Originally Posted by pm0ney
I think TT5B is clearly the weakest link in their discography. It doesn’t break down to one simple reason, but more like a confluence of aspects which all break down, to me, into laziness.
The rhyming, particularly rhyme schemes fell off drastically in their complexity on this record compared to Hello Nasty. Hello Nasty was the pinnacle of trading off lines, to the point where they almost came up with a new instrument based solely off the incredible trading back and forth of rhymes. On TT5B it was so boring and formulaic. Four bars, four bars, four bars, sometimes eight, eight, eight, wash rinse repeat. Lazy. Not a throwback to their old ways, just lazy.
The production was lazy as well. It clearly was made using dated computer programs, lacks that deep, grainy, boom-bap that timeless hip hop records have. Those sounds are products of drum machines and sampled loops that are worlds removed from the programmed beats on TT5B. They all sound like GarageBand demonstrations. If they wanted to make a record that sounded like it came from the 80’s, they should have used an 808. Again, laziness.
Finally, the political stuff. I’m of the opinion that if you aren’t a supremely gifted writer or public orator, keep your political opinions to yourself. Their political chops, so to speak leave much to be desired. Chuck D they are not.
So yeah, it’s a decent album by normal album standards I guess. Some tracks are really dope like Ch Check It Out, Three the Hard Way and Open Letter. But you can’t listen to Hot Sauce Committee and then take TT5B seriously. It’s a gigantic let down from by far my favorite group of all time. I hope people on here remember the hype leading up to that release after six years off. Thankfully, they returned to form on HSC and also the tour to promote TT5B was incredible. I saw them at both the Garden and the Coliseum.
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