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Me, Myself, and I

Fat Joe

HipHopIsDead by ONI, 6/15/07

Imagine being a student in college and having an essay assignment that is due the next day. You are pressed for time and short of ideas. Then you stumble across the paper of an older sibling who took the same class one year earlier and was given the same assignment. Furthermore, your older sibling got an A on the paper; the teacher must have enjoyed reading it. Should you turn in your older siblings work (changing some of the words to make it less obvious) or tough it out and pull an all-nighter to complete your very own paper?

An ethical dilemma similar to the aforementioned has hopefully bothered many a rapper who must choose between a so called “formula for success” drawn out by major record labels to sell units versus taking a small risk and putting a little bit of this thing called artistic creativity into their music. Fat Joe is one of many who have based a career on taking the easy way out by opting for the former option.

The album is very fun to listen to from start to end. The production, along with Fat Joe’s flows, are off the chain. The only problem is that the CD makes not even the slightest attempt to push the envelope to be different. The first track, “Pendemic”, has Joe preaching about issues from Katrina to the plight of Africans overseas to the bird flu. He’s being socially conscience????!!?? All of a sudden the “lean back” motherfucker is socially conscience. It’s too cliche nowadays to throw that one socially aware track into the mixer. If you don’t believe me go back to ‘04 and listen to Jadakiss’ “Why?” And speaking of him going out of his element to broaden his fan base, let’s not forget how many times ‘Crackman’ gives props to the south over his own region, almost to the extent that a new listener might think he’s from the south (he doesn’t even have any guests from NY). Could it be because of the south’s recent success in mainstream hip hop. I think so.

So how should I rate this album? Should I ignore the lack of creativity and give it a good rating based on flow and production encouraging a rapper who prides himself on consecutive weeks on TRL for a single. Maybe I should. After all, hip hop would be boring if every album was revolutionary. We don’t condemn a janitor who does his job and whistles why he works. We need him because if he doesn’t clean up our shit, who will? Someone has to carry Tiger Woods clubs. Otherwise, Tiger might just hurt his shoulder and fuck up his swing if he has to do it himself. So I’m going to protect the proverbial shoulders of those MCs like J-Live and Nas who continue to redefine hip hop by commending Joe’s effort to appeal to as large a population as possible and giving him a 6 out of 10. And I’m not just singling Fat Joe out, I’m talking about others who do the same thing. We NEED spans of unoriginal music to come out so that when an album comes with a new flavor, it will truly be worthwhile. I just pray that all the good beats aren’t used up during these long spans that would prevent the creative album from being a success.

Like I said before I can’t be mad at an album like this. The truth is that this former DITC member has the same motive as a lot of rappers out there - originality is not the top priority and he doesn’t hide this. Fat Joe’s delivery is his forte as it comes out sounding strong and crisp. I actually can play the album over and over again and although I find myself thinking “I’ve heard this before, I’ve heard this before” I need it so that when that special album drops that is both different and entertaining, I can truly appreciate it.