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Rappers Need to Let Music Marinate

By Robert Williams
DIMENSIONS Contributing Writer

Why do today's rappers release CDs so fast? It seems like every day, there's a new CD that comes out. And what really gets me is, today's rappers don't let their music marinate.

Take Busta Rhymes, for example. His album, When Disaster Strikes, came out in September 1997. Just over a year later, in December 1998, he came out with another one, E.L.E. On When Disaster Strikes, he had so many phat cuts on there, like "Dangerous" and "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See." But since he came out with E.L.E. so quickly, not a lot of people got a chance to hear all the cuts from the other album. Busta, ya gotta let that album grow on you. That CD was selling so well, then you came out with another one. You shouldn't have come out with another one until sales started slippin' off When Disaster Strikes.

In the case of DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, his first album It's Dark and Hell is Hot came out in May 1998. This man came out with his second album just seven months later! All those slick tracks he had on his first album, like "Ruff Ryders' Anthem," "How's It Goin' Down," "Get At Me Dog," and "Stop Being Greedy"...there's no way he should have come out with Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood. How can DMX's first album grow on him if he's going to come out with new cuts every month? DMX, just let your stuff marinate, that's all I'm sayin'.

Even Jay-Z falls into that category. He came out with In My Lifetime...Vol. 1 in late 1997. Less than a year later, in September 1998, his second album dropped.

But one rapper that lets his music marinate is Nas. Illmatic came out in April 1994, with hits on it like "It Ain't Hard To Tell" and "The World Is Yours." He let those 10 tracks on that album grow on him so everyone could not their head to all the tracks, not just one or two. It Was Written came out in July 1996, over two years after the first one. Then, he just dropped his third album, I Am, this spring, feturing "Hate Me Now" and cuts with Aaliyah, DMX and Scarface. See, by not coming out with another album so fast, he forced people to focus just on one album at a time. In turn, that let everyone hear the messages in his music.

Nas is doin' rap music like it should be. Busta, DMX, Jay-Z and other rappers like them need to let their stuff marinate, and everything will be straight.

Robert Williams, 18, is a freshman at Ohio State.


E-Mail Robert
Jan. 2000