Labels: Def Jam UK
Review by: Unknown
Hmm, this record is so conflicted it is not true! The one sheet that
accompanied this major label release seemed to mention Dizzee Rascal as
much as it mentioned Taz! That’s fair enough, Taz worked on one of the
tracks from ‘Boy in da Corner’ but for someone from a similar scene the
albums are pretty different. While Dizzee captured the dark and gritty
nature of street life, Taz is softer and aiming for a more American
sound… And that’s where this record fails. Too much Jay-Z and Eminen
and not enough Taskforce or Braintax. Even after the first listen of
this album I lost count of the number of Jay-Z references, not just name
checks but borrowed lines and replicated subject matter!
When he is delivering his standard flow, Taz sounds very much like any
of the Low Life roster, which is no bad thing, but it all goes wrong
when he pushes the American sound or when he tries to write a catchy
hook. His flow is fairly decent, but his word skills are not great and
his rhymes are pretty easy to deliver so there is nothing to really test
his skills. Even on his track ‘Flow Pro’ there are no moments that make
you stop and think “yeah, he is good…” Its all just so average. As I
said about the word skills, its not helped by his use of the same old
tired subject matter… The British city life thing has been done far
better by plenty more people and there seems to be little substance
behind his documentation of ‘ghetto’ life and his tracks about the
“lonely ladies” are ridiculous, he sounds so damn cheesy.
Another thing that really lets this album down the most is how weak the
beats are. There is nothing new or fresh out of the 12 tracks on here
and when they try and push the envelope it just sounds annoying. (Like
the electro beat on Can’t Contain Me) To compare it to its peers, this
album is nowhere near the standard of the work on Boy In Da Corner or
any of the work on Wiley’s recent album. What could have been a great UK
hip-hop record has just ended up a poor mix of a watered down Dizzee
Rascal and all the east coast hip hop records that Taz probably grew up
with. More time should have been spent his bedroom working in this
before attempting to take it public, I can’t believe he has got a deal
with Def Jam on the back of this. (Except from the fact they just signed
up the first person the could on the back of ‘you know who’ doing well.)
2/10