Redman
“Whut Thee Album”
Review by Wordsmith
Redman made his debut in 1990 on EPMD’s “Business as Usual” album on the tracks “Hardcore” and “Brothers on my Jock”. His delivery on the mic was flawless, confident and exuberant when it came to changing tones during a verse. Reds sound was so different that he basically gained a fan base off of those two records. We are talking about a time when an artist had features on their albums it was a big deal; you were lucky to get two songs featuring another artist as oppose to today’s Albums predominantly carrying features to sell more records. This allowed the listener to really hone in and be excited to hear a verse from another artist and Redman took full advantage of that.
Two years later, Redman’s opportunity came as a solo artist and he releases his debut album “Whut Thee Album”, which I thought was a dope title after fans had to wait two years for a solo offering. I even appreciated the fact that Red wrote “Whut Thee Album” incorrect as it gave a glimpse to Redman’s mind frame when it came to the presentation of his music. Opening up the album with “Psycho Ward” was genius to me because it set the tone for the album and showed us that Redman has personality, acting skills and a unique sense of breaking boundaries musically. By the time the “Time 4 Sum Aksion” sample via B-Real of Cypress Hill drops you know this album is going to be amp all the way through. Those who grew up in the golden era know that “Time 4 Sum Aksion” was and is Redman’s main single that broke him nationally. Heading into “Da Funk”, “News Break”, and “So Ryff” it is quite clear Redman spent hours as a kid playing his dad’s vinyl George Clinton, Parliament and Bootsy Collins records at a feverish level. There is a sense of detail when it comes to Red sampling from the aforementioned artists because they fit so well into the created instrumental. Yes, Redman didn’t do much producing on his first effort as Rockwilder and Erick Sermon carried the load, but you can tell he had input on the funk samples used. As the “Inhale” side of the album wraps up the album seems to get darker/grittier with tracks like Rated R, Watch Yo Nuggets w/ Erick Sermon, Blow Your Mind and Hardcore. It’s like Red chose the A side of his album to be his darker moments so you can inhale his worst first.
Side B of Redman’s album is titled “Exhale” so by this time he is expecting you to digest who he is and prepare to be high as hell throughout the rest of his album; literally. Opening with “Funky Uncles” is perfect because it’s a lighter and funnier side to Redman and he plays several characters with their own unique voices during this skit. Keeping things on the light side Redman introduces himself to his alter ego Reggie Noble. Their isn’t too many artist that will mention their government name on an album much less battle him, so again Redman is showing his range as an artist and storyteller. “Tonight’s Da Night” is and will forever be a classic by Red because the story and sample mesh so well together. It was that 90’s anthem for hitting the clubs, so that should tell you how much the rap game has changed when hear today’s club hits. The following surprise is literally a surprise as the listener is treated to a remix of “Blow your Mind”, but I have to be honest it was not needed on this project. At the most it should have been a hidden bonus track and not a part of the official track listing. The rest of the album is all about smoking weed to the highest degree as Redman gets ”Sessed One Night”, show us “How to Roll a Blunt” and kicks off his series of “Sooperman Lover” stories that ended up continuing through his next few releases.
Overall, if you didn’t grow up in the 90’s there weren’t a lot of albums that openly talked about smoking weed, so for Red to make that his main focus yet dazzle us with uncanny lyrics and storytelling was a feat in its own. Red truly introduced us to his true self and didn’t create an image for the sake of being a star.