Home Reviews Albums Fat Joe - The Elephant In The Room
...They might exchange notes/ideas on expressing their moods in novel ways thru their music. Though there's no report of such actual encounter (thus far), the two acts have been brought together thru the magic of blend by Cincy's Ill Poetic. The Ohio emcee/producer -- do yourself a favor and check his album, The World Is Ours -- took bits and pieces from Portishead's catalog (mostly from their latest, Third) and added Joe Budden's verses from his Mood Muzik 3 to create "the kind of dark, atmospheric LP that your cousin drinks bourbon in a bathtub to with the lights dimmed." It's called Mood Muzik's Third and it's eerily dope.
Read more...Link

Poll

The trio's behind three certified classics: "Guess Who's Back", "Some How Some Way" and "This Can't Be Life". Who do you think has been outperforming the other two on those joints?
 

Advertisement

Fat Joe - The Elephant In The Room Print E-mail
Thursday, 03 April 2008 05:21
Fat Joe - The Elephant in the Room

Once upon a time, there was a rapper named Fat Joe who dropped a noted verse on the Diamond D album Stunts, Blunts & Hip Hop. Joe and Diamond were part of an underground elite New York group called D.I.T.C (Diggin' In the Crates). That was in the 1990's, when some of the grimiest and grittiest of New York rap music was churned. Whether it was the passing of fellow member Big L or just the industry going downhill, the supergroup seemed to have an unofficial disbanding as Joe started claiming The Terror Squad.

Listen to a few tracks...

This brief glance at Joe's music career serves to highlight that he is capable of making classic street tracks as seen on songs from his earlier days and seen again on this new album with That White where he teams up with DJ Premier for the highlight of the album. Unfortunately, the rest of the material on The Elephant in the Room lacks that type of intensity; it seems that Joe is trying to find his second coming of Lean Back.

It's hard to dispel the notion that getting southern rapper Plies to lend a verse on Ain't Sayin' Nothin' is nothing more than an attempt to force a successful pop record. Even production duties lent by Alchemist on the KRS-One assisted My Conscience leaves much to be desired: the collaboration sounds great on paper but isn't executed very well.

The album has twelve tracks and accomodates 9 guest slots leaving less Joey Crack and more of everybody else that I don't care for. Even moments where everyone's favorite rapper Lil' Wayne helps (the chorus on The Crackhouse) are barely enjoyable.

Joe has his moments but they are too far and few in between to have a cohesive album. The reason why Lean Back was such a hit, was because it was a dope record that they put out but became bigger than expected. That's the key: Let the music happen. When you're trying to force the magic the results are similar to the The Elephant in the Room. Again, the album isn't all bad but lacking in replay value.

Details...

- Label(s)
Terror Squad Entertainment
Imperial Records
Virgin Records

- Release Date
March 11, 2008

- Producer(s)
Street Runner, Cool & Dre, Danja, DJ Khaled, Swizz Beatz, LV, Sean C, Mario Winans, Scott Storch, The Alchemist, DJ Premier

- Executive Producer(s)
Fat Joe

Some links...
Tracklist...
01. The Fugitive
02. You Ain't Sayin' Nothin' (feat. Dre & Plies)
03. The Crackhouse (feat. Lil' Wayne)
04. Cocababy (feat. Jackie Rubio)
05. Get It For Life (feat. DJ Khaled & Pooh Bear)
06. Drop (feat. Swizz Beatz & Jackie Rubio)
07. I Won't Tell (feat. J. Holiday)
08. K.A.R. (Kill All Rats)
09. 300 Brolic (feat. Opera Steve)
10. Preacher On A Sunday Morning (feat. Pooh Bear)
11. My Conscience (feat. KRS-One)
12. That White
Buy This Album...

Fat Joe - The Elephant In the Room (Bonus Track Version)


Comments
Add New
+/-
Write comment
Name:
Email:
 
Website:
Title:
UBBCode:
[b] [i] [u] [url] [quote] [code] [img] 
 
 
:angry::0:confused::cheer:B):evil::silly::dry::lol::kiss::D:pinch:
:(:shock::X:side::):P:unsure::woohoo::huh::whistle:;):s
:!::?::idea::arrow:
 
Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

3.20 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

 
VALID CSS   |   VALID XHTML