Bloggystyle -- The Greatest

There are two very important maxims in the rap game. #1 - A rapper who makes it big will inevitably attempt to prop up his boys, who will likely possess fewer skills than the predecessor.

Banks breaks that mold, basically by default. Let's face it, when you're in a group with Curtis Jackson, it's a struggle to have the worst flow or the least lyrical ability. Thus I'm assuming with this album that Banks doesn't disappoint, primarily because he doesn't have to impress.

Oh yeah, maxim #2. Rapping punchlines that invoke Stuart Scott's commentary is never a promising formula, especially when trying to assert one's flyness.

But all of the above has been nullified by the great equalizer in the rap game: slugs. Banks got shot, thus he has a touch of street credibility, even if he makes the laughable claim that, after taking a bullet through the liver, Banks ran 10 blocks to the hospital and got hit by a car on the way there. If that's true, Banks is a worthy successor to Chris Reeve for the claim to Superman.

Ain't No Click, featuring Tony Yayo

And if the above is true, Tony Yayo may as well change his name to Kryptonite. At least the bastard can count to 4 in Spanish. I'll sleep much better tonight.

"Go ahead, try to do me harm soldier. You'll be in a black bag like grass in a lawn mower." Can you believe these types of lines, original for their utter cheesiness, are described as Banks's "gift for penning clever punch lines?" Me neither.

Playboy

Listening to Banks isn't that bad when his flow is smooth. Granted he's not saying anything of importance, and there are customary lines that Beetlejuice from the Howard Stern Show seemed to write in every track, but as a lyrical exercise, there are a lot worse than Banks out there.

For this track though, the beat is obnoxious and choppy, requiring Banks to make his flow choppy. They may as well have put Tony Yayo on this track to make this track a truly epic shitstorm.

Warrior

Lyrically this is the most simple track I've ever heard out of Banks. But it's catchy and the beat has a nice pace. Hey, would you rather listen to Ja sing about being a warrior?

On Fire

Is there really a point in reviewing a track that everybody has heard? This track is almost as nondescript as a track can get. Banks's emphasis on the last word of each bar is particularly annoying. The beat's ok.

I Get High, featuring 50 Cent and Snoop

If it sounded like Jazze Pha was playing Megaman while producing Ciara's "1 2 Step," then it sounds like whoever produced this garbage Hi-Tek was toying around with one of those old 80s Alphi toys. What the hell happened to Hi-Tek?

Snoop's on this track. I tried my hardest not to listen, in keeping with my insistence that Snoop Doggy Dogg ended his career after Doggystyle. Calvin Broadus has not been with us for the past 10 years dammit.

I'm So Fly

Tim did this beat, luckily for Banks. This beat is pretty nice cool. Banks's flow goes over this beat well, although I think any rapper who is not a member of Mobb Deep or Dipset could flow over this one.

There are just a few problems with this track. Banks says he's "cooler than the other side of the pillow." Banks says he has "more straps than a Jansport" (backpacks if you didn't catch that the first time). He also says that while he's eating in Rome, we are eating Roman noodles.

These lines left me thinking that either Banks is not fly or if he is I don't want to be fly. Really, those lines stick out like Ron Jeremy's unit, no homo.

Work Magic, featuring Young Buck

"Nah I ain't from Michigan, but I'm in the Fab 5." That would have been clever, except Lloyd's idea of the Fab 5 is him, 50, Buck, Yayo and The Game. I think it's time for Chris Webber to head back to court. This time he can be the plaintiff and sue Banks for libel.

Anyway, when it comes to working magic, Banks and Young Buck aren't exactly Houdini and Copperfield. I'll just leave it at that.

If You So Gangsta

Banks compares himself to Lebron and "Sean John" in a span of 10 seconds. Don't blaspheme the King's name.

In a song dedicated to being gangsta and gully, the sample of Pac-Man being killed by one of those little monsters seems just a bit out of place.

Warrior Part 2, featuring Marshall, Nate Dogg and 50 Cent

I don't necessarily hate on role playing, because obviously a large majority of rappers do it. But I just can't listen to Marshall talk about being a warrior when the last few songs I heard from him involved puking and farting.

On this album though, this track's not that bad.

Karma

The official Amazon review says "A better reason to cop this album is to hear Banks's introspective take on the flipside of thug living."

Why? Because there's one track obviously geared to women on this album? WHAT CRAPPY RAP ALBUM DOESN'T HAVE THAT GIMMICK THESE DAYS? Jesus H Christe.

When The Chips Are Down, featuring The Game

Wow, what a novel formula. A nice beat, a decent sample for a hook, and a tight guest spot.

The Game's verse on this track is probably the best verse on this album. "Magazines want to know where the fuck L.A. been. / It almost died in the same car Suge got grazed in." Every rhyme in Game's verse is a multiple rhyme rhyming with those lines.

I was thinking to myself that it would be nice if more of the tracks on this album were this good, but if that was the case the result would have been The Documentary.

When The Chips Are Down is easily the best track on this album so far. Of course, the pedestal was set so low Verne Troyer could high jump over it.

Til The End, featuring Nate Dogg

Wow, Banks has two tight tracks in a row. I really like this beat, simple as it is. It's like Banks combined On Fire, If You Gangsta and Warrior minus the stupid machismo to go along with a nice beat and Nate in the background. This track is tight.

Die One Day

The last two beats were nicely paced and dark. This beat is too fast and way too light and upbeat. It reminds me of Dutty Rock off Diplomatic Immunity II. That's not a compliment.

The name of the track sounds like a prospective Bond film title. In keeping with tradition...



South Side Story

If this wasn't the last track on the album, I probably would have skipped it and just listened to The Game's West Side Story.

But I didn't, and in the process there went 4:10 of my life that will never be recovered.

It's not like Banks is Jim Jones. As an emcee he's average enough to make a decent album if things fell into place. The problem is that there's no reason to have this guy around when he's just a poor man's Game. This album dropped 6 months before The Game's, but the production for this album sucked. The Aftermath production that typically carries an album is absent from this one.

Banks is left to rap about how fly he is over crap beats and then has to suffer the humiliation of hearing his label mates rap over awesome beats by the likes of Just Blaze and Dre. Oh well.