The Genius - Words From The Genius (February 19, 1991)

I'm ending the Easy Mo Bee run on this blog with a rather unpopular choice. Not to say reviews of Osten's work won't pop up here again but, to my knowledge, he only has one album directly credited to his name: Now Or Never: Odyssey 2000. And trust me: While it really isn't that bad of an album, it's just not review material to me. So, the only choice left to me is the lone album he fully collaborated on with another artist. And that artist just so happens to be a founding member of one of the greatest and most long lasting hip hop acts of all time. (Furthermore, just don't ask about Rappin' Is Fundamental, as that would be wasting everyone's time. Most importantly mine.)

You see, Gary Grice (Not to be mean or anything, but that last name really sounds like a licorice brand or something.) is one of the very few MCs who've lived long enough to properly experience the very birth of this hip hop thing we obsess over so much. Hell, he was fucking twenty-five when this album dropped. And as such, he's also part of an even fewer group of MCs who wasn't really influenced by anybody. Yes, he had the ability to form his very own style from the jump, which would serve him very well in the future. As a resident of Brooklyn neighborhood Bedford-Stuyvesant, bka Bedstuy, Gary is a true believer in it's Do Or Die attitude. And it truly shows in his career that began as a founding member of battle rap group Force of The Imperial Masters, later redubbed the All In Together Now Crew, along with his two cousins Russell Jones and Robert Diggs. Gary called himself The Specialist while Russell and Robert took The Professor and The Scientist as their respective pseudonyms.

Said career would finally catch a break when Gary was recruited by Cold Chillin' Records, home of the famed Juice Crew, of which fellow Brooklynites Big Daddy Kane and Masta Ace were members. Now, at this stage, Gary probably thought that his skills as an MC would guarantee him instant promotion. Alas, if only he learned from fellow former Cold Chilla Kool G Rap's career woes with the infamous label before signing with them, as they only pushed Kane on that label. Everybody else was basically thrown to the wolves when it came to marketing.

Speaking of which, this album here had a very curious crafting process: Gary, who now renamed himself the Genius, (because he's smart, you see.) brought fellow Bedstuy alumni Osten Harvey Jr., who dragged his younger brother Patrick along for better or worse. Patrick Harvey, aka LG aka LG Experience, was a young upstart who wanted to follow in his older brother's footsteps, as Osten had already made an impact with his two Big Daddy Kane productions on It's A Big Daddy Thing. We'll see just how he fares in his first work sessions in the review.

Now, the true reason for me choosing this particular album is because of the unanimous flak it gets from hip hop heads who are diehard fans of Gary's ventures as the GZA from another group he co-founded: The Wu-Tang Clan. (That, and the fact that this album has absolutely zero guest appearances. Which would make it a true insight into Gary's ability to hold an album by his very lonesome) Hands down one of the most long-lasting hip hop supergroups of all time, its members are still releasing albums under the Wu banner to this very day. Now, understandably, GZA did follow this solo outing with Liquid Swords, one of the greatest albums in music history. An album that completed its one millionth sale twenty goddamn years after its five hundred thousandth, accomplishing the latter feat in merely two months. That has to tell you something about said album's legacy in this art form. As such, many people heard Liquid Swords first, and were considerably underwhelmed when they finally heard this album and thought it wasn't as good, and just so we're clear: I consider my past self Exhibit A. My current opinion is that this outlook I had was not even remotely fair to Words From The Genius, as it was crafted with a mindset that had not yet understood what it takes to make an album of Liquid Swords' caliber. Furthermore, Robert Diggs bka the RZA, who is once again co-founder of the Wu with Gary and, you guessed it, Russell Jones bka the late great Ol' Dirty Bastard (RIP), hadn't even begun producing professionally at this point in their respective careers. And given that he is the sonic director of Liquid Swords, the unfairness of this argument has really reared its hairy, warty ass. All one needs to do is clear his head from such lofty expectations and imagine you live in a world where there is no Wu-Tang Clan to speak of.  Only then will one be able to unbiasedly judge this album's merit or lack thereof.

In 2006, Traffic Entertainment, having acquired the entire Cold Chillin' catalog, issued a re-release that included tracks produced by the RZA back when he called himself Prince Rakeem that were done immediately after the original album dropped and were thrown away after it tanked, but mysteriously found and branded as "smash hits" in a 1994 re-release. You know, because Cold Chillin' would never try to capitalize on the Wu-Tang's sudden rise at the time, right? So yeah, basically, that's the version I'm reviewing.

