Movie Review – “Gang Related”

Release Date: October 8, 1997

Production Companies: Orion Pictures

It has come to this. I had covered all of Tupac’s other films, such as “Juice,” “Poetic Justice,” “Above the Rim,” “Bullet,” and “Gridlock’d.” So this had been quite a project for me. What separates this film from the others was that this was the first time I had watched it. That’s right. I had seen the other ones before, though “Bullet” and “Gridlock’d” had been once before and the first-time viewings were a long time ago. This one, however, I remember hearing about it. I had my chances but never got around to it. But with me doing this series of cover Tupac’s films, I had to watch it eventually.

Now that I have seen it, where do I stand with it?

Going into it, I had a feeling what I was getting myself into. While I hadn’t actually seen this movie before, I had read the plot synopsis and read that it was a crime drama about dirty cops covering up a murder. The plot involves detectives Divinci (James Belushi) and Rodriguez (Tupac Shakur) killing a drug dealer early in the film, only to find out he was an undercover DEA agent. The two crooked cops had to come up with the perfect alibi to cover up the murder. So they try to find some people to pin the rap on and also turn to a stripper named Cynthia (Lela Rochon), whom Divinci had an affair with, to help them out on this cover-up.

A lot of the movie has the plan fall apart as expected, but just how things fell apart kept me engaged. I had a feeling that Rodriguez, while dirty, was more sensible and wanted no part of the plan after a while. While I have seen plot elements like this before, I think they were executed well.

Belushi impressed me with his performance. His career has had its ups and downs, whether it was doing some unfunny comedies (I have seen some to which I can make an exception, however) and some serious films here and there. I do recall finding the 1988 film “Red Heat” with Arnold Schwarzenegger to be underrated and he did fine as the comedic cop as some comedic elements were more subtle than overt. In this film, however, he gave a chilling performance. His portrayal was rather terrifying as the film progressed.

While Tupac was one of the leads, I can’t say he was the focus for the most part. While he did fine in the role, there was not a lot of focus on his character. Most of the film’s plot focused on Divinci as it showed he was cheating on his wife and was also the one behind the plan. We didn’t know much about Rodriguez. Not to say Pac didn’t do well because these scenes showed that he had range. In fact, when you look at the two films that came out after his death, he didn’t play street thugs (“Poetic Justice” could be argued as he wasn’t a thug in that film), so he showed he had enough range to branch in some roles. Here are some examples:

One thing I will say about these scenes, and another that came after this one, is that it’s hard to watch when you know how he was killed. As a matter of fact, this movie was filmed in the summer of 1996. It wrapped up in August and then not long after that in September, he was murdered. It’s uncomfortable to see.

Another thing I should mention is that when I saw the opening credits, I noticed Dennis Quaid was listed. It took me a bit to finally figure out who he was in this movie. It was not until an interrogation scene that I had to look closely. Being that he portrayed a hobo, I could see how he was made up to look that way with the long hair and beard but then came when he had a haircut and shave.

I was at the edge of my seat for most of the film but the gripe I had was with the ending. I felt like not only it was rushed when filming but also had some rewrites. Another thing that I found confusing was that one prominent character was seen at the end all cleaned up and working again. This was supposed to be four months later. I don’t think that is enough time to get some skills back after being homeless and having mental issues. It would take more time to relearn such skills and a lot more time before one is ready to work again. Then you have the sudden ending. Maybe I should read the script to see how things went.

I would have to say that this is an underrated crime drama. The performances were done well. It had a good script for the most part and the overall tone didn’t feel too bleak. As for this being Tupac’s last film, because of his untimely demise, no one can know for certain where his career would have gone. There were rumors that he wanted to do a “Star Wars” film considering the first prequel was in development in the mid-1990s. There has been speculation that he was considered to play Mace Windu but then I had read that the original concept for that character was different. Like I had said before, this film and “Gridlock’d” were good examples of him branching out into different roles. While he was a dirty cop here, I wonder if he would have played a good cop at some point. No one will ever know.

