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Review: Jack Foley
RUFUS Johnson, aka Bizarre, steps out from D12
to release his debut solo album in the form of Hanni Cap Circus,
a foul-mouthed, attitude-laden hip-hop heavyweight that, quite
frankly, leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth.
Given Bizarre's background with D12, it's little wonder to find
that his solo album is heavy with hip-hop names.
D12's Kon Artist serves as one of the producers (along with Hi
Tek, Erick Sermon and Raphael Saadiq) and it boasts collaborations
with Eminem, Outkast's Big Boi and Dead Prez.
Yet try as hard as it might, the album is content to rely on
the old hip-hop cliches, piling on the swear words and overloading
each track with references to whores, pimps, hookers and drugs.
The intro, for instance, refers to Bizarre as 'that fat, shower-cap
wearing, nipple loving son of a bitch', before another MC calls
on 'boys and girls, bitches and niggers' to pay attention.
The profanity is then non-stop. Gospel Weed Song gets
things rolling with a fairly generic hip-hop beat that emerges
as an ode to the benefits of smoking the weed.
Before Sindee Syringe takes the lead on the anti-drugs rant that
is Fuck Your Life - a hard-hitting, F-word overload that
tells a sordid, sorry tale of abuse.
Let The Record Skip features a hopelessly familiar hip-hop
score that's bound to crop up on a movie soundtrack, while I'm
In Luv Witchu is another swear-fest that is rife with references
to 'sucking dick'.
The album briefly shows some signs of pick-up when the collaborators
take their place.
Rockstar, for instance, sounds like one of only a few
potential singles and is produced by Eminem. But it's also far
too similar to Bizarre's work on D12's comedy opus, My Band,
and suffers by comparison.
Ghetto Music (featuring Swifty Stic Man and Devin The
Dude) contains a genuinely funky vibe and is probably the album's
finest moment.
But we're quickly dragged back into the mire by the likes of
Porno Bitches (alarmingly featuring Big Boi) and Bad
Day, a supposedly hilarious re-working of Ice Cube's 1992
West Coast classic, It Was A Good Day, that barely musters
a chuckle.
I could go on, but you probably get the gist by now. Hanni
Cap Circus is more of a freak show than anything special
that's needed.
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Track listing:
1. PSA - Skit
2. Intro
3. Gospel Weed Song
4. F*** Your Life-Feat. Sindee Syringe
5. Fat Father - Skit
6. Let The Record Skip
7. I'm In Luv Witchu
8. Rockstar
9. Ghetto Music-Feat. Swifty,Sticman And King Gordy
10. Lifestyles - Skit
11. I'm So Cool
12. Porno Bitches-Feat. Big Boi And Devon The Dude
13. Crush On You
14. Bad Day
15. I Need A Friend
16. One Chance
17. Hip Hop-Feat. Eminem
18. Doctor Doctor-Feat. Obie Trice
19. Coming Home-Feat. Raphael Saadiq And Kuniva
20. Nuthin At All-Feat. D12
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