bigd99999's Full Review: Represent by Fat Joe Da Gangsta
It's always interesting to look back at the early days of a rapper before he became a celebrated MTV pop icon and blew up to the masses. When listening to records such as Eminem's Infinite, 2Pac's 2Pacalypse Now, or even the various bootlegged/leaked demo tapes, you often get to hear an artist who is either hungrier than he or she has ever been or concordingly one who has yet to really find their groove and identity.
In 1993, the Fat Joe that was doing pop collaborations with Ashanti, T-Pain, and Jennifer Lopez didn't exist. In fact, he wasn't even just "Fat Joe". Nope, meet Fat Joe Da Gangsta, a true-school hip-hopper and core member of the Diggin In Tha Crates crew (featuring Diamond D, Showbiz, A.G., Big L, and lots of other people NOT named Big Pun). Fat Joe Da Gangsta just wanted to put out a rap record that people could vibe to. Thus came his debut album Represent. But can we vibe?
Fat Joe was NEVER a great rapper. Yes, Jealous Ones Envy is a good album. Yes, The Don Cartanega is a good album too. The reason why these albums were good (keep in mind I'm using the word good, not great, excellent, or God forbid "classic") is really due to a mixture of good song-writing, great production, and a great mind for telling stories. Represent is really just an early, green Fat Joe not quite finding that key sound that he well... probably never found, unless you consider that he IS a financial success. He was far from all of that here though.
The majority of the production on Represent was handled in-house by D.I.T.C. legends Diamond D (who does almost all of it), Lord FInesse, and not-so-unknown producer Show(biz). Indeed, the years before Scott Storch became hip hop's hit-maker are a bit hazy right? One of the issues with the record is that it doesn't exactly feature some of D.I.T.C.'s best compositions. The beats are definitely early-90s sounding, complete with hi-hats, lots of bass and drums, and samples (and the samples range from everything from Yvonne Fair, to Miles Davis, to J.J. Johnson). Some of the beats are good and some of the beats are bad, but the problem is that Fat Joe is such an average emcee, specially in 1993, that he can't carry a track!
Take the album's opener, "Livin' Fat". With lines such as "I be hippin and hoppin, rockin and shockin, the whole rap scene // I'm mean....... my favorite color is green", you can tell why it's rough for Joe to keep one's attention span. Is "green" a metaphor for money? Sure, but Wu-Tang was out in 1993. No excuses.
In my opinion, if you are an intermediate-level lyricist, you should try to focus most of your song writing on concepts, stories, or something with some sort of depth. Nope, not here. The subject matter on Represent falls into one of the three following categories:
Category A: Fat Joe is gonna hurt you Feature tracks: "Bad Bad Man", "Watch The Sound", "You Must Be Out Of You Fucking Mind", and "I Got This In A Smash".
Category 2: Fat Joe is gonna have sex with you Feature tracks: "Shorty Got A Fat Ass", "I'm A Hit That", and "Get On Up".
Category D: Fat Joe is a rapper who is not a joke (and also not that good) Feature tracks: "Another Wild Nigga From The Bronx", "Livin' Fat", and "Flow Joe".
This is not exactly riveting material we have to work with here.
So all we really have to rely on is the beats, and as I stated, it's hit or miss. But make no mistakes, the hits here certainly DO HIT! "Flow Joe" is a wonderful, sombre Diamond D piece with a muffled saxophone and a heavy drum-kick, providing a unique 1930s Mobster Movie feel. D sampled "Get Out of My Life, Woman" by Lee Dorsey for this one. Fat Joe's hustle-flow is admittedly hot. The great beat magician Showbiz laces "I Got This In A Smash" and turns what would be a generic mafioso track into a banger thanks to a dangerous earthquake-esque bassline and light background melancholy saxophone. "Da Fat Gangsta" is more of the same; violent cautionary tales and crime rhymes, but again Diamond D's jazz samples save the day.
Notice that there is one song that I left out of the above categories. Yes, the original version of "Shit Is Real" was found on Represent and acted as the album's third single (after "Flow Joe" and "Watch The Sound"). If you have heard the Primo remix on Jealous Ones Envy, you'll remember that this is the song where Fat Joe kicks his mind into retrospective mode as he talks about growing up in poverty with a single mother trying to make ends meet. As the title dictates; this is the realest Joe has ever sounded. This version though winds up being lackluster when compared to the DJ Premier version, and that's due to the both genius of Preme and the mundane Beatnuts-laced instrumental that's on this one, which fails to keep my attention.
It's tough to give Represent a positive review, even to the most old-school of fan. As I stated previously, Fat Joe is far from a great emcee and has rather boring performances throughout. In addition, the beats range from uninspired to pretty darn good. Joe would go on to leave the D.I.T.C. crew and start the Terror Squad and make some pretty fun records in the 90s and move on to pop success in the early 2000s. He just released his ninth studio album, Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 (J.O.S.E. 2) on October 6th, 2009, is now married, and putting out radio-friendly singles. But back in 1993, he was just Fat Joe Da Gangsta... and as ordinary as can be.
Track List & Rating
1. A Word to da Wise Interlude 2. Livin Fat (**) 3. My Man Ski Interlude 4. Bad Bad Man (***) 5. Watch The Sound (***) 6. Flow Joe (*****) 7. Da Fat Gangsta (****) 8. Shorty Gotta Fat Ass (***) 9. Shit Is Real (***) 10. You Must Be Out Of You Fucking Mind f/ Apache & Kool G. Rap (***) 11. I Got This In A Smash (*****) 12. Another Wild Nigga From The Bronx f/ Gismo, Keith Keith, King Sun (***) 13. Get On Up (***) 14. I'm A Hit That (**)
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