Where do I stand with all of these films? Having watched six of his films for my series of reviews, I have to say that Tupac Shakur was indeed a talented man. I will admit that while I do like his music, I was never one of those fans who act like he is the single greatest rapper of all time and anyone who disagrees is wrong. I do admit that he left a mark on the hip-hop industry and there is a reason he is still talked about to this day. As for him as an actor, he was one of the better examples of rapper-turned-actors, though you could also say he was a rapper-actor who excelled at both. Yes, his more common roles were as street thugs when you look at “Juice,” “Above the Rim,” and “Bullet.” The other three films showed he had some range to do other types of roles. Yes, while I mentioned that “Poetic Justice” was debatable, he wasn’t a thug in that film. He was a mailman and for the majority of the film, Lucky was just someone who wanted to make a career in music. There was some depth to him that showed he wasn’t a one-dimensional character. Being that he had done six films, half of them he portrayed a thug and the other half were different roles. When you look at other rappers turned actors, whether it’s the likes of Ice-T, Ice Cube, DMX, etc., a lot of the time they played thugs but then there were times when they played different kinds of roles. The difference, however, was that Pac had an acting background prior to becoming a rapper. With “Juice” being his first film, the promotion for the film didn’t say anything like “starring popular rapper Tupac Shakur” or anything like that. If anything, “2Pacalypse Now” was released mere months before “Juice” was released. Plus, he wasn’t on the soundtrack to promote his music, either. So I think if he had lived, it’s possible he could have done more in acting.

That’s it for the series of Tupac films, but there is a side of me that may want to revisit something. Something I was not a fan of but I have the itch, even though I thought it was not a great biopic. I may get to that soon.

Movie Review – “Above the Rim”

Release Date: March 23, 1994

Production Companies: New Line Cinema (later acquired by Warner Media) and Medina/Pollack Entertainment

Here I am with another review/retrospective for my Tupac Shakur marathon. It’s weird to think that while Tupac was alive, he only did six films (not counting “Nothing But Trouble”) and I wonder if he would have done more if his untimely death didn’t happen. So many things to think about.

I had seen this movie a handful of times before. The first time being back in 2001 when I caught it on TBS. Granted, it was the TV cut, but aside from dubbing over profanity, there really wasn’t a lot censored as there was no sexual content at all and the violence wasn’t all that severe that it had to be edited. Although I will note that with the soundtrack, some songs were the clean versions, some of which were re-recorded songs with different lyrics. That’s about as far as I could go with my personal history with the film, except for maybe the soundtrack album but that’s a different topic altogether. Yes, I did see this movie a few times before and did enjoy it, but it isn’t something that I would call one of my favorites.

That isn’t to say that I don’t have some things to say about it, however. I did say I liked the film.

It was not until now that I found out that this movie was not only directed by the late Jeff Pollack, who had directed other films (I know I’ve seen one other one, “Booty Call”), but he also co-produced and co-wrote this film. If he had a lot to do with this film, something tells me that this was a project that he wanted to get off the ground. I had read that during the production, Allen Payne (“New Jack City”) was considered to play the lead role but Pollack turned it down in favor of Duane Martin, who played the main character, Kyle-Lee Watson.

So the plot goes like this. The film starts off with two teenage basketball players playing on the rooftop of a building and one guy wants to show that he could jump high enough to touch the backboard of a basketball hoop, he does so but breaks through and falls to his death. Given how dimly let the setting was, it has hard to tell where the two friends were, unless you play close attention to a skylight nearby in a wide-angle camera shot. Then it turns out was a dream (or flashback) when Thomas Sheppard, or as he went by, Shep (Played by Leon; he has a full name but was just credited by his first name), woke up. It turned out he was the one who survived and then it cuts to another scene at a high school basketball game. The gist of the story involves Kyle-Lee Watson, who is a star player on the team and hoping to get a shot at playing at a university, causing a loss for the team because he often hogs the ball, leaving other players and his coach to confront him about it. We then find out that Shep started working as a security guard at the school.

Over the course of the film, Kyle comes across other people and is torn between who he should align with for influence for his future, which includes local gang leader, Birdie (Tupac Shakur), who has quite an influence and clout on the streets that he can make things happen. Oh, and Kyle’s old friend Bugaloo (Marlon Wayans) is the one who introduces Kyle to Birdie. While the narrative primarily focuses on Kyle, there is also focus on Shep, who still deals with pain over the loss of his friend, and also his familial relationship with Birdie, who happens to be his brother.

So basically, while basketball is the aesthetic for the plot, the real story is about connections and choice. Throughout the film, you can see that some of the negative influences can lead to negative consequences, as well as a positive influence being close by but not realizing it until a certain point.

What’s interesting is that while some elements aren’t fully explored, it’s possible that Pollack went for some elements to be interpreted. For example, one scene had Shep encounter a homeless man named Flip (the late Bernie Mac) and the two knew each other. It’s implied that the two had history from their school days and that Flip had played basketball. It didn’t get fully explored but it’s implied and left for interpretation. So while things aren’t fully explained, when you go back and watch it again, things start to make more sense.

Unlike “Juice,” Shakur’s performance as Birdie is a lot more subdued than as Bishop. What sets them apart is that Bishop wanted power and respect but was also a scared young man deep down, while Birdie is already a respected (and likely feared) gang leader who has the kind of influence that if someone does what he says, they’ll do it and will order a hit on someone if the person crosses him. Yes, Bishop was terrifying in some scenes, but Birdie has that air about him that while he may seem respectful at first, he is more dangerous than he initially lets on and it showed as the film progressed.

