Steve 'Flash' JuonIt’s probably obvious by now that the career trajectory of MC Shy-D fascinates me. It’s a 50/50 split for me between the fact that his only point of relevance was when he was associated with 2 Live Crew, and the fact that he kept recording music long after that partnership dissolved. Even though his chart success waned, he doubled and tripled down on the up tempo Miami bass sound and lewd lyrics of Luther Campbell and friends. For his fifth album “Recordnize,” Shy-D recruited DJ Smurf to provide production, resulting in high speed misogyny like “Work It Out.” Actually let me step back because calling it “misogyny” is almost absurd. He throws around phrases like “fuck them hoes” and “push it bitch” so frequently that it ultimately becomes devoid of meaning. He robs the words of any impact.
Thinking I’m kidding? Listen to “Get These Hoes” for sixty seconds or less. It’s almost admirable how single-minded he is when it comes to trying to get attention for his vulgarity. “Lick my ass, eat the shit, you motherfuckin bitch.” I’m not sure there’s ever been a better definition of “try hard” than this. He wanted all the Karens of the world to get offending and make a stink to get the album publicity. He wanted this album to be banned, which would have made it more notorious and by extension successful. Given this album never charted I think we can safely say that he failed HARD.
Quite frankly listening to “Recordnize” is comical. Even when Shy-D and Smurf slow down the tempo for a posse song like “The Bitch Can’t Come Up” the unrecognizable guest stars try to one up Shy-D for hatred of women. I didn’t realize anyone could make me think Too $hort was a feminist, but one could at least argue he appreciated “bitches” for their sexuality and ability to wield it like a weapon against men. To Shy-D and friends even this is a negative to be dismissed, ending with an almost obligatory gunshot blast just to show that no one with ass or tits can ever be down with them. I can’t imagine these guys in a club having any kind of success with women. Two drinks in they’d go from 0 to 100 — straight from “Hey baby, how you doing tonight?” to “If you don’t want to fuck me, fuck you bitch!!”
The weirdest part of the album is when he tries to appeal to his fellow ATLiens with Organized Noise ripoffs like “Flip Side” featuring an equally forgettable guest crew. Who are Apple Jack, Big Bud and DJ Eddy? Better question — does anybody care over a quarter century later? At least the production here makes for a listenable track regardless of the lackluster raps on it.
If I was to put on my amateur psychologist hat and try to understand MC Shy-D, I’d say he was endlessly chasing prior success without “Recordnizing” that he’d never get back to that spot again. No matter how vulgar he tried to be, no matter how many different sounds or styles he imitated, his 15 minutes of fame ended once he was no longer touring with 2 Live Crew. As much as I admire his tenacity in chasing the spotlight and not giving up on being a star, the lack of commercial success shows it just didn’t pan out, and the less successful he became the more extreme he got. It’s kind of funny for a moment or two but in the end it’s just sad.