J Sands - The Break Violator Part 2
www.buka1995.com - $
Review by - Nin
To be earnest, I’ve never found the Lone Catalysts terribly interesting- their laconic, inoffensive brand of jazzy, pensive boom-bap has always been well-intentioned, but bland to my ears. J. Sands, then, certainly does no favors for himself here, as he treads ground markedly different from the bulk of the Lone Catalysts’ material. I’m sure you can make your own conjectures as to what that means- this is pregnant with trite gangsta swagger and braggadocio, the same bog-standard, somnambulistic battle rap that’s been clogging the pipes for the better part of the last decade. What distinguishes this from the pack, though, is the embarrassingly bad delivery- even for improvisatory freestyles, some of the punchlines on this would make listeners blush with profound discomfiture. I’m not entirely sure what the intent of this is, but I’d like to think that this series is akin to Prince Paul’s satirical record, a good-hearted lampoon of mixtape and thug-rap stereotypes. Sadly, even from that position, this mixtape is lamentably unfunny.
Disjointed, lackadaisical, phlegmatic rhymes characterize each and every track, and it seems as though the air of lethargy has similar effects on all of his guests. The jackin’ for beats angle is milked ad nauseam, and the original beats are rudimentary, sloppy and yawn-inducing, save for certain sparse, contemplative exceptions (the loose, sultry “These Words” is a good example). Gratingly bad r’n’b vocals add insult to injury, as is the case on “Place To Be (Saturday Night)”, with confounding hooks compounding things further.
If this is intended to be a farce or a parody, it is a wonder that this much time, expense and effort has been invested into something that is as risible as watching the Weather Network on mute. As comedy or pantomime, this record is equally weak. Don’t bother.
