- The Rally
- 12 Years Ago
- Hard Streets
- Let That Thang Go
- Can I Live
- I Been Looking Around
- Follow T
- Hasta La Victoria Siempre!
- A Few Good Men
- Shake Ya Body
- The Sanction
- Ya'll Can't Win
- It's OK
- Bounce
- Victory! Victory! Victory!
Who is that dude on T-Bone's album cover? Could it be Ernesto "Che" Guevara? No, it's T-Bone himself, doing his best impersonation of the late Fidel Castro aide. Now, before you start thinking he's making a case for communism with his newest release,
To do this, he enlisted the help of Louis "Buster" Brown (Kirk Franklin, Yolanda Adams), one half of famous production team Buster & Shavoni. T-Bone makes music for a mix of races—black, whites, Filipinos, Latinos—and Brown similarly steered this project in as many directions and traditions as possible. As the executive producer, he called on other renowned producers—the Avila Brothers, Darkchild's Fred Jerkins, Warryn Campbell, Bosko—and together they helped T-Bone make his most musically ambitious project to date.
The most noticeable change in T-Bone's style is how he trades his West Coast methodology for the East Coast sounds of G-Unit, Jay-Z, and the Terror Squad. As a pop-rapper, it's certainly an inspired move for him, seeing how the West hasn't produced anything as commercially viable in years, confined mostly to underground circles. The problem with this switch is that he tries to be too many things at once, and the short attention span can only get him so far with those who would prefer he stick to one persona. The emcee does prove quite versatile, channeling the Beastie Boys in one track ("12 Years Ago"), a tamer version of Lil' Jon & the Eastside Boyz in another ("Shake Ya Body"), and the playful raps of Eminem after that ("Bounce"). By the end of the disc, one is not sure whether he's resorting to flattery of these pop idols or simply imitating them. But it sounds good, and at least he—or his producers, rather—should get credit for that.
But that's just the start. T-Bone tips his hat to nearly everything that has proved successful and popular in the pop-rap realm. Besides bringing on the crunk in "Shake Ya Body," the guitars and introspection of "A Few Good Men" evokes early Black Eyed Peas. The biographical "I Have Been Looking Around" looks to two sources of inspiration, namely Kanye West (for its sped-up soul sample) and Jay-Z (for the flow and the way he talks about his past as Jay did on
Wait, T-Bone glorifies whom? Yes, amidst all the exceptional production tactics and on-point beats, it's impossible not to dismiss the countless instances in which T-Bone pats himself on the back for his considerable skills, accomplishments, and possessions. More so than previous albums,
Is it really necessary to let listeners know that T-Bone enjoys all these luxuries, or is this his own gospel-rap version of prosperity gospel. It's the same lyrical technique preacher-turned-rapper Mase used last year, and it backfired on him because many rightly thought his newfound love for Jesus and his outspoken love for mammon were two mutually exclusive things. T-Bone does oppose the sexed-up, violent nature of hip-hop ("Let That Thang Go"), but he doesn't do anything to decry its materialistic excesses.