Smoke N Mirrors

B-Real

B-Real / Smoke N Mirrors
Format: CD Album
Released: Mon 2 Mar 2009
Catalogue Number: DDMCD2090

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Price:  AUD$31.75
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Description:
After 17 years in the rap game as the lead lyricist of one of the West Coast's most recognizable crews, Cypress Hill, B-Real shows new life on his debut solo album, Smoke and Mirrors. Opening with a "Stylistics" sample given the chipmunk soul treatment, the nasal-voiced lyricist promptly falls into his familiar flow, contrasting the trials and tribulations of the streets with the up-and-downs of show biz success on the title track. Though DJ Muggs is conspicuously absent behind the boards, the production on Smoke and Mirrors is consistently up to par; its 15 tracks conveying nothing but that quintessential California gangstafied funk. The Soopafly-produced "Gangsta Music" is '70s blaxploitation funk reincarnated as 2000s G-Funk. On the head-nod anthem "Don't Ya Dare Laugh," yet another track whose hook borrows from Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner," B and company define Cali as "the home of marijuana" where "streets get hotter than a sauna." And Muggs' prodigy, the Alchemist provides the record's highlight with "6 Minutes," a seething funk-guitar driven track that allows B to compose a cynical treatise on contemporary hip-hop upstarts. Of course, no Cypress Hill endeavor would be complete without a straightforward weed anthem and the honors here go to the dancehall-inflected "FIRE," featuring Damien Marley which sees B switching between English and Spanish rhymes. Elsewhere, he dredges up more familiar gangsta rap themes including money-getting ("Get That Dough," "Stack'n Paper"), those pesky haters ("When They Hate You") and the token sex-for-sport yarn ("When We're Fucking"). As such, Smoke and Mirrors doesn't offer much in the way of originality, but after nearly 20 years on the mike, B-Real has pretty well perfected his niche and his infectious, nasally rhyme flow, and O.G. vetting commentary on the game and Cali-centric beats should be more than enough to keep fans' heads nodding. Matt Rinaldi.

Details:

Track Listing:

1.  Smoke 'N' Mirrors - B-Real & Bo Roc
2.  Gangsta Music - B-Real & Bo Roc
3.  Don't Ya Dare Laugh - B-Real & Xzibit/Young De
4.  Everything U Want - B-Real & Buckshot
5.  6 Minutes - B-Real & Young de/Tek
6.  Psycho Revolution - B-Real & Sick Jacken
7.  Fire - B-Real & Damien Marley
8.  10 Steps Behind - B-Real & Young de/Tek
9.  Get That Dough - B-Real & Mimi
10.  Dr Hyphenstein - B-Real & Snoop Dogg/Young de/Trace Midas
11.  Stack'n Paper
12.  1 Life - B-Real & Sen Dog/Mal Verde
13.  Dude vs Homie
14.  When They Hate You - B-Real & Mimi
15.  When We're Fucking - B-Real & Too Short/Kurupt/Young De

Availability
Estimated despatch 25-35 days after ordering.


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