To establish Shep and Birdie’s relationship, this scene showed a lot of Tupac’s acting ability. It was one of the best scenes in the film. It also established the two characters’ personal faults.

The film also provided some comic relief in some scenes with Wayans and Mac, especially with the two being comedians. It didn’t hurt to have some funny bits in a serious movie.

I also have to talk about the basketball scenes. It was clear that Pollack knew what he was doing when directing and editing the scenes but you had some quick cuts and close-ups during bits when one shot would change and then a shot of a basket being made. Whether there was a wide-angle shot, a close-up, or a quick montage, the editing made those shots feel intense.

Here is a good example of that. It was the film’s climax, by the way.

Because this came out at a time when “hood movies” were more prevalent, a lot of the time there was a soundtrack to come out with the film. You could say that some films were used to promote music soundtrack albums back in the day. Hell, it was often shown in the production credits on the poster and some of the time, trailers and TV spots would have a list of artists on the soundtrack. This film was a good example of that as it not only had some songs to go with the setting but also had one of the hottest labels at the time, Death Row Records, to promote their music. Not to go into the soundtrack fully because I would rather go into it in another post, but for a movie set in New York City, there was a lot of West Coast rap in it. I know that Death Row did the soundtrack, but with that being mostly a West Coast label, it seemed a little out of place. Yes, there was some East Coast rap in the film but not on the soundtrack album. That’s just my opinion, though.

I think I appreciate this film more now than when I watched it before. I didn’t say I didn’t like the film. I liked the film okay but it seems that whenever I watch it more times, I can appreciate different aspects about it. This film is no exception. I know that it’s been nearly three decades since it came out but with this film having a low budget, it barely doubled the amount. Yes, I know that ticket prices were lower in the 1990s but this film was not that big of a hit. Not saying it needed to be, but even when I talked about with people I knew back in my teens (in the early-2000s), some people said they had never heard of it. I mean I wouldn’t rate it too high but I still like the film okay, if fine. A lot of the basketball scenes were done well. The story actually worked when looking at the perspectives of the three main characters.

Overall, I would call this an underrated film.

3.75/5

Thoughts on Tupac’s murder investigation

After 27 years, it seems that the unsolved murder of Tupac Shakur may finally draw to a close. It’s crazy to think that after all this time, this whole thing can be put to rest. But why did it take so long?

I can tell you what I remember where I was at the time of this happening. I was in fifth grade, so I was about 10 years old. Even at that age, because I was exposed to hip-hop early, I remember that Tupac was at the height of his career. Now granted, I didn’t pay too much attention to what had happened at the time like his beef with Biggie, as well as the controversy surrounding Death Row’s working environment. But I remembered that “All Eyez on Me” was a hot seller and many singles came from that album when it was released in early 1996.

Of course, a lot of people know what happened. He went to Las Vegas for a Mike Tyson fight and he, along with Marion “Suge” Knight (the owner of Death Row Records; pronounced “shug”), were riding along the street and then shots were fired. It wasn’t until much later, like in my teens, when I found out more details of what led up to it. I had watched documentaries like “Tupac: Resurrection” and “Welcome to Death Row.” It had been a long time since I had last watched them, but I recall there was a lot covered in them. One thing that I learned when I was in my teens was that Orlando Anderson, a Crip from LA, had gotten into a fight with Suge and some of his entourage in a casino while Tupac walked away from the chaos as shown in security footage at the time. Then when Suge and Pac left the hotel, that’s when it all went down when they stopped at a red light and a car pulled up beside them and then someone opened fire on them.

For nearly 30 years, there had been a lot of theories surrounding the unsolved murder. Many have speculated that Suge Knight had Tupac killed. Some speculated it was someone connected to Orlando Anderson. Okay, let me get into that for a bit. I mentioned that Anderson was a Crip. Suge and some of his boys were Bloods. In fact, back then, it was well known that Death Row had a lot of people with gang affiliations working for them. Sure, I could talk about some of their talent like Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Daz Dillinger, Nate Dogg (RIP), and others in that crew because they were affiliated with the Crips. However, it wasn’t just talent, as Suge had some guys who were Bloods working as security as well as working other jobs for the label. Given Suge’s reputation, he probably got into some stuff with some Crips which caused them to follow Suge and his crew to Vegas. According to an article from National Public Radio, Anderson was a suspect in the case but was then killed in a gang-related shootout in 1998.

