Game Jesus Piece is consistently Game. While it doesn’t wow,
it’s not classic, but it’s good. In fact there are a lot of things that can be
said about the album some that may sound like complaints. For instance, Jesus
Piece is heavy on collaborations, so much to the fact that it sounds like a compilation
album or a mix tape, more so than a solo album. Game seems to feed off the
energy and be influenced by others in the studio this time around. In all
honesty, he gets out rapped and delivered a few times. He plays around with a few different
deliveries and makes a few different types of songs, but that’s the depth of
his experimentation and self challenge, lyrically and musically there is no
real growth. It also has a few moments that will be considered sacrilegious.
Its still a good album though, the production team and the
song making ability are the sellers on this album. The producers (Black
Metaphor, Cool & Dre, Boi -1da, Jake One, etc.) do a great and absolute wonderful job of
giving Game the perfect beats for him to do his thing on. Although there are a lot of collaborations,
their aren’t any forced or out of the ordinary ones, the chemistry is key.
There are at least two songs that if they don’t get heavy radio play it should
be criminal, “Celebration “ ft. Chris Brown, Tyga, Lil
Wayne & Wiz
Khalifa, which takes the
Bone Thugs-N- Harmony classic 1st
of the Month, and flips it and gives it new life, its begging for a
remix. Then there is “All That (Lady)"
featuring Lil
Wayne, Big Sean, Fabolous & Jeremih, which flips the classic song Lady by D’Angelo. Both are
straight fire. And then there are other hitters Scared Now ft. Meek Mill, “Ali Bomaye” ft. 2 Chainz & Rick
Ross, “Jesus Piece” ft. Kanye & Common. He also has stand out tracks
with J.Cole, Kendrick Lamar and Pusha T.
For
all of the complaints about the album, it still is a very good album, one of if
not his best. While it wont be a classic or in the discussion for best of the
year, it has the potential to be a great seller and get plenty radio play,
entertainment value is high, and replay value is high. I give The Game. Jesus Piece
a strong 4 ½ out of 6 stars
After listening to Big Boi’s second solo album Vicious
Lies and Dangerous Rumors there was something noticeably missing, Dre. Even though it had the quirky
weird beats and crazy subject matter, it didn’t have Dre, or his influence in
any form. And it almost seemed as if with the crazy quirkiness, Big Boi was
trying to compensate for both of them. Vicious Lies and
Dangerous Rumors has its moments but its not Big Boi at his best, the chemistry and
creativeness we’re accustomed to, is just no where to be found, his personality
shines through tho. Everything that we know and love about Big Boi can be said
about this album, he gives us a variety of flows, creativity, and
under appreciated lyricism and style.
The problem is the high level and expectations that we’re accustomed to
are never met. Stand out tracks are “Apple of My Eye”, “Objectum
Sexuality” ft. Phantogram, “In The A”
ft. T.I & Ludacris, which is decent but nobody lays a stellar verse or
even a standout verse, all three rappers have delivered way better verses, and
we’re left wanting way better quality from artist of this skill level and
magnitude. “Raspberries” ft. Mouche & Scar is cool but its not a
song to be taken serious, its basically a long interlude for them to cut up
over a beat. Another one of the better
tracks is “Gossip” ft. UGK & Big K.R.I.T. Probably the song on the album a song
for sure that will get strip club play, because its too vulgar for anywhere else
is “She Said Ok”. Its pimped out soulful,
its fits Big Boi. Unfortunately the rest
of the album is blah, the songs are honestly, emotionally neutral, they don’t
elicit a response from me when listening to them, They aren’t good, they aren’t
bad, I don’t like them, I don’t hate them. When I hear them they are kind of
just on in the background. If Big Boi is going to continue to make solo joints,
he’s going to have to develop a sound or cater to the sound that best fits him.
This new album that made me appreciate Outkast so much more
than ever, because Big Boi brought the soul, funk, pimptatsic style and shined
in that role and Dre brings the outside the box stuff and shines at that, and when
put together, perfection. So no more solos, ok you can do solos, but work
together and please give us the group album. Sincerely the fans. The first Solo Big Boi album was better than
expected, but this one is just ok by our standards for Big Boi, Dungeon family,
Outkast, etc. I give the Big Boi Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors
a weak
3-½ out of 6 stars rating. It’s kind of a disappointment.
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