Album review- Blackout 2


Oh the irony, not that Joe Budden mentioned Meth right as this album was dropping, but that Meth seems to be at the height of his game right now as the debate begins and hope (at least from me) that they will get to go at it one on one to settle their differences. Now I ended up with a few new joints this week but I feel that this one is the best and most important of them. First of all, this proves that Red and Meth are still relevant.

The first thing I noticed after listening to this is either E. Sermon has stepped his beat game up tremendously, or Defjam helped them get some better tracks for this effort. Lyric wise Meth seems more energized as does Redman who disappointed after his last solo effort. The first single "A-yo" dropped a good while ago and it shows the duo still has it. In fact I have highlighted it before, and here it is again:



My favorite song right now is "Hey Zulu" which is just catchy as hell, expecially for "underground" rappers like Red and Meth. The song makes me without any rhythm at all get my jig and two-step on.

Also featured on the album are UGK, on "City Lights" which features a Pimp C sample for the hook and a Bun B verse. Redman who drops at least 2 similes in every verse rips the track to start things off, and Bun B ends it on a lower note unfortunately. This song could easily have beat out "Ms. International" as the first official single.



Keith Murray also shows up on "Errybody Scream", as do Raekwon and Ghostface on "4 minutes to Lockdown" where Ghost once again steals the show with his energetic storytelling style. Roc and Streetlife also make an appearance on the album on "How Bout Dat".

Now topically, Red and Meth don't talk about anything coherent. The hooks on the album have a general frame of reference of what the song is about for the most part, but the duo is so abstract that in the end it doesn't matter. The fun part is just hearing the two rhyme about mostly nothing and it is hard for you to realize that is what is actually happening. Overall, the addition of tracks that are more lively are the biggest overall change for Red and Meth. This album is much tighter and more consistent than the albums that have preceded it.

Rating:3.5/5

Comments

  1. I'm bout to get this now, kinda worried that even being more consistent they couldn't get higher than a 3.5

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