Another speculation was that Sean “P. Diddy” Combs (who was called “Puffy” or “Puff Daddy” at that time) had something to do with it. Tupac was in a widely-known feud at the time with The Notorious B.I.G. (aka Biggie Smalls), who was signed to Combs’s record label, Bad Boy Records. In fact, Tupac had done the well-known diss track, “Hit ’em Up” with his crew, The Outlawz, at that time where he boasted about sleeping with Biggie’s wife and R&B singer, Faith Evans, along with dissing others connected to him like Junior M.A.F.I.A., among others. Their feud was the result of a shooting that took place in a recording studio in New York in late 1994 when Biggie was recording music and Tupac, who was Biggie’s friend at the time, went there to meet up with him but was then cornered, robbed, and then shot by some people, according to an NPR article. Pac thought Biggie had set him up.

So now after such a long time, an arrest warrant was issued by the LVPD to search a home in Henderson, Nevada, according to an article from the Las Vegas Review Journal. In fact, this article really touches on a lot of details related to the murder.

So where do I stand with this? Personally, I would hope that this would draw to a close after nearly three decades. I had watched videos from vladtv and The Art of Dialogue that talked about this subject. One thing that stood out from a Vlad video was one guy implying he knew more but wasn’t going to say who the shooter was. Many murders have gone unsolved and have taken a long time to finally solve them. Hence why they are called “cold cases.” While the investigation may take a long time, give it weeks or months, I just hope that not only does the case end but also that Biggie’s murder could finally be resolved. I remember when I watched the “Biggie and Tupac” documentary that there was a lot of speculation that it was a couple of crooked LAPD cops who were connected with Death Row who had something to do with it but to this day, it is still unsolved.

After 27 years, it’s finally time to put it to rest. It may have taken a long time but at least we are finally getting somewhere.

Preview on upcoming posts.

Hello. It has been a while since I have updated this. It has been since Christmas when I last wrote something for here. Anyway, I am trying to get back to writing some stuff on here. Right now, I have plans for the following:

• Lost Boyz albums (All three, or four if you count Forever; I may do Mr. Cheeks’s solo albums down the road, maybe even soon)
• Review of “Den of Thieves.”
• Review of the Death Row Chronicles six-part series.
• Review of Unsolved, the miniseries on Biggie and Tupac.

I am also planning on doing a Death Row marathon, and by marathon, I am talking about a series on Death Row albums, but I may need to also get my hands on some albums or listen to them in some other way (In a nutshell, it’s a mix of a backup drive being on the fritz, as well as my iPod dying on me, unless I can get it fixed in some way). I have a good amount of them, whether they are from their peak, or afterwards, or even the later days when they were bought out and they only released albums that were unreleased. I have a good amount of albums from them, so I think I could do this, but maybe split it in parts. I will post them when I am done. Stay tuned.

Movie Review – All Eyez on Me

Year of Release: 2017

Production Company: Summit Entertainment/Morgan Creek Productions/Program Pictures/Codeblack Films

It must be said: there is no denying that Tupac Shakur has maintained his popularity throughout the years, even more than two decades after his untimely demise. His deep-in-though lyrics really touched the minds and hearts of not just hip-hop fans, but also other people who have struggled in the things that were related to his music. It was apparent that a biopic would be made about the fallen rap star.

“All Eyez on Me” is the third rap biopic to be released theatrically, following 2009’s “Notorious” and 2015’s “Straight Outta Compton.” With the cultural impact that Pac had on the masses, there was no doubt that a biopic should be released in theaters.

However, unlike SOC, it’s sad to say that AEOM doesn’t have the best production value or even storytelling that SOC had.

The first thing that must be noted is that Demetrius Shipp Jr not only has a strong resemblance to Pac, but I have to give him credit for trying in his debut role. But I still had some issues with the film.

WARNING: There may be spoilers ahead.

The thing that was distracting about the film is that there was no real flow to the storytelling. The movie in a nutshell was mainly that Pac was interviewed by a journalist who was covering his life story. It talked about how Pac was brought up by his mother, who was a black panther and how he ended up starting off as an actor before becoming a rapper. Also, it showed a bit of his friendship with Jada Pinkett. So it talked about how he was first discovered by Digital Underground. I have to hand it to the casting director for casting the guy who played Shock G, as he looked so much like him and even had some of his mannerisms. Anyway, then it showed sequences filming certain scenes from movies like “Juice” and “Above The Rim.” I really wonder what the point of those scenes were. Yes, everyone knows that Pac was an actor as well, but I didn’t find any of that to be crucial to the story. I will say that I didn’t mind that those bits were recreated with some people playing the actors whom he shared those scenes with. I wonder if some scenes in that when he filmed “Poetic Justice,” “Gridlock’d,” and “Gang Related” were done but just left on the cutting room floor. I wonder about the actors who played Janet Jackson, Tim Roth, and Jim Belushi respectively, because the guy who was supposed to be Omar Epps looked nothing like him. The same could be said about Leon, the guy who played Pac’s character’s brother in ATR.

