Keith is finally back with a decent album - 4. 5stars - 4 years since Keith Murray returned to rap, a return that led to his worst album (I never heard It s a Beautiful Thing from 1999), Mr. Murray returns with his 5th solo, and one that is a step back into the right direction for him, and personally my favorite of the 4 of his 5 albums I own. Being in the rap game almost 15 years now, there is no question he s one of the best MC s to ever grab a mic - but he seems to have lost a little bit of that ability on this one (or at least tones it down a bit) but not enough of it to make this album bad. While He s Keith Murray was a 3.5 star album, his first 2 were 4 stars, his debut maybe 4.5, then I never heard his 1999 album, he did a mediocre album with Def Squad then went to jail for a few yrs. With 13 songs (1 Keith isn t on) on this album (short like almost all his albums), 1 is almost a classic, 3 are ok the rest are good. Guests are on a little over half the songs. Production is nice, no wonder since Erick Sermon did 11 of the 13 songs, Mike City and Shuko each do 1 (Nicely to I may add). A ncie album for those fans who don t suffer from Rap-Murr-Phobia and enjoy true hip-hop.#2 - 6.5#3 - 8.5#4 - 8.5#6 - 7.5 (f/ Erick Sermon & Redman)#7 - 9 (about his younger days hustling)#8 - 9.5 (f/ Tyrese -- tight beat)#9 - 8#10 - 7.5 (f/ Jamal)#11 - 9 (f/ Method Man & 50 Grand -- nice beat)#12 - 9 {L.O.D. -- no keith Murray (Kell Vicious, D. Murray, 50 Grand, Olu, DL -- good beat)}#14 - 7.5 (f/ Unique -- nice beat)#15 - 8.5 (f/ Junior)#16 - 8 (f/ LOD -- Kell Vicious, DL, Olu, 50 Grand, D. Murray)Keith Murray -- Long Island, NYCheck all my reviews
Keith-Murr-Phobia - Definition: an extreme fear of Keith Murray becoming suspect. Before I start this review let me preface that I think Keith Murray is a lyrical titan. I think his first three album(The Most Beautifullest Thing, Its A Beautiful Thing and Enigma) were great but after he came out of jail he dropped a supergarbage album by the name of He s Keith Murray. He dropped some okay songs, threw a funny jab at Prodigy(allegedly he thumped Prodigy into the ground but I dont know that for certain) and now we here. If you saw that fire freestyle he recently had in The Basement and thought that this album is just like that freestyle guess again! This album suffers from weak hooks and surprisingly weak rhymes from Keith Murray. I like his introspective track with Tyrese called Nobody Do It Better. Erick Sermon(who hasnt busted a dope verse since E-Dub and Ja) rips U Aint Nobody along with Redman and Keith Murray and tracks like Do and Hustle On go in the honorable mention category. What It Is with Method Man and 50 Grand is cool lyrically but that hook is fishy. Same could be said about We Ridin which features his crew LOD. Jamal had the only verse worth talking about in Whatmakean***athinkthat. Weeble Wobble is a good first single and as a matter of fact its one of the best songs on the album. Da F***ery is easily the worst song on the album and that cheesy a** battle of the sexes record Never Did S*** with Unique follows suit. Something Like A Model is CORNY! Plus lines like you remind of a parking ticket girl/ you got fine written all over you and I dont know what toilet you crawled out of girl/ but your the s***, will get you slapped by the most easiest of broads. On Dont F*** Wit Em Keith Murray addresses a fake friends but his rhymes on that track were criminally suspect. Bottom Line: Rap-Murr-Phobia is not a terrible album but its not the best that a talented MC like Keith Murray can do. Simply put his freestyle in The Basement is better than this whole album. Keith Murray doesnt sound as hungry as he did 4 albums ago and that has to be the corniest album title ever! Its safe to say that Its A Beautiful Thing was the last great album Keith Murray made. Is it over for Keith Murray? I cant call it but if he continues to put out mediocre efforts like this we ll all be able to call it.Standout Tracks: WEEBLE WOBBLE, U AINT NOBODY, NOBODY DO IT BETTER, WHAT IT IS , WE RIDIN, LATE NIGHT, HEY LADIES and REAL IN THE FIELD. Note: The last two joints are bonus tracks on my copy of the album.
He s Keith Murray... - ...should have been the title of this album. Def Jam messed up w/that last release. read an interview 2 days ago where Keith basically reinforced my opinion of the last album: classic example of A&R/label misdirection. all that to say, this album is N-I-C-E. i missed this cat. that might sound soft or whatever, but i don t care. this is the kind of hip-hop that the industry has ignored and the media has followed. this is why hip-hop isn t dead yet. i wouldn t quite call this a classic, but if you dig hip-hop and you don t own this, something may be wrong with your collection. if nothing else, Def Squad is mad consistent when these cats are allowed to do what they do best: get ill. cop this CD. while you re at it, cop the Redman joint as well(Red Gone Wild: Thee Album). Sermon needs to drop another one and follow that with a 2nd Def Squad joint...keep it moving!
DATED!?!??!?! - To the fools who think this album is dated, you don t know what hip hop is supposed to be. This album is what we ve been missing, produced by Erick Sermon and you trying to say this isn t fire!???we need more albums like this and like Redman s Red Gone Wild. Half the other releases these days are novelty albums. Like the album son you got a fear of real hip hop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2.5 stars: Dated like a MF.......... - I wanted to like this joint so much but its just not poppin. Its not even great by 2007 s standards. This is coming from a huge EPMD/Def Squad/Hit Squad/ Keith Murray fan.