So, is the shit any fucking good?

COME DO ME
I present to you the lead single aka the main reason people despise the entire album aka one of the absolute worst contractual obligations of all time. It really is no wonder why this album tanked, given that this is its leading single. You just know that any attempt at pushing Gary as a ladies man will blow up in your face in the worst way possible. I'm sorry, Gary but I saw the fucking video for this thing. (Mainly to catch a glimpse of ODB & Wu debutant Raekwon the Chef in their very first appearances to the public as extras.) My dude, when you repeated that ridiculous hook to the camera you looked like Witch fucking Hazel. The producer of this steaming pile of sewage is Jesse West, who's normally pretty capable. Don't believe me? Check his work on KRS-One's Step Into A World (Rapture's Delight). I hold Cold Chillin' fully responsible for this piece of shit, because there was no way for Jesse to make things interesting neither here nor on the remix he was forced to make that ends this 2006 re-release. I've talked about this abomination long enough, and I advise anyone who's legitimately interested in this album to SKIP. THIS. SHIT.

PHONY AS YA WANNA BE
Alas, the true beginning of this album, and the b-side to the horrid abovementioned lead single. I'll bet the very few people who caught Come Do Me on rotation were too peeved to even look at the back cover of the single to check if there's another song when they encountered it in Sam Goody stores, right? Too bad, as this song is pretty fucking good. Easy Mo Bee truly began his experimentation games that would later make him the legendary producer that he is right here on this very track. The guitar licks in the beat provide the backing needed for the Genius to relay some punchlines that clearly show why he is regarded as one of the true greats this game has ever seen. An early lyrical precursor to Clan In Da Front, and as such, this shit knocks in all the right ways. I especially loved the Four Tops interlude in the midst of the song, after which Gary gallops ahead with his punchlines, starting with quite the cheeky reference to said Four Tops sample. Awesome.

TRUE FRESH MC
Freaking a legendary Funkadelic sample, Mo Bee approaches the track with relentless energy in mind this time. Which stands in beautiful contrast to the directness exhibited in the prior track. the Genius really takes this to heart as his performance this time switches to a conscious display of his superior intellectual background. You'd think that this is unfitting of punchline-ism on paper, but once again, this is something you have to listen to in order to fully appreciate. Another one-two combo.

THE GENIUS IS SLAMMIN'
This time Easy Mo Bee tries his best to compete with Gary's punchlines by combining two handpicked samples by The MGs and The Meters brilliantly to form a beat out of the top shelf. The Genius ingeniously responds by weaving various themes of intelligence in his punchline-filled verses. I have to admit, one of the things I like the most about these results is that they present a totally different aesthetic than Gary's later work with his cousin. One I guarantee most people would've enjoyed had Come Do Me not fucked it up for everybody by delaying our exposure to the true meat of this album by at least four years. Fuck that, I still love this song.

WORDS FROM A GENIUS
Alright, these two aren't showing any sign of slowing down! Osten with the prominent Funkadelic sample and Gary with his by-now golden standard of punchlines. Genius' rhymes really present a strong point regarding actually writing your rhymes against freestyling your career away. And, as many pointed out, many of the greats who now write their rhymes in their head started off writing on paper and perfected their shit to the point where their reflexes have become ingrained in their brains. And Gary still outdoes all of them with his meticulous care for what comes out of his mouth and exactly how it does so. So, don't give me that bullshit about "one-taking a classic". If you didn't exert any effort in your rhymes, they're probably worthless. And just so you know, none of this lyrical brilliance would be digestible if the actual music isn't working for you. Well, I'm here to say it's working wonderfully for me thanks to Easy Mo Bee. Dope! One note: Prince Rakeem remixed this track with the result appearing later on this 2006 re-release and though it wasn't nearly Wu-Tang level material nor as good as the original Easy Mo Bee cut, it was fairly decent. If nothing, it's on this remix that the first signs of Bobby's meticulous nature show themselves.

