)
Some sort of African tribal thing. It's actually kinda interesting, in a National Geographic kind of way, but the execution is way off. The drums don't sound right.
IT'S ALL LOVE
A KRS-One take on '80s-era R&B.
WACHANOABOUT
And a KRS-One take on late '90s-era rap rock.
COMMENTS: This album is such a mess it's almost worth hearing. The first tracks wouldn't have been out of place on the last several KRS-One albums in a row - meaning they're entirely mediocre, but listenable enough. But then it takes this odd left turn into motherfucking snap hop. With D4L beats and everything. Needless to say, it doesn't work. I suppose KRS-One deserves some credit for taking chances and trying to stay relevant at this stage in his career, but that's about the best I can say about him.
BEST TRACKS: "The Teacha Returns" "The Real HipHop"
BONUS VIDEO: "Self Construction" preview
