Bi-Polar Bad Boys

By Ragin Tosh

“I thought I told you we won’t stop” is one of the most famous lines ever uttered on a hip-hop record.  This line signified an era that was ruled by a Bad Boy Entertainment, which was run by a self-made hip-hop mogul named Sean “Puffy” Combs.  His talented squadron included Biggie Smalls, arguably the greatest emcee of all time.  Reinforcements came in the form of Mase’s wit, 112’s smoothness, Faith’s heartfelt vocals, and the ruggedness of the Lox.  This team controlled the charts for much of the mid 1990’s.  Although I could get into the tragic circumstances that almost crippled this team shortly after their rise, I would sound redundant.  The main point is that according to mainstream predictions, “The Saga Continues...” never should have been made.    

          Puffy was left for dead and no one, including myself, expected that he would ever reach the pinnacle that he achieved in 1997 with his first solo album “No Way Out” selling 7 million copies.  However, here we are in 2001 with Puffy beating a gun charge case and once again saturating the airwaves with the singles “Let’s Get It”, “Bad Boys for Life”, “Can’t Believe” and “the Saga Continues…” album on the way.  I wish I could say that the album was as appetizing as the preceding singles but this is far from the case.  If this album was a person it would suffer from bi-polar disease because it has some very high highs and some incredibly low lows.

            The title track “The Saga Continues...” starts the album off with the familiar arrogance that Bad Boy exudes as they sample the music that was used during player introductions for Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.  G-Dep, Black Rob, Loon and even Puff Daddy flows well using a stop and go cadence that fits the beat snugly.  From there with assistance from Black Rob and newcomer Mark Curry, Puffy proclaims that these Bad Boys aren’t going anywhere on “Bad Boys For Life”, which has been dominating the airwaves thus far this summer.  Another banger that is destined to be receiving numerous spins sometime in the future is “So Complete”, a very strong performance from newcomer Cheri Dennis over a simple beat that is dominated by a drum pattern that sounds like a metronome. 

            An interesting development with this album is the results of the understandable showcasing of G-Dep (6 tracks) whose solo album is the next project that will be released.  On “Children of the Ghetto” he really shines displaying a nonchalant flow over an incredible violin loop that has me salivating for his LP.  The last verse is really dope as he chronicles his life up until signing with Bad Boy: “85’ got locked/ 86’ in the mix/ 87’ in the kicks’/ 88’ in the whips/ 89’ I had to grind/ 9-0 it was flow/ ninety whoa we got guns/ ’92 it was dope/ 93’ was the key/ 9-4 I was short/ 9-5 took the dive/ 9-6 I fought/ 9-7 did 11/  9-8 out the gate/ 9-9 I spit rhymes/ 2000 I’m straight."

            Now that we have expanded on the high points let’s touch on some incredibly low points.  We start things off with “Diddy” which features an enticing Neptunes’ beat but is ruined by a very ill-conceived hook that borrows from Krs-One’s classic “Jimmy”.  In fact, wack hooks are at the root of many of the disappointing tracks on this album.  “On Top” boasts an absurdly dope beat that many will recognize from an interlude on Shyne’s album.  However, using a reggae singer(Marsha) on the hook left me in such bewilderment that I almost threw the CD in the trash. 

            Another complaint is the lack of originality that was displayed on some tracks of the album.  I know Puffy is known for stealing, but with all that money he has, you would think he would just hire Rockwilder to do a beat instead of finding an unknown beatmaker like Mike “Punch” Harper to completely clone his style on “Blast Off”.  Or how about “That’s Crazy”, which uses the same song structure as “Whoa” but is not accompanied by a captivating beat that distracts the listener from how repetitive the song is.     

Buy The Saga Continues...NOW!