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| Judge certainly has the philosophy right, when in reference to what rap in Australia is missing nowadays he says "C**ts aren't trying to be the dopest. That's the biggest thing: c**ts look at the wackest c**t and go 'yeah my shit's better then theirs,' instead of looking at the
dopest c**ts and saying 'yeah my shit's BETTER, not equal, but BETTER then theirs'." (read the whole interview at checkoutwax.com). What tells you two things: the guy's from Australia, and he's quite a cocky bastard.
What doesn't take anything away from the statement though. But when you state something like that, you better come dope. |
| Judge intends to do that with different styles, as his tracks are at times topic driven, while other times come to rep. But on a "Judgement Day", or a "I Need 5 G's", there's a story that makes the song. The
first is some thriller unfolding, while on the latter Judge pulls a 50. Meaning he does his adapted version of "How To Rob". And word on the street is, that folks read some beef into the song (some guys are just too uptight). But again, read the interview, to get the whole nitty gritty. |
| Gritty is another good word for what Judge does. His delivery is always aggressive. The more braggadocios "Fire In The Belly" offers no exception, but it also picks up the discussion that was quoted at the beginning. At the
same time, Judge keeps the words violent, he keeps the flow simple and here is where we need to start to talk about where there's no action behind his word. |
| It's a subjective thing to define how you can come better than the dopest cat in Australia. You can put your focus on delivery, presentation and flow, or content and creativity. Considering the first, as said, Judge is stuck in a continued aggression that keeps his delivery samey
and one dimensional. Content wise he's not trying to take prisoners, what adds cockiness to whatever he does. But it doesn't make him sound special or anything but simple. And as he has to and intends to come across hard, he's stuck in a growling rhythm. Plus the hooks of a "Judgement Day"
or "No Option" are simple at best too. What is all rather unfortunate, because on the "Triple J Freestyle" Judge shows how he can really ride a beat, as he sounds good over this Onyx offering. |
| Which however is a good beat. So that might just be the factor not taken into consideration yet. Many of these backgrounds on here are kinda weak. They are strongly based on keyboard sounds, that struggle to really do anything. On a "Outwest Mind Set", Nayys beat
even sounds like a corny kid rap song that's currently in the European charts (One-T sucks). Only the choppiness of "Brag & Boast", the piano (whilst it's not a real piano) of "Fire In The Belly" and the singing sample of
"When The West Invades" sounds good. The rest, like a "Down But Not Out" is not wack. But it's failing to raise above aight, restricting what the lyrics really can do too. |
| So with all the arrogance this record carries as baggage, not much is really backed up by solid action. So someone that's stressing you to do better, who doesn't come better, might sound rather phony. But not just. As you need people that dare to say uncomfortable things. Nevertheless,
one guy once told me: you can either rap about how nice you are, or you can rap and show how nice you are. Translating this for the situation at hand: you can either criticize people, or show 'em how to do it better. Judge did the one, but still has to do the other. |
| review: tadah |
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