Redman – “Defjammable”

This is pretty much the way you do current, but stay (essentially) you.

 

02 Defjammable (Dirty)

 

This song's charms – a very basic beat hidden in slightly cacophonous production, the vocal distortions – reveal themselves pretty quickly, but deepen on subsequent listens. With the right video treatment, this could really be a big single for Redman I think. 

But then, Reggie probably wouldn't give a damn. Though I've always felt that Lil Wayne owed Redman royalties for stealing his whole persona and career, in truth, Redman is not unhinged and insane the way Wayne is. He's not an outsized persona that cleverly masks average mic skills. He's just a gleefully simple dude who likes his weed, his women and having a good time. 

Redman
Of course, one shouldn't see the word "simple" and think that Redman isn't a beast on the mic.  Because he is a beast on the mic. But for all the boasts in his material – and there's plenty here ("i'll blow ya mind out/with a dynamite/Louis Vuitton belt") – Redman is the quintessential hip-hop journeyman. He diligently, consistently churns out very strong material to a small, dedicated fanbase that enjoys him for being Redman, nothing more. He is uninterested in doing anything other than making the music he wants to make for the audience that rides and dies for him. 

There really is something to be said for that. At this point in the life of hip hop, journeymen are the ones we look to to make sure hip hop is still there, alive and kicking.  And artists like Redman will never get the attention and the accolades, even though many of us would be quick to cite Reggie as one of the best currently working. And I'm sure he'd be fine with that.

The hip-hop journeymen do it for the love of it. In ways that are far less cliche and sentimental than that statement intimates.

About tlewisisdope

I write. I live in DC.
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