R.A. the Rugged Man - Die, Rugged Man, Die (9/10)

"VH1 would never do my behind the scenes,

cause it's way too explicit for your TV screens.

I'm like 'Can't we please talk about me a little more?

And why I don't sell out and I stay hardcore,

and why I never did a video for TVs,

and never bought a beat for more than 3 g's,

and never put an album out, not one year;

I don't give a fuck about my career!'

Yeah, people talk about me like they know my ass,

but where the fuck was you when I had no cash?

Oh wait, I forgot, I still don't got none.

But my album gon' blow up, if I ever drop one!"

from Dumb

Among the bigger mysteries of life is that no aspiring filmmaker had the idea to make a documentary about R.A. the Rugged Man's career yet. I exaggerate, but being signed to Jive records in the 90's should make for an interesting story regardless of outcome- in R.A.'s case, he signed with the label in -92 and went on to record two albums that were never released due to conflicts with the label. In fact, "Die, Rugged Man, Die" marks R.A.'s album debut and that came out in 2004, a good twelve years after landing his first record deal.

The lyrical themes of the album range between this 90's deal with Jive records on "A Star Is Born"("they tried to turn the label caucasian, they signed me/whitey dawn and the insane clown posse/then they signed the backstreet boys and britney/it's a pop label, what the fuck they want with me?"), an unusual love for self-deprecation ("TLC was talking 'bout me when they wrote 'No Scrubs'") and general shit-talking on the music industry("Yeah I'm mad negative, you want positivity? Buy a Mos Def and Talib Kweli CD!"). While he is a great storyteller, it also feels like there is not always a creative vision behind the otherwise well delivered lyrics.

With how cheap studio equipment is getting, it's actually pretty unheard of to have albums come out this minimalist even from underground acts but "Die, Rugged Man, Die" manages to pull off an elegantly simplistic sound without the album just sounding particularly cheap or unfinished. At times the album does cross over into musical territory where it sounds somewhat underproduced(for example the repetitive "Da Girlz, They Luv Me") but for the most part the production is satisfying.

I can respect making a conscious decision to not overproduce an album; it obviously leaves a lot of room for R.A. to show off, and he does not disappoint. With twelve years worth of time to write lyrics, you'd expect his rhymes to be impressive and they are. In addition to the punchlines and wordplay being superb, the delivery is also stellar: Rugged Man's slow paced, grimy flow, fits perfectly with the lyrical content and the production.

Overall, the album is very strong with only minor complaints in that the production sometimes doesn't pull through and that the lyrics, while extremely well delivered, are not always terribly innovative in topic.

High point of the album: How Low

Low point of the album: Black And White ft. Timbo King