The Resurrection, by Geto Boys
Suggested by Dan Jenkins
The first thing that irritates me is the spelling.
Geto Boys? Who the hell are they trying to be? Limp Bizkit? Gorillaz? Def Leppard?
Thankfully for my psyche, the Geto Boys don’t extend this deliberate obtuseness to their song titles. You can call them a lot of things, but they’re not Slade, even if you can Feel the Noize.
The Resurrection is the fifth studio album from Geto Boys, and it’s a confident offering. The beats are more funky that you’d readily expect, and the lyrics and themes are just as fiery as you’d want. The main issue I have is the quality of the vocal performance. All the headlining artists have a similar shouting-bark style, which can seem awfully one-trick-pony. It’s not like I’d expect a lilting love song or a sea shanty or an aria or something, but when you deliver every phrase with a monotone vitriol that never modulates its intensity, you can see why Gangster Rap is the obvious choice.
Just as the vocals are writing checks that the talent can’t quite cash, the lyrics themselves aren’t quite up to examination. They are almost good, but not quite perfect, with clunky word choices and lazy half-rhymes that give the album an unfinished feel. The motifs are very strong if somewhat hackneyed; in fact, the extreme nature of the lyrics is something for which the act are renowned. But the lyric sheet feels amateur, needing a final pass from a hip hop editor before it hits the studio floor.
Despite these misgivings, there’s a lot to like on The Resurrection. The opening track, Still, is delivered with passion and rage, although it does feel a touch overblown in places. My favourite song, the closer Point of No Return, rounds out proceedings with a metaphorical bang, as it’s the most incendiary track on the album.
The Resurrection does have a classic Gangster Rap feel, but there’s an air of “Rapping-By-Numbers” about it. The energy is there, and the stark messages have a truth, but I feel that the album is held back by the limitations of the creators. The raps are all shouty, the rhymes are often weak, and the sound is vaguely generic. I give The Resurrection 5/10, which a resounding meh. There’ll be much better rap fare on this project, I’m sure.