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40 Cal Album Review: BROKEN SAFETY

“It’s broken safety time…..You should feel threatened, [Cause] 40 [CAL] IS NO LONGER A CONCEILED WEOPON…HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW??, I GO BLOOAAWW!!!....” – 40 Cal, “Broken Safety”.

Just when I thought Dipset couldn’t get any better with JR Writer’s epic national release, HISTORY IN THE MAKING this summer, here comes 40 Cal blasting his way into the mix too!! First of all let’s review the bonafied street classics that have made us all want to pay attention to the Dipset movement in the first place. It all started with DIPSET Volume 5 (Before this Mixtape I hated Cam’ Ron with a PASSION!). Then came DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY VOLUME II (Volume 1 sucked!!). Then Cam’ Ron hit us with the classic PURPLE HAZE album (His previous one sucked – COME HOME WITH ME). And continuing the Dipset legend was the classic MORE THAN MUSIC VOLUME 1. Then we were ALL WITNESSES to the onslaught of JR Writer way before his national release due to his classic underground WRITER’S BLOCK TWO and WRITER’S BLOCK THREE albums. Now we get blessed with BROKEN SAFETY by 40 Cal. I put my rep on the line for ALL the aforementioned albums. They represent to me the best beats and lyrics in hiphop today and has me all in tuned in for this “movement” they got going. Now 40 Cal has been around For A Minute but JR was hired to do most of the lyrical assassinations by Cam’ Ron early on. Meanwhile 40 Cal was always there for backup, alert and ready, sniping away at any and all competition (national or underground) that managed to somehow escape the barrage of JR’s AK-47 fired syllables. Well 40 Cal just got a pay raise, cause not only does he walk around firing off AK-47 rapid fire lyrics but now he’ll randomly pause and launch career ending, laser guided shoulder rocket launched metaphors finishing off the competition for good. I laugh heartily at the idiot journalists that assume Dipset is just Cam’ Ron, Juelz Santana and some West Coast sounding dude named Jim Jones thus giving them the notion that it’s OK to brush off Dipset with one broad stroke. Back in the day you had Method man being the pretty boy face of Wu-Tang allowing the insane lyrics of Raekwon and Ghostface and GZA to get exposure and after that an infinite number of Wu offspring. Move on to present day and now pretty boy Cam’ Ron is enabling the unbridled and unaltered raw styles of JR Writer, Hell Rell and last but not least 40 Cal to be heard. These guys record tracks like they’re holed up in a non-descript, abandoned housing project building with nothing but a mic, mix board and some purple haze. To show you how SERIOUS 40 Cal is as a battle lyricist, he actually was a recent contestant on MTV’s FIGHT CLUB which was a show dedicated to finding the best battle free-stylers in the U.S. and in which rhyme battles were staged before national audiences. He ended up being one of the final contestants and it’s still a mystery why he didn’t win it all. Cause take my word for it. BROKEN SAFETY is the PERFECT title for 40 Cal’s debut national album because he really does FIRE OFF WITHOUT WARNING the same way a gun does that has a broken safety latch. When you pick up this album (and yes it’s a MUST HAVE) you’re going to have to get a lot of rest before hand cause he’s gonna assault your mind relentlessly with metaphor after metaphor…Simile, after simile. EVERY FIVE SECONDS THERE IS A PUNCHLINE!!! It’s insane!! To prove it we’ll let 40 Cal do most of the talking in the rest of this review….

Here’s some lyrical highlights of EVERY track on the album to show how serious 40 Cal is when he put this FIRE album together (My comments are in parenthesis).

Track #1: “Broken Safety” - “40 is a son of a gun, My brother is a pump, my uncle’s a mack[10], my sista a deuce deuce and they just gave birth to baby macks and baby nines”.

Track #2: “Worried” – “So truck, you froze up when I rolled up, My chain yell FREEZE!!!..you think it’s a hold up..” – This one was by the rapper called Sundaboss.

Track #3: “Pyrexx Vision/Angel Dust” - I’m a MADE n&&&a that keeps DUST in the crib, you just my maid n$$$a that be dusting my crib”.

Track #4: “We Got that Crack” – “I went from eating GRAHAM CRACKERS to serving GRAMS to crackers”. (WHOA!!!!)

Track #5: “Runnin This Rap S$$$” - “I got so many SONS, I can’t wait to FILE TAXES”. (SICK, SICK SICK!!!!!!!!!!!...How Jeezy say it???.....DAAAYUM!!!!)

Track #6: “Real B$$$H” – “You’re the type to hustle and get caught, That’s why you’re money’s short, you funny, You should do STAND UP…”.

Track #7: “Survivor” – “They don’t know I turn HAPPY HOMES into STASH cribs, Everywhere I go I triple my worth”.