Another thing that I noticed was that clips of some music videos were recreated in some sequences like the video to Digital Underground’s “Same Song,” as well as “I Get Around.” Not to mention certain interviews in which every single word and mannerism were done to recreate them. As well as certain pictures that were shot, like the one with him and Faith Evans, and the infamous snapshot of him with Suge Knight right before the shooting in Vegas.

Of course, the film touched on the sexual assault charge that Pac was jailed for, as well as what led to his beef with Biggie. Speaking of whom, I noticed that the guy who played Biggie in “Notorious” was the same actor who played him in this film. I didn’t mind it, as Jamal Woolard is a rapper himself and had to use his prowess for rapping in a scene.

Then came when Pac joined Death Row Records. I am well aware of a lot of terrible and shady stuff that happened within that label, but certain sequences really made the film take it to a different level. It almost felt like I was watching a different movie. For example, during a scene at a dinner, when Suge Knight was about to confront someone, all of a sudden some ominous music started playing and then showed that he, along with other guys, started to torture this guy. In a way, I get that it was to show that Suge was a scumbag and a dangerous man, but that part made me think that I was watching a gangster movie at that moment. Same with when Suge and some other guys took some guy into a room and jumped him.

Another thing that was distracting was the guy who played Snoop Dogg. I actually wondered if Snoop lent his voice to dub the actor who played him. It sounded just like him that it could have been a dub.

Anyway, also, at that point, it talked about his romance with Kidada Jones, whom Pac was engaged to around the time of his death. That part felt shoehorned in, same with the bit of Jada Pinkett confronting Pac, which led to an alleged falling out between the two (More on this later). Same with how it showed the falling out between Snoop and Pac, and then came Vegas, and you know the rest. Oh, and I noticed that the real security footage from the casino beat-down that took place that very night was used. So it didn’t seem like he had to reenact that bit.

End Spoilers.

As I had stated before, I had no problem with Shipp’s portrayal of Tupac, as I can see that he tried his hardest to play the role. I also have no problem with some inaccuracies as I had noticed some of them in SOC. Around the time of its release, Jada Pinkett had noted on Twitter about how there was inaccuracy in the film, like how Pac read her a poem, or her having attended any of his shows. But the main problem I had is that it just jumped around from one sequence to another. It could be argued that it was because Pac was being interviewed and had stories to show and tell, but it still didn’t feel like what happened after was very consistent.

I really wonder if Lionsgate is going to put out an extended cut later on with a little more footage or at least have it edited better than what was shown in the final product. I can’t say that I liked or loved the film, but I am just curious because of so many things that I would like to see. I really wonder if there was some footage of reenactments of when he shot his other films and music videos.

Overall, I very much preferred “Straight Outta Compton.” It’s been years since I have seen “Notorious,” but I may need to revisit that one. I really can’t give this film a pass.

2/5

Documentary Review – Welcome To Death Row

Year of Release: 2001

Production Company: Xenon Pictures

For a while, I have been considering reviewing documentaries. I have done album reviews (Though I should also review more albums from groups and artists), as well as movies with rappers in them, and I also plan to write about a few biopics in the future, and there are so few of those (I guess I should also include the TV movies like the one about Hammer and the one about TLC, as well as others).

What I am going to talk about right now is “Welcome To Death Row,” which is the documentary on, you guessed it, Death Row Records and how it rose to the top of the rap game and fell from grace.

This film documented everything well, from how Dr. Dre and Suge Knight had started the label, to bringing in Snoop and Tha Dogg Pound, to people talking about how Suge was a nightmare to work with, and also to Tupac Shakur’s arrival to the label and everything else that lead to its downfall.

I remember having watched it on, I think, Encore or Starz a long time ago and ended up watching it from the part when it talked about Suge and Dre forming the label but trying to find a parent label to back it, all to the way to the end. So I got to see from the start, when it talked about when Dre was with N.W.A. and how he met Suge when he was a bodyguard for the group. Also, how Dre was still sort of in connection with Priority Records, which backed Ruthless Records, the label Dre was a part of when he was in N.W.A., which was a point in the whole feud between him and Eazy-E.

Now I am not going to summarize the whole story about its rise and fall. What I am going to touch on are the documentations of the events during the label’s reign. I have my read my share of stories about the shady dealings that the label went through, like how Suge had some fellow gang members work security for him or work for him at some other capacity in the label. Each of the interview footage that was shown told a lot of detail about what some people had gone through during their time working there or at least working WITH the label. It seemed like only a few people were interviewed around the time this documentary was being shot. The ones who I saw were recruited during that specific time were Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Jewell (Not, I repeat, NOT to be confused with Jewel Kilcher, the folk and country singer; this artist had that extra L in her name and it was pronounced “ju-ell”) and others who were journalists, publicists, rappers, and so forth. However, some other interviews were archived footage that were edited into the film, particularly the ones from Dre and RBX.

