East Coast Avengers - Prison Planet: Album Review
East Coast Avengers, Prison Planet (Brick, 2008)
Remember these guys? They had that song about killing Bill O'Reilly, but I guess no one in the group was famous enough for him to mention them on their show. They might need to see about getting Jay-Z or somebody to appear on a remix. In the meantime, they've put out this, their first full length release.
PRISON PLANET
trademarc, who I wasn't familiar with until just now, kicks thing off with one of my favorite lines of the album, "Body's lose stuffing like old toys, I'm reaching for the hammer like Old Boy." Then later, Esoteric claims he's bringing back drafts like Charlie Rangel, which I also found somewhat amusing. Guest raps by Bumpy Knuckles, unfortunately, were a bit too thought out for my liking. But it's good to know he's still alive and kicking.
SHOW & PROVE
The production on this album, as far as I can tell, is all done by DC the Midi Alien, who, again, I'm not as familiar with, and it's all got that orchestral vibe a la "Kill Bill O'Reilly. Which I believe samples "Eleanor Rigby," though it's hard to say. Not to rat anyone out or anything. On the one hand, it's kinda weird that seemingly all of these tracks employ string samples. But it does give it a certain cinematic quality, as if they could be incidental music in the movie V for Vendetta.
VENGEANCE
Which, oddly enough, happens to be the inspiration for this third track. Remember that scene early on in the movie when V saved Natalie Portman from getting raped by those Homeland Security thugs (whew!), and she asked who he was, and he responded with a ridonkulously lengthy sequence of words that begin with the letter V? Well, imagine if that was a rap song.
WIN/WIN SITUATION
Yep, you guessed it. This is a song where the Avengers rap from the perspective of a school shooter. Wasn't there already a song where a guy rapped from the perspective of a school shooter, a while back? I've got a free shake in your choice of chocolate or vanilla for anyone who can name that song. Anyhoo, this one gets points for incorporating a vocal sample of that one crazed guy from Bowling for Columbine who I think may have been Tim McVeigh's brother. No, really.
KILL BILL O'REILLY
The classic single about how it wouldn't hurt my feelings if a couple of hard, pipe-hitting niggas went medieval on Bill-O's ass with a blow torch and a pair of pliers. As a bonus, they've tacked on audio of Bill=O's hilarious eruption on the set of Inside Edition. "We'll do it live, fuck it!"
TOO MUCH TO ASK
The chorus to this next track left me similarly confused. Um, what exactly might be too much to ask? Album filler.
EAST COAST OVERDOSE
The scratched chorus on this bad boy, by fellow white guy from the Northeast Statik Selektah is a thing of beauty. It incorporates a couple of different quotes from Biggie Smalls, and it's almost up there with some of the best stuff by DJ Premier. There's also some killer guest raps from Celph Titled.
A VALIANT EFFORT
Speaking of the Notorious B.I.G., on this one, trademarc rhymes from the perspective of a guy who's slit his wrists, and Esoteric rhymes from the perspective of the guy who found him. I wouldn't necessarily say it's similar to "Suicidal Thoughts," but it's not altogether different.
LET IT KNOCK
A sort of East Coast Avengers take on a club record. At one point, I think trademarc mentions something about banging a broad, in addition to his usual line about killing the president or whatever.
TORTURE RACK
Here, he refers to himself as "Ralph Nader slash Al Qaeda." Then in the next line, he compares himself to Sweeney Todd, the demon of Fleet Street. Sometimes, it's hard to tell when they're purposely being tongue in cheek.
RIOT ACT
The vocal sample on this one reminds me of the broad who sang on a couple of tracks on the last Jedi Mind Trick. Crap, that broad could sing. Her voice gives me a funny feeling, like when we used to climb the rope in gym class.
HEY AMERICA
The def poetry vocal sample at the beginning of this gives me a bit of a Nas dreaded n-word album flashback. In a bad way, natch. Otherwise, I think this one of DC the Midi Alien's stronger works. Not all of his stuff hits as hard as this.
THE TROUBLE WITH MOTORCADES
Finally, an entire song about killing someone who may or may not be the president (they're careful to keep the subject a bit vague), after an entire album of pussyfooting around with it. To their credit, their approach to this is damn creative. Cinematic, even. Imagine if they did a video for this bad boy. If only "Kill Bill O'Reilly" had become the hit it should have been, maybe they could afford to.
AVENGERS ASSEMBLE
Like a DC the Midi Alien take on some of the stuff from Esoteric's Egoclapper, with those crazy Godzilla movie horns.
LADY LIBERTY
A song in which Lady Liberty is compared to an actual hoo-er. Who said misogyny in hip-hop didn't serve any good purpose?
CLEAN CONSCIENCE
One last song about busting a cap in whomever's responsible for how fucked the fuck up things have gotten. Just for good measure.
COMMENTS: If you liked "Kill Bill O'Reilly," you're gonna love Prison Planet. It's an entire album of that same not-particularly-astute-and-yet-completely-spot-on political analysis. Listening to it, you can't help but wonder why all rap albums these days don't include songs fantasizing about duct taping Bill O'Reilly, George W. Bush and the like. How much worse do things have to get?
BEST TRACKS: "Kill Bill O'Reilly" "East Coast Overdose" "Hey America"
BONUS VIDEO: "Kill Bill O'Reilly"