Track #8: “Weed Song” - “See I started with Cheebah, she was a skeezer, but she had the FATTY, so it was cheaper to keep her, [BUT] she had too many SEEDS and she was a teaser, I knew I deserved better so I was eager to leave her..”. (This song is only for hardcore dro smokers that can actually understand the different forms of dro).

Track #9: “T.V. Show” – “This is the movie when you die in the end, I’m the director, playing that felon that WET ya, I say cut, Roll tape [but] it ain’t the movie projector, it’s the dude rolling tape that be moving the stretchers, with ni$$$z like you on it, with blood on your sweater…Everyone knows you when I front page ya, celebrities over night.”

Track #10: “Go Get Ya Guns” – “Slugs going in your chest, N$$$$z don’t get their mind RIGHT till their spirit LEFT...”. (NICE!!!!!!!...Go 40!!..Go 40!!!)

Track #11: “Quiet Sounds” – “Same ni$$a you broke bread, Code red, Told feds how your coke spread, sold hope to dope heads, it’s no joke you owe bread, your ho dead, while snitches go free and get SURGERY and grow dreads”. (Killing the comp y’all)

Track #12: ”You Know Who It Is” – “Fast money, fast cars, just say I was FAScinated, So I pull a mack out the KNAPSACK fast, to grab the BAG…Show you what’s a backpack rapper”. (Today’s backpack rappers all carry macks and Uzi’s Now!!...Dayum!!)

Track #13: ”F$$$ It All” – “YES I GHOST WRITE, I call the NINE, Milli Vanilli, turn you into a ghost RIGHT when I empty the semi. Cause your BARS will get you SHOT like you’re HENNY or REMI”. (C’MON Y’ALL NOW!!..GIVE IT UP TO 40 CAL!!)

Track #14: “Click Clack” – “It don’t take a genius to see that I’m WAY nice, when I rhyme, call me that ‘REWIND THAT’ KING’, with a combat swing and a nine that bling…”. (Yo in all seriousness I got carpel tunnel syndrome rewinding 40’s songs!)

Track #15: “Think I’m not Gangsta” – Around the way they call me WACO cause I can hustle in a FIRE town, while FEDS riding around, [I’m] getting fiends to buy the vials, I flip O’s like Wheel of Fortune when you buy your VOWEL…”.

Bonus: “I spit so RETARDED, when I flow I DROOL…Ask FIGHT CLUB how 40 just spit well..my new nickname should be NOTORIOUS BIG L…”. (I heard that!)

Track #16: “Sounds Like” – “I’m in Harlem in a car chase, cops after me…They want to make your boy an INCARCERATED SCARFACE…”. (Nice Raekwon plug!).

Track #17: “Be Easy” – “[My]Thick link GLEAMING in the light, SO BRIGHT, it got my LEFT hand scheming on my RIGHT”.

Track #18: “It’s 40” – “I’m COLD hearted, chain give me HYPOTHERMIA”.

Bonus: “Ever since Hova left, there ain’t been no respect, Rap game like close to CHESS, everybody play the Bishop, I’d rather play Omar Epps…”. (Shout out to the movie Juice and Tupac!)

Track #19: “Sam Scared” - “I’m going to have the rap game laughing when they see SAM take an L like his last name JACKSON”. (OOOHHH!!!!)

Bonus: “You can spell BAG” but YOU still wouldn’t BE – A – G”. (HA! HA!)

Track #20: “Dear Fan” – “Now I’m getting dough and I’m saving a percentage but it’s kinda hard when ni$$$z get a case of ‘the remembers’…”Remember when a n$$$a bailed you out?, Remember this? Remember that??...You can’t help me out?”. (Amen!)

Nuff said y’all. No WEAK LINKS ON THIS ALBUM PRODUCTION WISE EITHER!! Obviously no weak links lyrically. The Dipset movement moves on and group members like 40 Cal and JR are treating us to an underground lyrical movement that hasn’t been seen since the Wu Tang Days when during that time great underground lyrical artists actually got some national spotlight. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts!!! PICK UP THIS ALBUM! THIS IS A MUST HAVE. And no, “picking up the album” doesn’t mean Downloading it! If you don’t support lyrical artists that shun the commercial route like 40 Cal and JR Writer then they won’t sell enough records to be around to hit us off with more crack next time. Let’s show these real artists that they don’t have to compromise their styles just to keep a deal. BUY THE ALBUM! Not sure what your rap style is playa…But for those of us that appreciate SUPERB BATTLE LYRICS and TOUGH BEATS, this is DEFINITELY THE ALBUM OF THE YEAR.

Benz0
Contact Benz0: BenzWritings@Hotmail.com