BEANIE SIGEL – The Broad Street Bully

Posted: Friday – September 4, 2009

★★★★★★

Remember when on any given song, Beans’ verses would spill enough aggression into 3 minutes to fit the pain of his problems and yours, and then switching it up, taking a reflective stance that would remind you of how smothered in hopelessness, days in the hood can make you feel? His lyrics, both prophetic and poetic, gave you something to vibe and nod to, and just as you thought we had a street poet on our hands, out came his sophomore album, The Reason, which was inexplicably “radio friendly”. Then, Beans released his third and fourth albums, The B. Coming and The Solution, in 2005 and 2007 respectively, where he both flirted with different styles and tried to navigate his way back home. Now here we are in 2009, with The Broad Street Bully, his fifth studio effort, which in reality is nothing more than a “retail mixtape”.

In the intro, Beanie, you hear Beans say, “I bring to you the lost files…The Ignorance coming soon.” Those lyrics are meant to serve as disclaimers, and should interpreted as follows: Before you go bashing, I just compiled a list of songs, where incidentally most of the production is garbage, and fifty percent of the lyrics are taken from the late great Notorious One. Funds are getting low, and this is an easy check. If you heed Beanie’s warning, the disappointment should have a short life cycle. If you aren’t willing to accept his excuse, and were actually hoping for Beans to take a less haphazard approach to his craft, you won’t be as forgiving. In fact you may actually hold a grudge.

Where some independent albums sound raw and authentic despite the imperfect production and display an artist in rare form expressing themselves in areas and ways that the parental advisory sticker doesn’t yet cover, the subpar beats on this album only further aggravate the listener, and Sigel does further damage with his often redundant lyrics. Why Wouldn’t I is a perfect example of the latter point. The organ heavy Where My Opponent featuring Freeway has potential, but is clumsily put together as both artists seem to randomly spit verses over the beat. All For It wants to be a good song, but the loopy beat won’t let it, the I Want It All sample from Queen is catchy though. Bang Bang featuring Murda Mill is all around horrible from the old-western inspired production to Bean’s uninspired verses.

If you are intent on finding some jewels on The Broad Street Bully, run your ears by Tear Drops, Ready For War, Run To The Roc and The Ghetto. Although Tear Drops is conspicuously laced with Biggie’s verses and at times his flow as well, Beans sounds hungry and rhymes about violence in his signature convincing manner. Ready For War is a highlight with jazzy production and admirable verses from Freeway and Young Chris. Run To The Roc finds the presumably old Roc members (their status seems to change weekly) airing out their feelings toward Big Homie. Young Chris completely overshadows Beans on the island inspired track. Fortunately, he saves his best for last with The Ghetto. On the soulful joint full of memorable lines, you get a glimpse of the old Beanie Sigel as he gives vivid descriptions of inner city life.

Overall, this may be nothing more than a “warm-up” retail mixtape album meant to feed his fans and his pockets until the more official release, The Ignorance. But on a compilation 12 songs deep, having only 4 “OK” songs doesn’t really give the fans much to anticipate.

Source: Yoraps.com

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