By Odeisel

Cassidy has been trying to regain the traction he gained since his legendary battle with Freeway and his initial success I the industry. A near fatal car accident and time  in prison for an involuntary manslaughter charge served to halt that momentum. Slowly but surely he returned, dropping the club heater “My Drink n My 2 Step” on the way to releasing B.A.R.S. The Barry Adrian Reese Story,back in 2007. Three years later, Swizz has other things to do, and Cass is still on that grind with new song “Face to Face,” a track that hearkens back to his battle history while examining the present state of Hip-Hop.

The beat is a slow trudge and very linear. It opens with a chipmunk, high speed sample of Cassidy’s voice in the melody of the infamous “I Love You” Barney the Dinosaur theme song.  It’s a minimalist construction that puts Cassidy on center stage. The drums in the back ground are dynamic on the break and switch up occasionally and there’s a nice distorted bass that runs throughout, but there is nothing close to the energy level of his previous singles.

Lyrically, Cassidy is a bit primitive with the overdone dependence on the word n***a, and a basic two line rhyme scheme that offers nothing in the way of evolution; particularly for someone considered on the forefront of lyricism. “Blow your mind like Kennedy” is also a retread line that’s covered somewhere on page two of the Rap 101 course book. Cassidy implores rappers to not make diss records about him or go on the radio or internet, but to battle him face to face.

Cass does raise some interesting battle pairings (Rae v Ghost, Clef v Will.I.am) as well as a couple lame ones(Gucci v Jeezy, Juiceman v Plies, Young Dro v Young Joc). He goes through much of the same things he mentioned following his last hiatus, particularly how the fans keep asking him where has he been, and how the game is missing things, etc. You’ve heard it all before.  At least he’s willing to profess his love for Hip-Hop openly which is something that is becoming rare with all the Hip-Hop is dead, “I’m not a rapper I’m a hustler” non sense that’s prevalent these days.

In all this is a solid song but it’s nothing that will get anyone hyped for a comeback. If he wants that inertia back he’s going to hustle harder than this. Good for a few listens. Enjoy.

Cassidy Face To Face Face To Face_Dirty – Cassidy

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