Grant JonesDa Beatminerz returned this year with a compilation album called “Stifled Creativity”, following a line of records that have been solid rather than remarkable. Their legacy and reputation is built upon their excellent work on Hip-Hop classics like Black Moon’s “Enta Da Stage” and Smif-N-Wessun’s “Dah Shinin'”, which they fully produced. As they moved toward offering their services to artists outside of the Boot Camp Clik, results proved more mixed as certain emcees either didn’t gel with their production, or the beats lacked a little something compared to their earlier output. In a 2005 interview with RapReviews, Evil Dee even stated that:
“If I wasn’t DJing for my group Black Moon, I’d be DJing for Last Emperor. Wordsworth and Last Emperor, those are my dogs right there. Matter of fact, we’re coming with a Beatminerz/Last Emperor album. We’re coming out with a Beatminerz/KRS-One album also. I think we’re working out a Beatminerz/Wordsworth album too.”
This appetite for collaboration was shared amongst various 2000s projects, and it wasn’t until 2019’s Black Moon album “Rise of Da Moon” surfaced we were reminded how dope their style still can be. “Stifled Creativity” doesn’t travel far from this tradition, but it feels more like the mid-2000s compilations like “Loaded with Statik” that were more hit-and-miss. Twenty years ago, KRS-One kicked that off with “Let’s Go”, and here he’s back at it, asking us to “Seckle”:
The main difference this time round is that the guestlist doesn’t really offer interesting collaborations – it’s primarily a single artist rapping over grimy boom-bap. When it works, it’s great fun, so I’ll start there.
Apathy on “Martial Law” is vicious with the vocab, and endlessly precise with his diction, stuffing his two verses with quotables like:
“I’ve been rhyming forever, my shit is Tougher Than Leather
My mic is welded together in temperatures they can’t measure
I’ve been rockin’ since Kane was Raw, I’m designed for war
Let out a giant roar, I feel like a dinosaur”
This combination of callbacks and lyrical flexing wouldn’t work without Da Beatminerz trademark – thick kicks and snares. This shouldn’t come as a surprise considering they have previous together with “Peace Connecticut” (2011), but combining tongue-twisting bars with traditional head-nod production is often hard to pull off well. From the other coast of the US, Ras Kass supplies a couple of songs that play to his own strengths, specifically writing to a topic. “Back in Style” spotlights how fashion, trends and behaviour all cycle back around eventually:
I didn’t expect to enjoy Keith Murray as much as I did on “Adore (HER)”, but it feels like the most complete song. It even has a third verse! You’ve also got a fun Camp Lo performance on “Cheeba”, which is catchier than anything else on the album. Purists will lap up the tougher aesthetic found in the record’s second half, with Black Moon, Bishop Lamont and Loaf Muzik benefiting from beats that will bring out the screwface in even the most dead-eyed 90s veteran.
My primary criticism of “Stifled Creativity” is the use of repetitive hooks. Al Skratch’s “All 4 U” wasn’t good, and the fact the song is revisited nine songs later and adds AZ emphasises this more. I found Ruste Juxx’s “Product” track belied the stifled creativity theme, with its repetitive hook lifted from The Wire. Maybe I’ve heard too many clips from The Wire, but at this point, there’s little as creatively uninspiring as sampling The Wire again. Songs like “Can’t Live Without It”, which features 90s R&B vocalist Monifah, just sound cheesy and nineties, but not in a positive way.
I loved seeing Rasheed Chappell, one of the most improved emcees of the past decade, nestled between Pharoahe Monch and De La Soul, on their single “My Year” which, aside from a couple of remixes of earlier tracks, closes out the record nicely.
Beatminerz compilations are always welcome – they have always been a great way to experience what an array of underground emcees have to offer, even if they are unlikely to be consistent. Production is arguably improved from previous efforts, but some of the tracks here fell short too frequently for this to really live up to the reputation Da Beatminerz continues to garner amongst rap fans.