“Lyrics?” – Review Of Sadat X’s Brand New Bein’
ALBUM REVIEWS By TSSCrew on May 20, 2009 at 10:42 amWords By Prop Jay
When Brand Nubian were going through their rough patch, Sadat X’s Wild Cowboys allowed the man to prove he was valuable to the game without fellow group members Grand Puba and Lord Jamar. Brand Nubian soon returned with Foundation which was mostly viewed as a disappointment and things have not been good ever since, especially during that time he had to spend at Riker’s Island for gun charges. Out of jail for just under 2 years, Sadat X hits us with his not-so-much anticipated album Brand New Bein’, a similar sound to previous work, which coincides with being the album’s ultimate downfall.
From jump, listeners are immediately warped back to 1990 ironically with “All For One ‘08.” Only this time, minus Puba and Lord Jamar, it doesn’t work. Stale concoctions abound, listeners are pummeled with nostalgic lectures such as “Goin Back” and the not-so-lyrical “Lyrics?” featuring Craig G.
The highlight of the album, “Nuthin” assisted by CL Smooth, manages to serve the Golden Era justice however. The light jazzy grooves of the extended instrumental gives the two seasoned rappers a proper backdrop to compliment their weathered skills. “Blow Up The Spot”, with KRS-One and Rahzel, arrives as another positive. The combined age of the supporting cast may be 130, but all three of these semi-geriatric MCs step up and show they still have some gas in the tank.
Brand New Bein’s production credits can entirely be attributed to the Rocksteady Crew’s DJs: JS-01 and JW, who provide modestly decent beats which in turn, get disrespected with Sadat X’s off-kilter flow. See “Bullseye” where Buckshot and Jak D overshadow the host with the greatest of ease.
By album’s end, Sadat’s jig is up and Brand New Bein’ doesn’t have the goods to be called a comeback. The overly apparent tone of his inability to escape 97’ shines bright throughout and casts a dark spot on Hip-Hop music. Derek Murphy has failed to grow as an artist over the last decade and decided to unrelentingly scream this to the world with his latest release. The trend of hanging onto the past has been the norm with other veteran rappers and is most likely the probable outcome until their real retirement.
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14 Comments
Foundation , A disappointment?? Im disappointed in that assessment.
Daaamn homie, the O.G.’s get no love (no homillz – Cam’ron) on TSS!!! Who am I kidding, I’ve never checked for Brand Nubian let alone heard one of their albums.
Foundation , A disappointment?? Im disappointed in that assessment.
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Werd. I really liked Foundation. That was doing the era where I’d buy just about everything that came out and that album really surprised me.
doing = during
fyi its lord jamar, not jamal.
i was a bit hesitant to peep this album and this review didnt change that.
dam derek……..
^geez that is a double typo above.
I wasnt the biggest fan of foundation as I said,but we don’t need to agree.
What we can agree on thous is that this album sucks. It got the delete off the HD yesterday.
The only Sadat X solo long player that makes for decent listening is Wild Cowboys.
Not heard his new one, nor am I planning too.
Oh yeah, Foundation was pretty good, nothing mind blowing, however, it had some nice cuts on it, as a whole set, too scattershot and could have done with trimming down.
Brand Nubian Fan says:
Black October and Experience & Education
> Brand New Bein’ and Generation X
I’ve never checked for Brand Nubian let alone heard one of their albums.
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You should….
At least peep the first two.
@Flea, yes, listen to what OED is saying or as Brand Nubian would put it, Do The Knowledge! :)
Debut album classic, In God We Trust is tight, Everything Is Everything is pretty tight too, in particular ‘Hold On’ check the link:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odvQ_C1MLnM
Foundation has some good tracks on it.
Grand Puba’s first two albums are solid, I still rock that 2000 CD every now and again, ish sounded so futuristic back in 1995.
Sadat X ‘Wild Cowboys’ is pretty darn solid too, straight from the halcyon days of LOUD Records when they were running things back in the mid 90s.
As for Lord Jamar never heard his album, but he comes in OZ, I think.
I was a fan of puba as opposed to sadat x. That grand puba “2000″ and a few other were always hits.
They recently gave 2000 the deluxe edition treatment. So how’s this work, you buy the masters and copyright from the label and you effectively own the recording? Looks like Traffic Entertainment pawned this one from Elektra Records.
http://brandonsoderberg.blogspot.com/2009/05/grand-pubas-2000-deluxe-edition.html
Sadat X comes pretty hard on this new joint with Shawn Lov…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnBwAJ7RKMU