Artist: Jadakiss
Album: Kiss The Game Goodbye
Label: Interscope
Rating: 7 / 10
Reviewer: Gavin-X
I’ve recently checked out Jadakiss’ “Kiss Tha Game Goodbye” (well, I’m just finishing off listening to it) and I gotta say up front that I wasn’t really feeling his whole vibe with the LOX etc. (other than the Primo killer ‘Recognize’) Anywho, I’m just going run you through it track by track…
01. Jada’s Got A Gun
Oh dear God…the hook is so bad it actually hurts. When Jada starts spitting though, the beat changes a little and is kinda cool (dark, deep piano with sharp little violin strokes) At first, he’s just talking about how hard he is though and the depth of his arsenal, which, to be honest, is a little dull, but the last verse is much better and actually sounds slightly sincere, but then ARGHHH!! the hook kicks in again and I quickly press ‘Skip.’ Not a great start…
02. Show Discipline
Its Nas!! And he’s really rather good again!! Cool beat; fairly basic, but nice bass: shame about the shite chorus though. Both MCs flow and ride the beat real well though, which sounds a bit like something from The Firm album to me. Was my favourite track on the promo, and is my second favourite track on the full album.
03. Knock Ya Self Out
Nice beat from the men of the moment, The Neptunes. Not exactly breaking from their formula (if it ain’t broke…) but its still cool – a little more sinister than usual. Jada steps up pretty well actually, although its a fairly routine story of him and girl.
04. We Gon’ Make It
Strange… I thought this wasn’t going to be on the album because of all that business with the record companies. Anyway, I love the beat and though both Lox members do well, Ras Kass really outshines them; Home Sweet Home is overall far better (prefer the hook on that one too), but this is still cool. One of my favourite songs on the album even though I’ve had it for ages now
05. None of Ya’ll Betta
Oh yeah!! Primo on the beat, and its a fucking heater too. Sounds a little different from what he’s done recently and it suits the MCs (all the Lox) very well. This is simply brilliant (uses M.O.P on the scratched hook too – “Is it real? Yeah son!”) and is even better than ‘Recognize’ – best track on the album by about a country mile
06. I’m A Gangsta
Terrible sung hook, average beat and fairly basic lyrics. I like the line about bi-sexual bullets (“they hit both niggaz and bitches!”) even though the rest is just him saying how hard he is. Unfortunately, this is type of weak shit I used to think about when someone mentioned Ruff Ryders
07. Good Girl
Features Carl Thomas now but still has Timbaland on the beat. Although the hook is hella cheesy its not a bad track at all. Beat reminds me of ‘Try Again’ a bit for some reason. Definately one for the clubs and the more I listen to it, the more I like it
08. Put Ya Hands Up
Simple beat (Swizz Beatz I think – reminds me of ‘World War 3’) but Jada comes off good. Even so, fairly routine Ruff Ryders/Roc-a-Fella style bragging shit especially for the all important first/second single
09. On My Way
It was bad on the promo and its still bad now. A Swizz Beatz track I reckon, and its a terrible one. Shit beat and wank lyrics are not the way to make a successful album
10. Cruisin’
The beat really reminds me of ‘Why’ by Sticky Fingaz with a female singer sample (“I wanna”) in the background which they bounce off like in Canibus’ ‘Phuck U’. The hook, and in fact the whole track, is very laidback which suits Jada pretty well. Snoop, amazingly, seems to have remembered (a little bit at least) how to flow again and comes off better than usual despite four rhymes of bitch within 6 lines. Overall, a real nice track to blaze in the car in the heat, especially since its nice and sunny over here for once
11. Kiss Is Spittin’
Reminds me of an old 2Pac joint (I think) with its laid back beat. The hook is a combo of Nate Dogg and a female singer, which works pretty well and is a nice change from the enormous amounts of similar sounding Nate choruses around at the moment. As with ‘Cruisin,’ Jadakiss sounds really decent over a nice laid back beat
12. Is We Fuckin Or What
Swizz Beatz strikes again I think, but after a shocking little start, the beat’s OK I guess with a little piano sample running over a simple break beat. Jada talks about how good he is in bed and how many girls he has in there which, combined with the hook, makes a pretty shit track really
13. It’s Time I See You
This track has a couple of annoymous Ruff Ryder losers on it, along with Eve and the other L.O.X, but overall I guess it isn’t too bad a track. The beat is OK (think Adam F-lite) but as you’d expect, none of the MCs exactly stand out and the “It’s Time I See You” sample is a little grating
14. What You Ride For
Who the fuck Fiend, Yung Wun and Eightball are is beyond me, but if this is anything to go by, they should never be allowed near a mic again. The beat is horrible and the MCs are just amusingly bad. Terrible, terrible song
15. Un-Hunh
DMX doing his growly thing, but for once, over a tight beat. Both him and Jada come off very well with, what sounds like, a diss to Roc-A-Fella. Overall, a real nice track
16. Keep Ya Head
Jiggy as fuck, and unfortunately not in a good way. The beat is shit and, again, the chorus is awful. Jada may drop the best lyrics this side of ‘Paid In Full’ Rakim but I wouldn’t know – I could only listen to this shit for a minute before my ears started bleeding.
17. Charge It
Starts with a couple of idiots talking shit for about a minute (why is this on an album? who fucking cares?) before it goes into a really dull conversation between a couple more idiots talking about charging something to somebody (again, why?) and laughing a lot for another 4 minutes. what is the point? what does this add to the album?
Overall:
Straight up, I’ll admit it. I hate everything that Ruff Ryders etc. stand for and blame them, along with Roc-A-Fella for a lot of the crap hip-hop around on TV and radio at the moment. The first DMX album was kinda cool, but almost everything else by them (apart from the L.O.X’s ‘Recognize’) that I’ve heard has been very bad. However, I have to admit that this debut solo joint from Jadakiss is a hell of a lot better than I expected; about half the promo was good, but those songs which weren’t good, were simply terrible. All but one of the promo songs have made this finished version, but the bad ones are interspersed enough with good tracks that you can listen it from start to finish (leaving out the skits though, obviously) without being tempted too often to hit ‘skip.’ Apart from when ‘Keep Ya Head’ comes on anyway. Amazingly the one song that was left off from the promo was the second Alchemist joint ‘The Real Me’ which was actually rather good and by no means the worst song. Out of the four added tracks, ‘None of Ya’ll Better’ is the obvious stand out, ‘What You Ride For’ is horrible, and the other two are pretty good, while not being exactly outstanding. Its a shame that Eminem never laid down vocals for this album because it would’ve shown just how inept, lyrically, msot people on this album are. Sure Jadakiss has his moments, but overall, he’s really nothing to write home about, and the rest? well, the less said about Fiend, Yung Wun and Eightball the better. The beats, in general, are pretty good. Swizz Beatz is fairly bad throughout, but most others are good, especially those from Primo and The Alchemist. Notably, there isn’t an obvious Dre produced track so whether he ever got round to recording with Kiss is still up for debate. If Jadakiss ditched Swizz Beatz and the horrible sung hooks this might’ve been a different album altogether.