The only thing that was distracting regarding the interview footage was that some of the editing and camera work relied too heavily on odd camera angles and closeups. Sure, some of the footage was fine when it shot the interviewees from a standard angle and a minor closeup was fine. But it didn’t need to get to a point where one guy was talking, but you could see the majority of his face but not his mouth.

Also, being that I watched this on Xfinity On Demand, it seemed that this was an updated version as right at the end, it documented what had happened in recent years. It even mentioned about how Jerry Heller was portrayed by Paul Giamatti in “Straight Outta Compton,” which released 14 years after this had come out. It also even talked about how Death Row was acquired by WIDEawake and eOne, which had happened later, also.

I also must add that there has been talk in the past about how some people want to do an actual movie about Death Row one day, especially after the success of “Straight Outta Compton.” Personally, I am not even sure how they would do it. If they do it, should they cast different actors to play certain guys? The reason I wonder is because with “All Eyez on Me” coming out not too long from now, I wonder who could play Tupac. The guy who played him in AEOM? Or the guy who was seeing for a few seconds in SOC? Or even the guy who played him in that Michel’le TV movie, “Surviving Compton”? Also, would the guy who played Dre in SOC be brought back? That is a good question. Don’t get me wrong, the movie makes for a good story even on a cinematic level, but it just seems hard to cast some parts when there have been a couple of films that came out in recent memory with different actors playing certain people and one coming really soon and having other people play those same people. Though there are some exceptions. Suge Knight was played the same guy in both “Straight Outta Compton” and in “Surviving Compton,” while Biggie in “All Eyez on Me” was played by the same guy who played him in “Notorious.”

Anyway, this documentary gets a pass.

Other Christmas rap songs and Chronic commercials.

Hello, being that Christmas is near, and I mean NEAR, I decided to do a piece on a couple of Christmas rap songs that I like listening to around this time. I also want to touch on commercials for The Chronic, which came out in December of 1992. There are two songs that I will talk about, and they are “It’s The Holidaze” from Westside Connection and “Merry Muthaphuckkin’ Xmas” from Eazy-E, along with other Ruthless artists from that time. Now why on earth did I not do a review on the “Friday After Next” soundtrack instead, or even a review on Eazy’s EP, “5150: Home 4 Tha Sick”? Well I don’t own the “Friday After Next” soundtrack and if I get my hands on it, I will only do it around Christmas-time considering that film took place during the holidays. As for “5150,” I plan to do that one in the future. So without further ado, here are the songs.

NOTE: None of these videos are mine.

I have to say that the Eazy-E song is hilarious because it’s a total parody of Christmas songs with a bunch of violent, drug and sexual content added into the mix. One part that had always cracked me up was the spoof of “My Mom Kissing Santa Claus.” Same with Eazy’s bit when he spoofed “The 12 Days of Christmas.” Also, I later learned that a Will.i.am and Apl.De.App from Black Eyed Peas were once signed to Ruthless Records, but under different names. They were initially known as The Atban Klann and had recorded an unreleased album for Ruthless during that time. Unlike “High Fo’ Xmas,” this song is THE definition of a Christmas gangsta rap song. It is definitely not family-friendly, but it is good for a laugh, especially around the holiday season.

As for “It’s The Holidaze,” I remember watching this video many times throughout the years as it has become my own personal Christmas tradition to listen to it around this time of the year. I like how in the video with each verse, they all have the different color schemes that go with Christmas. Ice Cube’s verse has it all white, WC’s verse is all green and Mack 10’s verse is all red. Also, I noticed how the beats transitioned a bit to go with the flows of each rapper. My personal favorite verse of the song was WC’s.

Now here comes another part that is a little unrelated, but it goes with the holidays.

I know that Dr. Dre had released “The Chronic” during the holiday season of 1992, but what cracks me up about these ads is the Christmas tree looking like it was made entirely of hemp. Also, one of the ads had a female voice-over say “Dr. Dre’s got the chronic, so take a hit.” I really wonder where these ads were seen. I would only guess that they were mainly shown on The Box, MTV (When they still aired videos) and probably BET. Hey, at least Death Row knew what they were doing with their advertising during those days. It feels kind of dated now seeing album ads done that way, but it’s still fun to see.

