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Consequence
Don't Quit Your Day Job
G.O.O.D. Music, 2007
7.0/10, Solid [scale]

Don’t Quit Your Day Job

“But of course they will provide, a means of employment/ Which is basically a job that I’ll soon be annoyed with.”

Recent studies show that about half of Americans are satisfied with their jobs. Queens native Consequence represents the other half. As an eleven-year veteran who has been on the verge of being released for years, Consequence knows all too well the frustrations of a day job. After debuting as an unofficial member of A Tribe Called Quest on the group’s 1996 release Beats, Rhymes, and Life, Q-Tip’s cousin saw his share of industry setbacks after a failed deal with Elektra. After a series of mixtapes and successful collaborations with longtime fan Kanye West, Consequence has landed a spot on West’s G.O.O.D. Music imprint for his first official release, Don’t Quit Your Day Job.

Consequence is a witty lyricist and a gifted storyteller. His cadences are enjoyable, easy to follow and his ’slow-York’ talk makes it almost impossible for him to be preachy. The Kanye laced “Don’t Forget ‘Em” is a sincere pledge by Consequence to remember his roots when he “makes that money.” “Who Knew My Luck Would Change” closes the album with introspective rhetoric about Consequence’s journey to Kanye with a divine Keezo Kane backdrop that sounds like the unofficial follow up to “Spaceship” from Kanye’s College Dropout.

While some may find Kanye’s use of skits excessive at times, Consequence makes good use of them, developing his character as a struggling artist with a dreadful nine to five with a loving but disapproving mother. The best of these skits surround “Uncle Rahiem,” a song that finds Consequence telling a tale of tension in his mother’s house, brought about by the arrival of his freeloading uncle who has recently been released from jail. The lyrical, sonic, and conceptual and brilliance displayed here make it the albums finest selection.

The album’s middle portion is all about the ladies with Darren Henson and Keith Pelzer contributing the well crafted “Pretty Little Sexy Mama” which shines with its well layered guitar sequences and tambourine chorus. The following song is a lackluster John Legend collaboration that covers the same generic female flattery as the previous track, but with poor production and an out of form Legend. This is redeemed by the bare bones banger “Callin’ Me,” which is also the albums first official video. The GLC and Really Doe assisted “Disperse” rounds out this section but even Con’s genius (“If you can’t get her calm then you really ain’t a don”) can’t save this track from the following deficiencies: repetitive subject matter - women; repetitive hook - the oft used Mobb Deep interpolation, “worst comes to worst my peoples come first”; and repetitive production - Koolaide’s good, but less exciting take on the Rhythm sample flipped by Cru for their 1996 classic with Slick Rick, “Just Another Case”.

This feeling of familiarity really takes away from the freshness of the release as some of the album’s strongest moments were already strong moments elsewhere. Despite being incredible, the Kanye West and John Legend assisted “Grammy Family” was already featured as a standout single and video from DJ Khaled’s 2006 offering, Listennn: The Album. Additionally, the standout Kanye-produced collaboration “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly” suffers from a similar syndrome as it saw the light of day on West’s 2005 Freshman Adjustment mixtape.

So how does Consequence hold up with without a day job? Quite well, actually, but with a few issues, nonetheless. Make no mistake, this is a quality release as Consequence delivers a great deal of excellent material and reaffirms that he is an incredibly talented and creative individual. His practice of recycling material, however, bogs down what could’ve, and should’ve, been a much more refreshing debut. Given his obvious frustrations with his day jobs, one would think that in the case of his ‘real’ job, Consequence would have put more effort into the crafting of an album that’s been over ten years in the waiting.

by Alex Viard