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| tracklisting |
| 1. Intro |
| 2. Rep That |
| 3. Evolution |
| 4. Wortown |
| 5. Sunshine feat. Paw Dukes, K Slaughta |
| 6. So Alone feat. Co-D |
| 7. Destined 4 Greatness |
| 8. Food 4 Thought |
| 9. Hold Ya Head |
| 10. Makin It Harder |
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11. It Hurts
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| 12. The Driveby (skit) |
| 13. P.Y.T. |
| 14. Lord (Vintage Version) feat. Lucky Dice |
| 15. B.M.G. |
| 16. Men Of Valour feat. W.O.L.V.E.S., Krumb Snatcha |
| 17. Music Appreciation feat. Mass Appeal |
| 18. Y'all Don't Want It |
| 19. DJ Know-It-All N MC Backpack (skit) |
| 20. U B Hatin |
| 21. Too Complex |
| 22. It's Your Life |
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| Imagine my surprise when a few weeks back, I'm scrolling through the latest update at Sandbox and I see an album by an artist who more than a few years back released one of my favorite 12" releases of all time. That artist was L Da Headtoucha, and the 12" was "Too
Complex" b/w "It's Your Life." L brought an incredibly charismatic and crafty style on the mic where he displayed such a high level of lyrical skill combined with a fierce delivery. The beats provided by the Vinyl Reanimators seemed to fit his vocal style like a glove, as they
laid a foundation upon which L ripped the track to shreds. But then POOF, L disappeared, only to pop up every blue moon on a guest spot or so, but for all intensive purposes, fell off the map. |
| Fast forward a handful of years to late 2003 and L returns with his first full length release entitled "Destined For Greatness." The hip hop landscape has changed a lot in the amount of time since L dropped "Too Complex" and my question was whether or not
he could weather the storms of time with grace, or if he would succumb to the winds of change and simplify both his vocal style along with his choice of beatwork to spit on. I'm here to tell you that he came through without a dent, but the scratches and knicks on the bar he set with "Too Complex"
are also very evident. |
| I think the biggest aspect of the album that I noticed, was that L's vocals and lyrics have suffered slightly in the creativity / complexity department, as he's lost a step or two from the raw hungry style he flipped on "Too Complex / It's Your Life." But L's
losing a step or two doesn't mean he's fallen off as he still brings a nice flow and decent lyrics to the table. He devotes a song to his folks on "Evolution," which also features a nice little banger courtesy of Soul Surpreme. "Wortown" features another nice track
from Soul Surpreme as L spits the requisite boasting and street spittin. It's evident that Soul Supreme shows his colors by giving L some straight heat on the boards. Soul Supreme does like the sped up vocal samples that seems to be popular with the soulful type hip hop beats of the day, but still,
he is a talented beatmaker and I can definitely see a brighter future for him if he can keep up this high level of quality in his beatwork. |
| Doug Infinite drops off a beat for "So Alone" which also shows that Doug hasn't lost the midas touch in the past few years. The rhymes are your standard 'my life on the streets, striving to make it' type rhymes, but honestly, there are a lot worse rhyme styles that
they could spit. |
| The beats are Bangin' on 80% of the tracks, but there are a couple of tracks that are your standard 2003 jiggy type beats that seems popular today. "It Hurts," "P.Y.T.," "Rep That," and "Ya'll Don't Want It" all hurt
the albums continuity due to their lackluster jiggy-type production that Just Blaze has made popular recently, and L kicking more commercial styles that seem to be aimed directly at 106&Park and Rap City. These tracks stick out like a sore thumb, because not only are they not as dope as the other
songs, but because L sounds just like every other mc out there trying to rap. He should definitely leave this style alone on future releases. |
| But with that said, this album bangs, and bangs hard on the other tracks. I still think L hits the creative peak with "Too Complex / It's Your Life" but there are plenty of other bangers here. I copped the album just for the change to finally have the above
mentioned 12" on CD, but was pleasantly surprised to get an album that bumps consistently the whole way through, with only a few minor missteps. And after all is said and done, and the listening session is over, all I have to say is......welcome back L. |
| review: mcktwo |
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