 |
Kool
G Rap
The Giancana Story
label:
Koch Records
released: 11.26.02
our score: 1.5 out of 5.0
|
 |
Indie gangsta
rap? I can't tell if that's more or less impressive for advocating
stupid things without the possibility of making any money from
it. Is that keepin' it real? I've always considered the edification
of gangsta rap a form of white condescension, holding up the sociopaths
of African American culture and then saying something like "that's
how they have to live" or "in their world, those are
the rules". Silly me, I'm so white I think you should probably
avoid killing other people whenever it's humanly possible. I also
have this rule I use to evaluate the lyrical content of a hip
hop album. If the lyrics could be translated into conversation,
would I want to get stuck at a party talking to this person? With
a lot of pop rap, the answer is almost always a resounding no.
How long would you talk to someone who blathered about the people
they've killed, the drugs they've sold, all the expensive shit
they own, and the daisy chain of ho's that ride their dick like
one of those vibrating quarter-operated spaceships out in front
of your favorite grocery store? If your answer is more than two
minutes, congratulations, you're what cynical A&R people call
"a demographic".
Kool G Rap
is very angry, boys and girls, his delivery never fails to break
its percussive, bruising thud on to each track. If amorphous rage
is your bag, there is much to enjoy throughout The Giancana
Story. Is this satire? Every once in awhile, it got bad enough
for me to ask this, but even satire requires a moment where you're
let in on the joke, if only to catch your breath. "Drama
(Bitch Nigga)" breezes through a day in the life of Kool
G which he succinctly summarizes as "guns, ho's, drugs and
ice . . . aight". "Thug Chronicles" continues in
the same vein, a list of everything that gets you killed in Kool
G's universe, which is basically "for every wrong done, a
man to be killed". It'd be different if the music and the
rhymes had some independent draw of their own. Despite his tackily
trailer Oedipal rage, I think Eminem has a twisted mastery of
language and an ability to build a track that is infectious and
commanding. Kool G's beats plod and smack each song like a bowling
bowl thunking down concrete stairs. Instead of creating some kind
of landscape that might showcase the sheer force of his rhymes,
the music competes for your already fleeing attention by grating
against his vocals, fucking up the flow by suffocating his voice.
There is one notable exception on this record and it's the song
"Fight Club". Perfectly constructed, it's a sad promise
of what this record could have been. It flows like liquid lightning
and guest vocalist, Shaqueen has a deft rhythm much like Bahamadia's.
Not to mention, the beat on "Fight Club" actually does
right by the rest of the song: thick, deep, and something that
would sound incredible played at abusive levels in your car stereo.
That's the best I can do for a compliment.
I loathe this
kind of music. If you don't, you're welcome to it. But indulge
me for a moment, while I toss out a few caveats. What exactly
is it about this kind of lowlife violence that is so impressive?
Why is it less impressive when skinheads do it, or for that matter
suicide bombers, who at the very least seem to murder without
pillage and do so for a cause slightly more significant than someone
not holding up their end of a drug deal. American culture has
always had a perpetual fantasy attachment to those outside the
law, believing them to be ciphers for all our unfulfilled dreams.
It's bullshit. Gangstas, mobsters and criminals are only sexy
when filtered through a dull Hollwood lens, where you can pretend
to be one or fuck one, but never be the victim of one. In real
life these anti-heroes don't subvert the system, they're tools
of its worst failures and sometimes just shitty people who revel
in bad choices. Even if I could get over my disdain for the heavily
dated pimp roll of The Giancana Story, there is nothing
underneath to make enduring these thug platitudes worth my time.
01-Jul-2003
11:09 PM
If you
liked The Giancana Story...
|
| Tracklist:
1.
Thug for Life
2. Where You At
3. Holla Back
4. It's Nothing
5. Drama
6. Thug Chronicles
7. Blaze Wit Ya'll
8. Black Widow
9. Fight Club
10. My Life
11. Good Die Young
12. The Streets
13. Gangsta Gangsta
14. My Life (Remix)
|
|
|
|
