Lyrics Born - Same !@#$ Different Day
By: Tyler Watson | Category: Album Archive | 11/21/05 | 06:15 PM
 |  |  Grade: C+ | Genre: Hip Hop
Summary: Remix albums typically suck all kinds of ways. If you like the original album, it usually kills the good groove. But when your remixers are DJ Shadow, Chief Xcel, Dan the Automator and the like, you might just end up with something that feels pretty good.
I noticed that I've been going on a kind of Quannum Projects run with my last several reviews (read: two) and decided to keep it going. Same !@#$ Different Day isn't particularly new (April) and the source material is even less new. See, it's a remix album based on Lyrics Born's first album, Later That Day..., which dropped late 2003. It got mixed reviews, and the consensus was that Lyrics Born was strong enough to do a better job. Same !@#$ Different Day (by the way that's the real title I'm not censoring myself) is a better job. His raps are the same, but the production and beats are nice and tight this time around. However, it still feels like the same ol' !@#$. That's not to say that it sounds like that crap on the radio box, but after a couple of listens the album sounds quite a bit less special than it did when you first threw it on. The rhymes are still there though, and the production is tight, they just don't hold up. |
Lyrics Born got some pretty well-known beatmakers on his team for the work on these tracks. DJ Shadow, Chief Xcel, Dan the Automator, Morcheeba, and others all lend a hand in fixing these up. He gets some killer guest rappers too, my favorite being that god among men, KRS-One. Bay Area staple E-40 also shows up.
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Although all of these people are great, I don't think it's healthy for an album to rely so heavily on other people. As a rule, I really hate remix albums. Silent Alarm Remixed Bloc Party album is really mediocre, MM..Leftovers by MF Doom is no good, and the Guero remix album is gonna suck I bet. I especially don't like it when multiple artists do the remixes. It takes any consistency that the album may have had and throws it all away. They just never feel good. And it kind of feels like cheating to me to let other people take your songs and remix them just so you can get more cash money.
When individual songs are remixed, the results also tend to suck, but they certainly have a higher success rate than entire remix albums. When somebody focuses all their energy on redoing one track, it seems they are a lot more inspired. All of these things put together add up to one music junkie that shouldn't approve of this album at all. But...it works way better than I think it should.
The production is pretty unique, and it's hard to find something to compare it to (partly because there are so many producers on here). It's super funky and sounds like some sort of future-seeing old-school jams on most tracks. As far as the lyrics go, they're impressive. Lyrics Born has a nice flow and his rhymes are well-written. However, I find his voice a bit grating. I don't think most people will have any problem with it, since there's nothing really up-front and obnoxious, but it just doesn't sit with me. The CD also comes with a bonus DVD that has an interview with LB and several videos. It really stinks. Don't waste time with that.
I know I've spent almost this entire time badmouthing this album, but it isn't as bad as I'm making it sound. Even though I have my complaints, I've listened to this album more than I listen to most. It's better than most of the music you'll hear out there, and there are some really tremendous songs on here. The number one, lyrically and musically, has gotta be "Do That There (The Young Einstein Hoo-Hoo Mix)". I have to hand it to Lyrics Born -- he's responsible for what might be the best remix album I've heard. Unfortunately, I have a problem with the whole concept there.
Release Date: April 26, 2005
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