Kurupt - Against the Grain

Walking Dead

“Enter coast here” music will always be hot on said coast. West coast riders will forever bump west coast music. East coast thugs will always knock that New York sound and rappers from the third coast will, well…be crunk. With that said, let’s discuss Kurupt, Young Gotti, Gotti bin Laden, Neo Hoffa, Gotti Vorhees or whatever he wants to be called. Why do I feel like only cats on the west coast would like this album? Against the Grain is chock full of beats with those loud Cali claps and synthesized sounds that you would only hear on an album recorded way west of the Mississippi. Now I’m not saying it is a wack record because it may have been hot to someone on the west. All I’m saying is there is no market for it outside of California. The flow is ehhh….the beats are ehhhhh… but Against the Grain is 100% Cali. What does that say about west coast music?

After the extra terrestrial introduction, Kurupt welcomes us with his first full track, Speak on It, which mostly accuses certain rappers of trying to be the “new” Pac and everyone else for trying to be Death Row. Can U Feel It is a skeleton of a feel good track that attempts at summer anthem status, but doesn’t quite make it. The beat is thin and Kurupt isn’t bringing much to the table lyrically. Slide N Slide Out is reminiscent of the California tunes that once ruled the air waves in the early 90s. Kurupt collaborates with some loud mouth New Yorkers (MOP) on Jealousy, which may break the record for the use of the word “muthafucka” in a song. The most successful song on the project is the obligatory sensitive thug track on every rap album entitled Tha Past. Kurupt makes the best of his abilities along with the slow melodic production.

There are two things that I realized after listening to Against the Grain. 1) It is always good to hear Pac on an album…always. And 2) Oh how the mighty have fallen. It may not be fair that I rest the reputation of Death Row, DPG and the whole west coast on one man and one album, but I have been left no choice. Kurupt is synonymous with the west. As are the chucks and khakis that he incessantly name drops. And this is what the west has to offer. If “the grain” is synonymous with good music, then Kurupt’s latest LP is appropriately named.

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