Album Review: Christmas on Death Row

Year: 1996

Label: Death Row Records/Interscope Records

Track Listing:

1. Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto – Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Daz Dillinger, Bad Azz, and Tray Deee
2. Christmas Song – Danny Boy
3. I Wish – Tha Dogg Pound
4. Silver Bells – Michel’le
5. Peaceful Christmas – Danny Boy
6. Christmas in the Ghetto – O.F.T.B. (Operation From The Bottom)
7. Silent Night – B.G.O.T.I., 6 Feet Deep, and Guess
8. Be Thankful – Nate Dogg feat. Butch Cassidy
9. On This Glorious Day – 816
10. Frosty The Snowman – 6 Feet Deep
11. O Holy Night – B.G.O.T.I.
12. Party 4 Da Homies – Sean Barney Thomas feat. J-Flexx
13. White Christmas – Guess
14. This Christmas – Danny Boy
15. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – 6 Feet Deep
16. Christmas Everyday – Guess

It is now December and before I had started this blog, I had planned on doing a review on “Christmas on Death Row,” which was, as you would guess, a Christmas-themed album released by Death Row Records. Not just that, I just realized that today was the 20-year anniversary since its release, so what better way than to kick off this month than to review this album, especially on its anniversary?

Before I get into the album, let me just give some input on the deal regarding this album. Regarding the Death Row label, anybody who had listened to rap at any point in their lives would know what the contents of the music from this label consisted of, whether they involved drugs, violence, sex, misogyny, you get the picture. I will admit that when I was 10 years old, when I had heard about a Christmas album from Death Row coming out, I chuckled a bit. It just seemed a bit off because of what I was used to hearing from them, whether it was from Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, 2Pac, etc. Hell, the album refreshed my memory about four or five years later when Death Row started re-releasing their albums and all the artworks had said “Digitally Remastered” on the cover. However, being that I was a teen then, I remember going on Amazon and looking at the listing and seeing a lot of negative feedback for this album. I was a naive kid then so I assumed that the album would suck. Then came when I reached my 20’s and the curiosity kicked in again.

I looked up the album again and finally listened to some samples and thought “Hey, maybe I would give this a shot.” I later bought it online and noticed that the copy that I got was the original 1996 release. Which I think was better considering how I liked on the “Parental Advisory” label, it had a red bow on top of it, unlike the 2001 re-release. Also, I will get to the part about the PA label.

Anyway, being that a lot of people would assume that this is a rap album that has people rapping about Christmas mixed in with violent content and other no-so-family friendly content, I decided that I would do the rap songs first before I go into anything else.

The song that kicked off this album was “Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto” from Snoop, Daz, Bad Azz, Nate Dogg, and Tray Deee. It is an interesting song considering how each guy talked about their experiences around Christmas time and as always, Nate Dogg (RIP) delivered a solid hook to the song. Plus, the song had a laid-back beat as it sampled “Do Your Thing” from the late Isaac Hayes. It’s a good song that was accompanied with an even better video. You just have to see it to believe it.

The thing that got me about “I Wish” from Tha Dogg Pound were the lyrics from Daz and Kurupt about how they wish they had love around the holidays. It was refreshing to hear them in a vulnerable state talking about how it was hard for them around the holidays. It had a good beat to go with it, produced by Daz, and also a chorus from a female singer, who I have trouble identifying.

And finally, in regards to the rap tracks of the album, we get to “Christmas in the Ghetto” from O.F.T.B.. I am mostly unfamiliar with these guys as I only know their songs from this album, the “Above The Rim” soundtrack, the “Gridlock’d” soundtrack, and the “Gang Related” soundtrack. I know that they had an album before signing with Death Row and later an album album on Death Row that was released way after the label’s heyday (When the label was seized by Wideawake and released a lot of their unreleased albums), both of which I may check out sometime down the line. Anyway, regarding this track, I have to give these guys credit for rapping about how Christmas was hard for them in the ghetto, but it really didn’t need the beat for the song as it was best suited for any other song. It’s one of my least favorite songs from the album, despite the lyrics and content, both of which also could have been better. Also, believe it or not, this song was the reason that this album was slapped with the Parental Advisory label. Yes, that is right, this song actually had profanity on there. Believe it or not, “Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto” and “I Wish” had no profanity in them at all. All three songs had minor drug references as they mentioned weed here and there, but that was about it, but the other songs were more appropriate to listen to around people.

That is about it for the rap tracks (Well, there is one other track with a rap verse that I will get to). What? You thought that this would be all rap? Well, that is not the case, because Death Row also had a lot of R&B acts on the label. That’s right, the majority of the album is R&B, which is not a bad thing. In fact, R&B works better for an album like this. First, I will touch on the original tracks before I touch on the traditional tracks.

