Friday, May 13, 2011

Do Single Producer Projects Work?


On Wednesday, New Orleans rapper Curren$y A.K.A Curren$y da Hot Spitta announced another one of the many projects he promised in 2011. This time, it's an LP entitled Weekend At Burnie's, a play on the popular movie Weekend at Bernie's. Weekend At Burnie's will be similar to Spitta's last project, Covert Coup since each will only have beats made by one producer.

Covert Coup was a 10 track album produced entirely by The Alchemist. I know there were people who loved it, but I also know people, myself included, who thought there was something lacking. But after really listening to the album, not just putting it on and then focusing on something else, it hit me, "Wow, this is pretty good." The samples are great, and do a great job of not distracting the listener from the rappers. Another thing that stood out to me is the guitars on the songs "Scottie Pippen" and "Ventilation". It gives a little bit of depth to the beat, and just makes the beat great. I'm not even going to mention the features because I don't want to get off track, but they were on point as well. Spitta has said he wants to turn Covert Coup into a series like he is doing with the Pilot Talk series. Alchemist does such a great job making beats that work with Spitta, I have no doubt that will happen.

The producer behind Weekend At Burnie's will be Monsta Beatz. He has worked with Curren$y before on both PT1 and 2, and on both he has one instrument that just grabs you as a listener. On the former, he produced the song "Roasted", which has some sort of pipe/flute serves the same purpose as the guitars mentioned above, as well as make the song seem more laid back to fit Spitta's style. On Pilot Talk II Monsta Beatz is the mind behind "Famous". As soon as the beat hits, the first thing that stands out is the saxophone. I've heard a lot of sounds throughout the thousands of songs in my library, but this is the best saxaphone hands down. There aren't even words to describe it, it's that good. Using these to tracks as references, I think we have something promising in the works. I just learned that Monsta Beatz produced Spitta's debut album This Ain't No Mixtape as well, but I've only heard one song off of it, so I won't get into that.

That was the good news. Here comes the bad news. Covert Coup wasn't flawless, it definitely could've been a lot better. One problem I had with it was that the beat are so laid back that nothing really grabs you, and pulls all of your attention towards it if you have three other things going on at the same time. Spitta doesn't jump out at you if you don't listen intently. I'll admit until I actually sat down and just listened, I would just hit play and work on something else. As time passed, I would still be listening and think I'm only halfway through the first song, but instead, I'm already halfway through the whole album. There is also the fear that the beats get repetitive. No disrespect to Lex Luger, but all his beats sound pretty much the same. I know that I wouldn't be able to listen to 10-15 of his beats in a row without just having to stop. I don't think we'll see that problem, but there is always a chance. Since Monsta Beatz and Spitta have history, chemistry shouldn't be a problem either.

What do you think, do single producer projects work? Only for some artists and producers? Will Weekend At Burnie's be a hit a or will it flop? Let me know.

If you haven't download Covert Coup yet, here you go.

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