Consequence - Don’t Quit Your Day Job
http://www.gettingoutourdreams.com - $$$
Review by - Nin
After having secured both critical plaudits and street cred via the customary underground avenues, it appears as though Queens stalwart Consequence has finally managed to cobble together a full-length release. Indeed, one might cry foul about the inclusion of certain well-flogged standards- “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly” is resuscitated here after having made the mixtape rounds while “Grammy Family” and “Uptown” round out the host of phantasms given a new lease of life on this platter. I’m not entirely sure what prompted this puzzling decision, as the record has a hearty enough running time without such inclusions.
Having witnessed the ascent and dissipation of countless ill-advised trends in his lengthy career, one would assume that Cons is often a victim of circumstance throughout this recording- the LP is stuffed with requisite skit filler and features an awkward dancefloor joint (”Pretty Little Sexy Mama”), another confounding industry standard. Thrust into an arena where popular tastes and currents are tentative and tenuous, Cons perhaps feels strong-armed into fulfilling certain market demands that, if flouted, might spell commercial disaster. Seen in this light, perhaps the reliance on certifiable “street hits” can be seen as business-minded prudence.
Lest the reader proposes that this recording is another cruel victory for the rap biz, a triumph of avarice over artistry, allow me to dispel such conjectures at the outset. Creative integrity is preserved throughout this wholesome offering, saturated as it is with sincerity and conviction. The skits, extraneous as they are, give an impressionistic portrait of Consequence as a disarmingly ingenuous, self-deprecatory Everyman. An Everyman with skills, of course, as his lucid, lively verse reveals. The sober, pensive but bitterly witty tone is set with opener “Job Song”, a “Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man” transposed to urbane, grim Noo Yawk. The credo of art for art’s sake is all fine and dandy, but the frustration such a maxim can catalyze in an epoch of cutthroat self-interest and harrowing financial realities is channelled with acerbic succinctness throughout this trenchant statement of intent.
A strident opening paves the path for a more optimistic “Don’t Forget ‘Em”, a breezy, flute-accented number that strolls with careless gait through Consequence’s anecdotes of street “do’s and don’ts”. A slightly grating, repetitious hook aside, the track exemplifies Consequence at his idiosyncratic, candid and self-effacing best, siphoning his unembellished humanity ( a far cry from the bulletproof, swaggering dramatic personae that populate today’s pantomime of rap) into a heartening, accessible number. Yes, this convivial, honest image is diluted somewhat with the thugged-out braggadocio of “Night Night”, though again one is forced to wonder if this is a means to satiate industry templates of hypermasculinity. The John Legend-assisted “Feel This Way” fares far better as an airwave-friendly petition for popular acclaim, “Callin’ Me” exhibits a propensity for dynamic, breathless, dizzyingly intricate wordplay while “Uncle Rahiem” reaffirms Cons’ assertive dynamism as wordsmith and storyteller.
With a closer as elegiac and introspective as its opener, Consequence draws the curtain on one of the most soulful outings since the Louis Vuitton Don’s own sophomore recording. Marred as it is with certain glaring flaws, this record is above all an incandescent beacon for responsible, believable lyricism in an era besmirched by larger-than-life sensationalism and artistic lethargy/complacency. There is no question that this is the product of much meditation and toil, and while it isn’t a consummate success, there is enough tenderness, pathos, comedy and unabashed ingénue in here to warrant a purchase.