“Peaceful Christmas” is one of three songs that Danny Boy had done for this album. This is actually a more original track as it isn’t one of those Christmas songs that you hear all the time during the holidays. In fact, some of the lyrics made reference to a few traditional Christmas songs. Danny Boy shined in this track with his soothing vocals, but regarding the beat of the song it gives off a rather dated feel. This album was released in the 1990’s, so it had a 90’s R&B feel. The beat reminded me a bit of “Pretty Brown Eyes” from Mint Condition. If you can look past that, the song is solid.

“Be Thankful,” on the other hand, is a very relaxing song to hear from Nate Dogg, along with Butch Cassidy, who provided additional vocals. Nate’s vocals didn’t come in until 30 seconds into the track as it started with an instrumental intro. The soulful vocals were strong with the two singers and the song’s message really stands out too. It had a nice soothing beat, too.

I was unsure if “On This Glorious Day” was a traditional track, but it seemed like it wasn’t as it had more of a holiday feel than it a religious feel from a more common song of the same name. This song was from 816, which I suppose was an R&B group on Tha Row at the time but never came out with anything new. The thing that I also must point out is that the intro to this song was also used in the intro bit for the video to “Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto.” Anyway, I have to say that this is actually a solid track. The beat and the lyrics can really get you in the mood for Christmas. It’s actually a standout, in my opinion.

However, the last of the original R&B tracks left a lot more to be desired with “Party 4 Da Homies” from Sean Barney Thomas. The beat was a little too fast-paced and a bit out of place, too. It was mostly a song about setting up a Christmas party with the guys and having a bunch of women over. J-Flexx provided the rap verse for this song, which was also a bit mixed in some areas, as in he rapped about partying in the majority and then at the end said to be thankful for what you have in life. I get that the final bit of the rap verse was to get people in the spirit, but it didn’t help. Also, the chorus was rather repetitive. This song was actually another one on here that I didn’t care for.

The rest of the album had covers of traditional Christmas songs. The main thing that I noticed is that a lot of them were done by the same artists. What I mean is that you had multiple songs by one artist, and other songs done by a group, and then it happened with another few.

“Silent Night” featured an ensemble of B.G.O.T.I. (Which stood for “Bad Girlz of The Industry), 6 Feet Deep, and Guess. I have no idea who 6 Feet Deep and Guess are, but I mostly know of B.G.O.T.I. from their contributions to the “Gridlock’d” and “Gang Related” soundtracks. That is about it. Anyway, this version actually had a gospel-like feel to it. I can’t complain about the vocals from the singers on this song, but I think it was a little too long. That was about it in terms of complaints. But it’s still good. Also, this song had a video to go with it.

As for the other covers, I wasn’t too big on 6 Feet Deep’s version “Frosty The Snowman” as it had the feel of a boy band covering it, but I’ll listen to it if it comes on. The same could be said about “White Christmas” from Guess, which feels dated now as it has that 90’s R&B feel. It had a unique spin on it, but it’s not too bad.

However, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” from 6 Feet Deep was actually a pretty good song from them, but it did not need the interlude in the middle of the song with one of the singers talking about the group. So that docked a few points from the song.

Guess’s version of the Smokey Robinson song, “Christmas Everyday” actually surprised me a bit when I first heard it. It definitely has a more urbanized touch to it and the singers really did a good job in trying to do Robinson’s vocal style in it. I cannot complain about this one.

The other two Danny Boy tracks, “The Christmas Song” and “This Christmas,” were more of a bright spot as he had provided soothing vocals and both songs had quite a jazzy beat to them. Both songs stood out and I will also say the same thing about “O Holy Night” from B.G.O.T.I.. Those ladies really gave it their all on their vocals.

Michel’le had only one track on here and that was her version of “Silver Bells,” which was pretty straightforward and she provided some great vocals like always. It was a pretty good track from her. I don’t understand why she didn’t have any other songs on here.

Overall, I have to give Death Row credit for trying to do a holiday album. This album is not bad, by any means. It’s actually decent, even though there are a couple of songs that I did not like, and a few that I wasn’t crazy about but would still listen to. It’s definitely not a gangsta rap album like one would think. It’s kind of funny to see the Death Row logo decked out in Santa gear on the album cover. It also must be noted that with the exception of “Christmas In The Ghetto,” this album is appropriate to listen to around people. So don’t be afraid to blast it while doing stuff (Though skip that track if you must, otherwise just burn a copy without that song). Also, Christmas albums from hip-hop labels are nothing new. In fact, I will review “High Fo’ Xmas” very soon, as in West Coast Bad Boyz. Stay tuned.

Also, check out the artwork that was used on the inside of the booklet. It’s a nice touch how the artist put the wings and halo on Tupac, because this album was released after he was killed. I wonder if he hadn’t died if he would have contributed to it.

Top 5 Tracks:

1. Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto
2. I Wish
3. Be Thankful
4. On This Glorious Day
5. Silver Bells