When singles acts like Ma$e and Fat Joe ascended to cultural stardom, AZ was relegated to pinch-hitter status, emulating Bad Boy Records’ interpolation-heavy homages while signed to a succession of flailing major labels. Basking in a penthouse sunset, the kingpin narrator of “ Sugar Hill” seeks distraction from memories of his criminal past the chilly prisoner’s lament “ Your World Don’t Stop” lands closer to Hard Rain Falling than “ One Love.” The record is paced like a brooding HBO drama, long cigar-room dialogues punctuated by flashes of brutal violence.Īlthough 23-year-old AZ established himself as one of New York’s premier album artists, the industry had other ideas. On Doe or Die, life is fragile and death nonsensical, the born-alone-die-alone ethic making for a stark intimacy.
The album’s subtle magnificence extends to its exposition. Its modesty is unique among rap masterworks: AZ is all polish and rolled consonants, his rhyme patterns nested like Russian dolls so as to belie their complexity. Where its closest peers-ruggedly hard-won classics like Word.Life and operatic genre favorites like 4,5,6-commit more fully to autobiography or ambiance, Doe or Die explores weighty themes but doesn’t leave quite as much to chew on. A coming-of-age treatise and a doctorate-level technical exercise, it’s Illmatic’s cosmopolitan sibling and Cuban Linx’s sober cousin, bridging their ideas and surpassing their acrobatics. I remember anticipating this album a lot prior to its release, mostly because I was a fan of his since '94 and I was curious to see what he would bring after his debut.Doe or Die, the 1995 debut by Brooklyn rapper AZ, suffers critically for its flawless execution. After "Doe Or Die," AZ's name was definitely out there, notably via an appearance in Jay-Z's "Dead Presidents" video and another (slightly) memorable guest appearance on Nas' "Affirmative Action." Speaking of "Affirmative Action," that would ultimately lead to "The Firm" album in 1997, which was covered recently on the blog, and that brings us to "Pieces Of A Man." All things considered, that was best time to release the album, because it likely would've fell even more under the radar had it came out in 1996, another STACKED year. While the album was quite excellent and classics such as "Sugar Hill" and "Gimme Yours" made a respectable amount of noise, especially the former, the album fell a little bit under the radar, and you can attribute that to it being released in the STACKED year of 1995. As the sole guest star on Nas' classic "Illmatic," AZ had made a name for himself right out the gate with his memorable verse on "Life's A Bitch," which would ultimately lead to his debut album, 1995's "Doe Or Die" (also due for a revisit).
This would actually mark the first time I've reviewed an AZ album, but before I get to his 1998 sophomore album, a few words if I may.
0 kommentar(er)
