Aesop Rock - Bazooka Tooth

This by far the worst album I have had the misfortune to listen to all year. It's quite apt that it's called "Bazooka Tooth" as dental work is far less painful than hearing this charmless American hip hop. At least during a visit to the dentist you get an anaesthetic. Believe you me an anaesthetic is what I wanted after a marathon fifteen tracks of utter tuneless tripe.

America has some of the best hip hop artists in the world, but this sorry bunch are a disgrace to their country and should be ashamed of themselves. "Easy" sadly isn't a cover of The Commodore's classic, but a weary attempt at oriental type samples searching desperately for a tune with atrocious rapping. So irritating and devoid of any merit. There are too many vocals overlapping each other and in plain speaking terms annoys to a worrying degree. "No Jumper Cables" has infuriating bleeps and sampled voices which shout meaningless gibberish. Have these guys heard of melody? It's so amateurish that I get the distinct impression it was made us as they went along. I'm all for freestylin and improvisation, but when it sounds this bad maybe it's better to have a more focused approach when it comes to quality control.

"Limelighter" features Camp bo, but despite his presence this is still unoriginal and almost unlistenable. Not recommended unless you have a penchant for rappers who deliver their lines in a nasal whiny way. Do they not have strepsils or lemsips in da hood? "Cook It Up" featuring PFAC is a bit better, but only a bit. Funky it may be, but it's also all over the place making it nigh impossible to dance to.

So even though I love rap / hip-hop and r'n'b I really really hated this pitiful excuse for music.

Nicholas Paul Godkin