idopeboy

This is my first review for this site and hopefully the first of many more. The album comes courtesy of Ed. E Ruger.

From the triad’s capital, Greensboro, North Carolina comes the best recipe for a spectacular, fresh yet familiar emcee, who has easily been coined as “The New Breed Of Hip Hop.”
Ed E. Ruger has been showcasing his energetic and vivid rhyming talents with an unmatched grind and work ethic.
Starting out as a battle rapper his in your face freestyles blended in with his crowd hyping ability took over the North Carolina underground by storm. With his never ending hunger for his music the storm has yet to be silenced, in fact it just gets bigger. Ruger claimed the top spot at the 2002 Rhyme Warz as their champion and with that he knew he was born to be on stage with a microphone in his hand.

First impressions:

This is the first music ive heard from Ruger so i didnt know what to expect, whether it was generic run of the mill hip hop or something different. The intro is all i needed to set my ‘fears’ aside. This intro should be renamed ‘Get Familiaer’ because if you havent heard any of his music this is all you need to get up to speed on his style of rap and views on hip hop.

The intro is a hard hitting energetic beat with scratches from DJ Phillie Phresh. This intro grabs the listener and doesnt let go for the duration of the album. This is one of its major strong points of the album, the un relenting pace, there are no fillers unlike some other albums. Some great production coupled with Ruger’s un remitting delivery makes for great listening .

I keep talking about Ruger’s flow and delivery because this is the thing that sticks with you long after you’ve listened to the album. You can really tell that he came up partaking in rap battles.
This album is perfect music to put on when youre in fuck you mode, most of the tracks are loud and wouldn’t be out of place in a fight scene of an indie flick.

Stand Out Tracks

Intro

Like i said above, this is all you need to get up to speed on Ruger and his rhymes, the drums at the start remind me of the bass line for a rave anthem. Ruger went in on this track, it grabs you and doesn’t let go. Right from the start of the album you know what to expect from the rest of the album. Favourite line “these rappers slash actors need to find a find a better gimmick before you find a mass grave with your favourite rappers in it”

I Hate Everybody

This is one of my favourite tracks from the album, the title is pretty self explanatory. I usually throw this on when ive had a bad day and unwind. It’s refreshing to hear a rapper admit to being a rapper instead of the usual rap about feeding off them. Great track.

Just dont Get It

The album ends on a great note, this is actually my favourite tracks from the album. Its a slightly more mellow track with the beat centered around a piano loop. It makes a nice change from upbeat in your face music that the rest of the album is made up of. This track is perfect, the beat, rhymes and flow mould together perfectly and the track actually has meaning.

Positives
The main positives are that from start to finish there isn’t a weak song, this album is all hip hop and no filler tracks. Ruger’s flow and punchlines are impeccable; you will rewind the tracks to hear some lines again. Just a single song yields so many quotables.

Negatives
There are few negatives from this album, the main one being its lack of direction and concept. I feel like it would have been a better experience if there was a concept for the album, maybe there is but it isn’t very clear. The other negative is that the songs feel similar and interchangeable and due to this i found myself zoning out while listening to it.

Overall
When the album finishes youre left with the want to hit repeat, if only to catch some punchlines you missed the first time around. They come so quickly that when you process and think about the line youve missed two more dope lines. You get the sense that he put alot of work into the album.
The album’s weakness are balanced out by its positives, as a result youre left with safe middle of the road music. It doesn’t do anything new and therefore takes no risks, what it is, is a tour de force for Ruger, he knows he’s a great lyricist so what you get is raw un adulterated hip hop. As way to improve his next album i would say he should use more diverse beats. I recommend you pick up this album if only to support a hip hop purist and great lyricist.