Beanie Sigel- The Solution
Hip-Hop wise there hasn't been much exciting out of the East Coast for the past couple of years. Not to say that the Broad Street Bully is exciting, but he is one of the most respected "street" rappers in the game today. Since his release from prison we have been waiting to hear an "official" album from Beans but we had to wait until he sorted out his label situation, a shooting, and got his mind right to put out a record. With that in mind, I present to you The Solution, the latest from the DefJam 07 resurgence.
Sigel's album starts off with the raucous and slightly surprising "All the Above" which features none other than the Pied Piper himself. It's surprising to hear Beans and Kells together but not altogether unexpected when you think about how "hood" R. Kelly is. While lyrically Beans doesnt do anything impressive over the entire length of the album he does make a concentrated effort to make his style more accessible to less hardcore rap fans. The second track featuring Cool and Dre "About that" is another example of that as is "Pass the Patron" which features Puffy ( I am not calling Sean Combs Diddy...sorry) Ghostface, and Peedi Peedi who is the only State P member who guests on the album.
"You ain't Ready" featuring Styles is the same old stuff you have come to expect from Beans, and "Get Low" featuring a reggae artist named Rock City follows the normal Street Rap topics, and the album does seem to tire after you hear "Gutted" featuring Jay-Z which isn't a bad song...it's just not that compelling, and neither are "I'm in", and the two songs that follow.
Beans starts to show some maturity and growth when you see a track featuring Ozzy Osbourne, but the album really hits it's stride with "Rain". "Dear Self" is the most introspective Beanie song since his first album and it features another unexpected guest in James Blount before ending the album in the same manner with "Prayer" which features Raheem Devaughn.
Overall the album is very solid although the lack of growth in a large portion of the album isn't good, it can be accepted since it is Sigel and he will only be out of his comfort zone for so long, and he has been off the radar for quite some time now. He may not have had as much of his trademark wordplay but possibly he has hit upon a formula to maintain his sales amongst the decline around the industry with clever guest appearances and a quality selection of beats.
Rating : 3.5/5
Sigel's album starts off with the raucous and slightly surprising "All the Above" which features none other than the Pied Piper himself. It's surprising to hear Beans and Kells together but not altogether unexpected when you think about how "hood" R. Kelly is. While lyrically Beans doesnt do anything impressive over the entire length of the album he does make a concentrated effort to make his style more accessible to less hardcore rap fans. The second track featuring Cool and Dre "About that" is another example of that as is "Pass the Patron" which features Puffy ( I am not calling Sean Combs Diddy...sorry) Ghostface, and Peedi Peedi who is the only State P member who guests on the album.
"You ain't Ready" featuring Styles is the same old stuff you have come to expect from Beans, and "Get Low" featuring a reggae artist named Rock City follows the normal Street Rap topics, and the album does seem to tire after you hear "Gutted" featuring Jay-Z which isn't a bad song...it's just not that compelling, and neither are "I'm in", and the two songs that follow.
Beans starts to show some maturity and growth when you see a track featuring Ozzy Osbourne, but the album really hits it's stride with "Rain". "Dear Self" is the most introspective Beanie song since his first album and it features another unexpected guest in James Blount before ending the album in the same manner with "Prayer" which features Raheem Devaughn.
Overall the album is very solid although the lack of growth in a large portion of the album isn't good, it can be accepted since it is Sigel and he will only be out of his comfort zone for so long, and he has been off the radar for quite some time now. He may not have had as much of his trademark wordplay but possibly he has hit upon a formula to maintain his sales amongst the decline around the industry with clever guest appearances and a quality selection of beats.
Rating : 3.5/5
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