Steve 'Flash' JuonI’m not sure Bad Azz had one record deal in his entire career that wasn’t sus. By the end it appears he had recognized that himself, and while I can’t find definitive proof that Double Dollar Sign was his own publishing arm, he’s the featured artist on almost every album on their Discogs page. I’ll just go out on a limb and say that wasn’t a coincidence. Anyway if you’re new to Jamarr Antonio Stamps here’s a brief biography — he was born in Hawaiian Gardens, CA in 1975. He grew up in Long Beach and as you might expect because of that he became friends with S-N-double-O-P D-oh-double-G. Snoop put him in a group called LBC Crew that felt apart over royalty disputes, at which point Bad Azz took on the mantle of a soloist to release albums like “Personal Business.” If you remember him it’s probably for the single “Wrong Idea” featuring Snoop, where he affectionately calls him “my nephew.”
Are you going to hear Calvin Broadus anywhere on “The Nu Adventures of Bad Azz” though? Sorry, no. Doggystyle Records was one of those many imprints that didn’t work out for Jamarr. It turns out that being called a “nephew” doesn’t hold much water if the people in charge don’t look out for you the way an “uncle” actually would. Is he bitter about it? I’ll let you be the judge when you hear “Fux Dat” but for me at least he sounds incredibly pissed off about the way his career turned out.
The once fun loving rapper had become a grumpy old man in his 40’s “The Nu Adventures of Bad Azz” was released on November 13, 2018 — just two weeks before his 43rd birthday. He tries to look different on the album cover, leaping into the air with ebullient joy, but “S.O.S. (Sound Of Success)” reveals the truth. “Wish I had the internet then when the crack hit/I woulda went online and ordered a nice jacket.” He’s stuck in the past even as he claims he can “hear money coming” his way and is in fact singularly obsessed with wealth. “I got kids to look after, money gotta come see me/and if he don’t, how I tell my kids, no eating?” The one thing a rapper doesn’t want is to look desperate. Fans can smell the stank coming off you from a mile away when you talk like that.
“If I’m arrested I’m gon’ be in some designer shit” is a line from “Designer Women” that is filled with irony. Despite saying he wants to be a provider for his children on “S.O.S.” here he is talking about wasting money on frivolous fashions, so he can’t even decide whether he’s a baller or a father figure. What you really can’t ignore though is the fact that he was arrested on charges of domestic violence nearly a year after this album’s release and died while he was in custody. Beating your baby momma isn’t a good look Bad Azz, and had he lived just two more weeks he would have been 44 years old. Snoop took the time to offer his condolences on social media after learning of his passing, but what did Calvin really do for him while he was alive? Not a lot if Jamarr’s unfortunate end is any indication. Then again that’s Calvin’s “nephew” not his “brother” and he was not either one’s keeper I suppose. Jamarr needed to figure shit out on his own.
Nothing on this album suggests he had anything figured out. When the biggest guest artist you’ve got on your shit in 2018 is Turf Talk you’re not doing too good. At one point Bad Azz could have pulled in anybody from the Dogg Pound Gangsta Click to work with including the Godfather Calvin himself, but he can’t even get a cameo from Daz or Kurupt here. At one point Bad Azz was a strong enough emcee that he wouldn’t even have needed that help, but “Bonfires & Wine Bottles” is just sad. Techniec is not saving this song nor is the decidedly uncool act of drinking “big bottles of vino.” I can’t picture one rapper off the top of my head bragging about how much Chardonnay they can imbibe.
This is how a rapper goes from being young and hip to middle aged and uncool. Now let me be real with y’all for a minute — there’s nothing wrong with that. Nobody stays on top forever and if you live long enough to enjoy middle age you won’t mind not being cool. In fact if anything I might actually respect that the most out of anything on “The Nu Adventures of Bad Azz” — he’s not giving anybody the “Wrong Idea” about how fresh he is. There’s honesty in it even if it’s a bit ugly. It just doesn’t feel like anybody tried hard enough here though. With boring production, a confused tone lyrically, and no big stars to bail him out, the end result isn’t something you can enjoy more than once. It only winds up being a reflection of all the things that were troubling him before his sudden demise, and that’s the most important thing to know about a mid-life crisis — you gotta accept that decline gracefully. If you fight it too hard it winds up sounding like this. RIP Jamarr.