| tracklisting |
| 1. Intro |
| 2. Itty Gritty w/ Legendary |
| 3. Money w/ Joe Frazier |
| 4. Let's Do It w/ Joe Frazier |
| 5. Grimy Shit w/ Legendary feat.
Prolifik Thought |
| 6. Shout (Original) w/ Chemical
Imbalance |
| 7. Prolifik w/ Pryme Prolifik |
| 8. Ya Times Is Up w/ Koyotte |
| 9. 80 Bars w/ Joe Frazier |
| 10. If You Wanna (Freestyle) w/
Joe Frazier |
| 11. Karma Productions w/ Chemical
Imbalance |
| 12. Pathfinders 2002 w/ Chemical
Imbalance |
| 13. Here We Go w/ Koyotte |
| 14. Outro |
| 15. Bonus Tracks |
|
|
| We need to separate this review
strongly in the two sections of lyrical contribution
and the beat tip. Beat wise "Itty
Gritty" features a dope sample that
is continuously looped, what positions Karma in
the "Time's Up" school of things: find
a dope sample and loop it until the rapper stops
to spit. In "Time's Up" case Buckwild
came up with a classic. With this "Itty
Gritty" we need to applaud Karma's
sample choice. The same can be said about the interlude
that comes on at the end of the song, as the Art
Of Noise classic "Moments Of Love" gets
an update, with the remote chopping being a sign
of promise. "Let's
Do It" also lives off of the sample,
making this a summer joint. What with restrictions
can also be said about "80
Bars", but without a doubt about
"If You Wanna (Freestyle)".
That only struggles from the self made set up. The
interlude at the end of this would certainly also
sound better if the sound quality would be accordingly. |
| The dramaturgy of "Karma
Productions" then is to our liking
and even the synthetic and self played parts are
sounding good on here. The song is followed by an
even stronger dramatic interlude piece that is actually
straight up dope. The second track by Chemical Imbalance
though - "Pathfinders
2002" - is rather catastrophically
bad. What allows us a general statement: what Karma
still needs to get better at is changing things
up: He now has the working sample choice down. Now
he needs to further his remote chopping skills,
he has to complete the 'sequencing plus' session.
He can't just continue to loop a dope sample into
oblivion. Or we will have to listen to more songs
like "Money".
The interlude at the end of this song is much better
with however the bass being of that awfully typical
Karma style. Or even worse, "Ya
Time Is Up", where the beat gets
further spoiled by Koyotte (who used to be one of
the better), who fails to make this any better with
his contribution. |
| What gets us to the words, and
lyrically Legendary is better than Joe Frazier,
as proven on "Itty
Gritty" and "Shout".
Pryme Prolifik is also better, with him also benefiting
from the easy to rhyme to song "Prolifik".
All of the emcees however still struggle to find
something worthwhile to say, with many not even
having found the right way how to say it. Hence
the flows are still very unrefined and staggering,
oftentimes weak and hardly something for proper
excitement. What in that way is tragic, as Karma
is getting better. And with the time this better
will metamorphose into a good. If he only gets his
dope samples and starts doing something more with
'em. And maybe look for better emcees too. |
| review:
tadah |
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