WHO'S YOUR RHYMIN' HERO
The debut of Mr. LG Experience. Osten's younger bro tries so hard to impress the label here, and wrongly so, with his straight-up lazy looping of a Jimmy McGriff sample. And yet I still would've liked this song if it wasn't for the ear-rape of a hook, screaming of corporate interference, that completely ruined the LG Experience for me. To top it all off: Gary's punchlines, while still light years ahead of your average ghetto references, fail to reach the standards he set for himself so far on this album. This was, unfortunately, a failure.

FEEL THE PAIN
Osten returns, armed with a second Meters sample, and obliterates any memory of the previous song with a smacking beat. This is not lost on our Genius as he dives head-on into battle mode, plowing ahead with punchline after eviscerating punchline. You really feel this Gary Grice cat is not bullshitting when he mentions his history of battling crews all around New York. This shits bangs something proper.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS
Still not through with impressing you, Gary continues to a different venue for him to steamroll you with some more punchlines with: Nostalgia. He chooses to display his dominance in the high school scene this time, and the results are just as effective. Interestingly enough, this is the last song of what I call the, ah, "Braggadocio Medley" on the album. I like that this album pays good attention to sequencing. Not Liquid Swords good, but good nonetheless.

LIFE OF A DRUG DEALER
This song marks the beginning of what I call the "Conscious Medley". In said song, Gary portrays the hardened protagonist with the titular occupation. I like that our Genius began this "medley" with the caricature song, if you will. Backed by Osten's magnificent Bobby Rush choice, Gary launches into a single 30-bar verse that becomes the inspiration behind his later smash, Killah Hills 10304. Please note that the overabundance of violence and foul language displayed here is most certainly tongue-in-cheek. End result? There's a reason Gary revisited this well later on, as this song rocks.

STOP THE NONSENSE
God DAMN, is Easy Mo Be ever on fire with these funky beats! Here, Gary gets his preach on, and he makes sure that he keeps his wit dialed up to 11 in order to have a glimmer of hope at reaching them boneheads who run for the hills as soon as anyone tries to say anything remotely positive. And I do mean 'wit' in every sense of the word. The line: "It goes way beyond just saying no" makes my point pretty clear, no?

LIVING FOUL
Here comes the part where someone listening to this album might get tired, as admittedly these songs seem like they're blending in together. But forgive me for not being that guy because I'm just a person who really appreciates effort when I recognize it. And by this point, I recognize that Osten, with his Bobby Rush-sampling ways, was going to make sure that he blew away minds of people like me who just have an affinity for the relentless, if I may. Gary shares his producer's stubbornness by making this song his personal war on drugs, and it works wonders for me. Even if his third verse sounds a tad hypocritical now. You'll know why when you hear the damn song. Moving on.

DRAMA
Now, you'd think that this would be a song about girl problems. Naturally, you'd be dead wrong. Allow me to single this song out as my favorite track on the album, by far. With Easy Mo Bee delivering the coup-de-grace of his journey on said album by freaking the fuck out of a Millie Jackson classic. And there is no clearer proof that our Genius earns his nickname than this baby here. This is to pre-Wu Gary Grice what Ready To Die's title track was to the late Chris Wallace. For in this song, Gary truly runs the gamut of his MCing skills. He brings motherfucking everything to the table: punchlines, metaphors, imagery, storytelling, subject matter, you name it. If you absolutely had to forego listening to the entire album and felt it absolutely necessary to sum up what you'd get, then I'd tell you to stop being a bitch and listen to the goddamn album and pay special attention to this track right here. I salute anybody who became a fan of either Gary or Osten as a result of this song. Way before Bad Boy & the Wu.

STAY OUT OF BARS
Now, you'd think that this would be a song about prison problems. Naturally, you'd be dead wrong. In actuality, the previous song marked the end of the "Conscious Medley" and a very unhappy, uncomfortable and unfitting return to corporate radio-whoring territory. LG Experience is back, and he brings, admittedly, much more effort in his production game than his previous abomination of an attempt. And yet, our Genius decides, in his infinite wisdom, that he should return to be as ignorant as possible by spinning a tale of the most stereotypical actions and fantasies that you can think of. Now, normally this wouldn't bother me in the least, but when it's an MC of Gary fucking Grice's pedigree? I'm actually insulted. To top it all off, Gary ends the song with the most senseless act of violence. One question for the Liquid Swords fan reading this: how does any of the above translate to an even remotely intelligent song?! You're right. It DOESN'T.

