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| The Hosts (one guy is in his kitchen)! |
"And why are you covering two tracks in one post you idiot?" – my annoying sister.
Because it's the same track twice! Just with different people spittin ya dummy.
Let's start with the beat, courtesy of DJ Green Lantern: it's ridiculously hard in addition to being good. Seriously, if you listen to this beat you'll want to commit a crime within about ten seconds. That’s good for you and bad for society. Second, it’s one of those beats almost anyone would sound good on. So let’s compare two different versions of the track and break them down by artist. RU still down? Good.
OH! I should also mention that these are thoroughly gangster tracks and glorify violence and tragedy and everything bad (spoiler alert!), so be warned (and, also, this is gangsta rap, so what do you expect?). Everybody loves gangsta rap (well not everybody, but you know what I mean). And it’s nice to have a good hardcore track come up in the mix sometimes. Even if it takes humanity down a few notches. Church!
First up, the guy who came up with the track originally:
--Official Stats--
Artist: Jadakiss featuring Uncle Murda and Tone
Song: "It’s Whatever"
Album: “The Champ is Here Pt. 3” (mixtape)
Release Date: May 2, 2010
And the G-Mix Remix…
--Official Stats--
Artist: Serial KilLAz (Xzibit, B-Real, and Young De) feat. Jadakiss and Uncle Murda
Song: "Its Whatever"
Album: Single
Release Date: May 27, 2010
Before we get into the full review let me also speak on the Serial KilLAz for a moment. Sheesh, that name is terrible, but even so, they are a newly created supergroup which smartly combines Xzibit and B-Real, so that's great. Xzibit has proved time and again that he can easily hold down a track on his own. He’s a decorated vet and should be part of all the supergroups. He's got a ton of great tracks and albums under his belt and if you don't like him then you've obviously had your opinion tainted by (the idiots at) MTV (which sucks). I've also established that B-Real is also a great MC, but works best as a team player (mainly thanks to the voice). So, this may seem like a great combination, and it is. Make a lot of records, dudes. Oh! I disrespectfully forgot: Serial KilLAz is a trio. Sorry. The third guy is perpetual small timer Young De, who has worked with almost every west coast artist over the last five years but has never blowed up. How did he convince B-Real and Xizibit to let him in their group? Who knows? Bad move X and B? You tell them (on Twitter, not here).
So let’s go!
The original track (it's number 20):
Jadakiss: Jada holds down the chorus and the last verse, and let me say the chorus gets old fast. I don’t know if it’s his monotone voice or the fact that it’s one line repeated over and over, but how about a change up Mr. Kiss?
It’s whatever cuz / How you want it homie?
When I get to clappin don’t get to runnin on me.
(repeat x50)
That’s a fine chorus, but I think it should have a second line or mix in some scratching or news reports or something.
His verse is good enough, not the best or the worst, just typical Jadakiss which is not a bad thing. The fact that he spits it over a knocking breakdown helps a lot.
Uncle Murda: The first verse is delivered by DJ Green Lantern’s friend Uncle Murda, who prides himself on being a real gangsta who hands out money to children (actually true). He also hates studio gangstas (also true). His verse comes hard enough but in never rises above a standard hard rap. So it’s good, but pretty standard.
Tone: Ack. Tone is one of those common rap names that make it hard to distinguish between rappers. We can safely assume that this isn’t Tone-Loc or Tone (of Tone & Poke) or anyone from Tony Toni Toné. So who is this? I would guess that it is Young Tone (or Tone Spit) of the StripBoyZ (worst name). Who knows? Regardless of who this is, it’s the worst verse of the track. So overall all three rappers spit average.
Jadakiss: Jada is just here for the chorus, and it’s exactly the same as his version of the track. But they did’t include his verse, choosing instead to go with Uncle Murda's verse (probably because he rapped a little better).
Xzibit: X starts things off in this version and delivers the best and most violent verse of any of the rappers by far. Take that you weak-stomached MTV fans, your "Pimp My Ride" hero is very, very violent. He is not your friend. Never underestimate X as an MC, he understood that he needed to stand out here so stepped up his violence game. Ground beef!
Uncle Murda: The Serial KilLAz pull Uncle’s verse from the Jadakiss track and don’t mess with it at all. It’s funny how much better the verse sounds when it follows Xzibit.
B-Real: This is as good as gangsta rap gets. B-Real comes in hard and sounds astonishingly good over the same incredible breakdown that Tone got to rock in the Jadakiss version. B kills it compared to Tone (or pretty much anyone else). Honestly, this is what B was meant to do, this is his calling. It's his destiny.
Young De: Last up is Young De who delivers the worst of all the verses in all the versions. I think he missed the memo that this was a thick gangster song, and that he shouldn’t deliver a filler verse. He delivered a filler verse.
Ultimately, we are left with a banging set of tracks with the emcees ranking about as you would expect. Xzibit and B-Real owning the beat and tie for best, Uncle Murda edges out Jadakiss, and the other two tread water. Not a bad set of tracks.
Score Serial KilLAz: 8/10
Score Jadakiss: 6/10
