Joe HowardBefore I begin critiquing the musical aspects of this album, I would like to put out a disclaimer. Firstly, I have never previously heard any music by 3Bubble, nor have I ever been aware of him or the record label that’s distributing this album. All I have at my disposal to provide any background information about 3Bubble is a typed letter from his manager to our webmaster, referring to 3Bubble as “Houston’s premiere hip-hop artist”. I’ve been bumping “The Fix” by Scarface sporadically over the last two weeks, and in all honesty I think that it’s the excellence of that album that leaves me no other choice but to be so remotely unimpressed by “The Fresh Entrepreneur”. I guess it’s just an unfortunate coincidence that in my opinion, this album sounds like a parody of “The Fix”. I traditionally give albums a few listens to leave open the possibility of a change of heart, but it was clear three songs into my second spin of “The Fresh Entrepreneur” that it just isn’t going to happen in this instance.
The album kicks off with an entirely expendable “T.F.E. Gala (Intro)”, before transitioning into “Get Inside”, produced by C10 and A1, which almost immediately reveals many of the most critical grievances a seasoned rap enthusiast will have with this album. For starters, the beat goes from zero to corny in fifteen seconds. Even worse is the fact that 3Bubble is not too far behind it, clearly evidenced by his pedestrian vocal performance and lyrics:
“Hello to the world, how the fuck you doing?
It’s the boy you used to hear rocking on the acoustic
Only difference now is the condition of the music
.. So I thought I’d serve you up some new shit
Welcome to my kitchen, Hell’s Kitchen, my Alpine sizzling
And you witness it, I’m the shit, I guess you can call me (gentleman?)
Please close your mouth, open your ears, start listening”
I could have quoted more, but ultimately it would not make a difference, because the only time the focus is taken off how far below average 3Bubble is lyrically is when the mixing is so bad you can’t understand what he’s saying. To make matters worse, it’s all downhill from there. The beats are amateur, plain and simple. To try and constructively detail all the things wrong with the production on this album I’d be sitting in front of the computer all day. The worst offender, “Pretty Girl”, sounds like “Rip Rock” by Canibus, except a thousand times worse. Even more damning is the fact that 3Bubble’s flow, cadence, and lyrics are borderline offensive to anyone that’s ever listened to quality rap music:
“Baby looking like a Michelangelo masterpiece
Body like an athlete, damn!, bam!
Look at her, I just wanna bring her to my galaxy
Show her what my status be, bam!, yeah!
Oh no!, it’s something about her in that polo
Dress got me spending dolo
But I don’t care, long as we in here
Getting to know each other on the low, oh!”
I’m more puzzled than anything else, I guess. I really don’t know what I’m supposed to say, or how I’m supposed to say it. I just can’t find that many positive things to say about this album, if any at all. I’m not an elitist, nor do I consider myself to have a “holier than thou” approach to reviewing music, but the only honest satisfaction I got out of this album was that it made me feel better about my own music. Despite my compassion towards unsigned artists, and personal belief that any one can achieve anything if they work hard enough, I don’t foresee 3Bubble blowing up any time soon. I am in no position to say that one day 3Bubble won’t improve as a rapper, and put out something better in the future, but he has a substantial amount of work to do if that is to happen, including aligning himself with better producers. Maybe someday I’ll owe 3Bubble an apology, but I just can’t help but to be pessimistic about the probability of that happening at this point.