WHAT ARE SILLY GIRLS MADE OF
Basically, a ripoff of the countless "Gold Digger" song EPMD made popular. You can smell the corporate rot from 25 years ago all the way over wherever you're reading this from. And, while I really can't front on some of the lyrics, LG's Al Green-sampling experience (I will never get tired of clowning that nickname.) left a lot to be desired and our Genius' hook is, you know, ass. Plus, Gary really hasn't shaken off his character from the previous song in his very apparent disdain for women here. I really can't take that viewpoint seriously. You want women to stop being bitches? Here's an idea: Stop telling them they're bitches! Another sewage track that really is beneath our Genius.

SUPERFREAK
Oh, this can not be what I'm hearing. The GZA. From the legendary Wu-Tang fucking Clan. Spitting a sex rap. And don't give that bullshit about Queen's Gambit. Queen's Gambit was one long extended metaphor, with the emphasis not on Gary's tale but on how he told it. Which is definitely not the case here. Oh, and Queen's Gambit had one banging-ass beat, not this Rick James-sampling shitty LG experience (I really need to stop doing that). Motherfuck this song all the way down to its filthy innards.

PASS THE BONE
Didn't I tell you that third verse on Living Foul sounded a tad hypocritical? What do you mean you didn't hear the damn song?! Anyway, most Wu fans already herald this track as the only truly notable result from the Words From The Genius journey but for the uninitiated: This is the very first publicly recorded Prince Rakeem appearance and his debut production. And boy, does it ever show. This shit blows. Hell, his remix to the title track is leagues ahead of this. Back to the actual lyrics: Gary chooses to bless Bobby's very first production outing with a stoner rap. If you are a fan of Gary Grice's storied career by any chance, you'll definitely recognize how ludicrous what I just wrote is. And we're done.

FINAL THOUGHTS
As a project of insight on the evolution of Easy Mo Bee the producer: This is quite possibly the best place to start. The man did not compromise his approach. Not one bit. Can't say the same for his lil bro and the rest of the production gang: Jesse West was particularly terrible. In a song I've heard from him recently, he even brags about collaborating with the Wu, the collaboration being Come Do Me. Believe me, Jesse, if you're bragging about producing a song like that, (for a Wu co-founder, nonetheless.) you're needlessly and stupidly smearing your reputation. Bobby Diggs' mistakes are a bit more forgivable, seeing as it is his first time behind the boards and all. For his part, Gary Grice was without doubt a fully accomplished MC at the time of this album's making, and he wastes no time in repeatedly showing you that. This album may very well be the only album in the Genius' entire discography that shows you exactly how lyrically capable he is when carrying a full album without any guest appearances. That being said, all this makes some of Gary's choices of subject matter here all the more jarring. The sex raps in particular left a very bad taste in my mouth. But that makes me ask: is it really the artist's fault? Or is it the label's? Our Genius wasn't the only one clowned by the Cold Chillin' piffle machine. Look at what Kool G Rap went through with his Live and Let Die album with DJ Polo. But Gary got an even rougher deal: At least G Rap was able to make the album he wanted. Mr. Grice was in no such luck. Yeah, I'm sticking the blame for this album's crap songs entirely on Cold Chillin'. Imagine: All this horseshit because Big Daddy Kane sold five hundred thousand copies. So now, every MC with any shred of talent needs to be Big Daddy Kane. I will say this, though: Thank GOD they fucked their deal up with this guy. Or else, we wouldn't have Liquid Swords. Gary Grice would not be the hip hop legend he is today. And most importantly, nobody would've heard of the Wu-Tang Clan, nor become fans of theirs and years later discover this album as a hidden gem. Come on. You knew I was getting to this. The crap present on this album, while truly exhibiting Black Shampoo-levels of putridity, isn't enough to ruin the straight up classics on the effin' thing. Just momentarily erase the existence of the Wu, exactly like I told you.

WORTH IT?
It's an enlightening look at a legend's professional beginnings. Spoiler alert: they're still very fucking good, even if they do take a turn later on for the absurdly awful. So you're goddamn right it is.

Wanna know where Easy Mo Bee went from this? click here. For more GZA, here. And finally, Wu-Tang central is right here.