Original Flavor Albums (2)
What The Critics Say
In 1993, just in time to record their second album, Beyond Flavor, Damon Dash would add a buddy of his -- a young Brooklyn rapper known around the way for his superlative rhyming skills -- to the lineup of Original Flavor, one of the two groups (the other being the excellent the Future Sound) he had under contract at the time. The MC's name? Jay-Z. Only an average album, the sky was nevertheless the limit for him from there on out. The verdict was less rosy for Original Flavor as a unit, and today, if the group is remembered at all, it is only because of that early association with the Jigga man. In actuality, the primary catalyst behind the crew was producer Ski, who later would go on to contribute a half-dozen strong tracks to Jay-Z's first two albums, and This Is How It Is turns out to be almost entirely his show. Although it is not on the whole a great outing, it definitely does have flashes. Much of the production, in fact, is quite accomplished -- terrific, even. Scratch that: On a musical level, This Is How It Is frequently verges on the magnificent, with an impressive array of clever and uncommon samples and ingenious cut-and-paste breakbeats. It will certainly surprise no one who listens to the music to know that Ski would go on to become a highly successful hired gun. He is too often let down, however, by lackluster vocal support (including his own) on This Is How It Is. It is no wonder that Dash would try to bolster the MC side of Original Flavor after the album's release. As a result, the only completely quibble-free song on which everything clicks is "Way Wit Words," breezy lyrical froth on top of an asymmetrical chunk of bop piano that is very reminiscent of the Future Sound. Otherwise listeners get such innocuous fare as "Gumdrops," or battle boastfulness that doesn't even really sound convinced by itself, all of which tends to drain the color from the songs by the time they come to a close. Rap fans drawn more to production than lyrical skills, though, will have much to enjoy if they're able to scare up a copy of the album. ~ Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Veteran jazz drummer Max Roach has often compared rap to bebop, and for all the differences between jazz and rap, there are, in fact, some parallels -- especially on the East Coast. Like the beboppers of the 1940s and 1950s, many New York, Philadelphia, and Boston rappers have been obsessed with technique. Anyone who has attended a hip-hop competition in any of those cities knows how technique-obsessed East Coast MCs can be; like bop icon Sonny Stitt, they view music as a form of sportsmanship and want to make sure you know how impressive their chops are. That obsession with technique is impossible to miss on 1993's Beyond Flavor, the second album by Original Flavor. This New York group is about flow, flow, and more flow, which is a different mindset from the gangsta rap mindset of many West Coast rappers. If, in 1993, you asked a hip-hop expert what the main differences between East Coast and West Coast rappers were, he/she would have responded that while the West Coast was about beats, hooks, and storytelling, the East Coast was about rhyming technique. There were many exceptions to that generalization, but Beyond Flavor does fit that stereotypical view of New York rap; Original Flavor and its allies (including a young, pre-solo career Jay-Z) spend most of this CD bragging about their rapping skills and showing off their considerable technique. When MCs have this much technique, the flow-for-the-sake-of-flow approach can be exhilarating -- even if it does wear thin after awhile. Listening to Beyond Flavor is a lot of like hearing a group of East Coast hard boppers showing you how fast they can play standards; although chops for the sake of chops has its limitations, you still find yourself admiring and enjoying the display of virtuosity. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
