By T. Love
In 1998 Big Pun crumbled a barrier for aspiring Latino emcees. Capital Punishment was the first album by a solo Latino rapper to garner a platinum plaque. After Pun’s unfortunate demise, Fat Joe had a string of hits, including ”Lean Back” in 2004, and he achieved one platinum album with J.O.S.E. Aside from those two there really have been no commercially successful Latino rappers.
Brazilian born, Tampa raised emcee Laws aims to elbow his way at to the table of this exclusive club with 5:01(Overtime). Laws is a DJbooth.net Freestyle series alum and had an excellent feature on Dub Floyd and Wally Sparks Hip Hop Doctrine Boondocks Mixtape with “Freedom Ain’t Free.” 5:01 is basically his 4:57 mixtape with four new tracks added and he has nicknamed it “Overtime”. That could be considered a bitch move, but considering it’s a free download I can’t complain.
Actually, I can. For those expecting more “Freedom Ain’t Free” type music, prepare to be epically disappointed. If you copped 4:57, there’s no need to cop 5:01(Overtime), which is a blatant attempt to show that Laws can make commercial songs. In the process it demonstrates why, to many, commercial rap in this present age sucks. The beats are average, the rhymes are average, everything about this project screams mediocrity, even by commercial standards.
The album has production from 9th Wonder and boasts contributions from J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League (not to be confuses with Little Brother related collective J.U.S.T.U.S League), M-Phazes and Apple Juice Kid. Subtle difference in spelling big, difference in sound.
“Believer,” featuring Jason Caesar, is a prime example of what’s wrong with this album as a whole. It’s your stock sell out song, complete with a wack ass autotune-warbled chorus. “Make me a believer/ohhhh ohhh oh/ohhhh ohh”. Seriously. In the midst of this nonsense, Laws attempts to go deep, touching on the economy and soldiers deployed overseas. It doesn’t work as the lyrics sound uninspired and the beat just doesn’t match the subject matter. Strikeout.
“Audio Savior” continues the corniness. ILLMIND laces him with a ho-hum beat that sounds like it was made by Scott Storch at the height of his cocaine addiction. High-register keyboard stabs and Dr. Dre-like low-end synth jabs. The track is pretty simple and with Laws’ mediocre lyrics the track’s title is a misnomer. Here’s some of the lyrics that make Laws an audio savior.
“They sayin’ I spit proper/ but then respect turn into stigmata/ back in the day I wasn’t responsive/now I’m responsible for this Hip-Hop shit…they wanna bring up my origins again and again/ the first lyrical Brazilian American/ my skin tone may make you think I was Puerto Rican/ but if my head was covered maybe an Arabian
The only really good track is “Shining” produced by 9th Wonder. 9th brings his signature compressed drums and an alto sax sample along with violins every four bars. Although it is held back by yet another corny chorus, Laws does an adequate job of spitting some dope shit.
“Cuz when it comes to rappin’/I’m like Dr. Manhattan/ I’ll make a world out of dust kinda like an addict/I make something for nothing/ but I’m still coming son/ cuz in a perfect world M.O.P. would be number one….living like Machiavelli/apparently I’m dead but someone forgot to tell me”
5:01(Overtime) is essentially a pop record. Making songs for the ladies, clubs and radio isn’t a bad thing but when those songs fail to stand out and make people take notice, the album becomes Frisbee material. If listeners care to support a new Latino rapper, by all means download the album from DJbooth.net and spread the word to your fellow Hip-Hoppers. Just don’t be surprised or pissed off when your friends ask you to turn in your Hip-Hop head credentials for putting them on to Drake lite.
2.25 out of 5
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