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Artist : Big Z aka Bigzam
Album Title : Westside Far Eastside
Styles : West Coast Hip-Hop / Mainstream Hip-Hop
Label : 573 Records / Konami
Reference Code :
KFCA10001
Released : 2005/07/07
Running Time : 59:40
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REVIEW >>> Let it be known that Bigzam's previous works with his group and as a solo artist have not had any similarities to G-Funk music, in fact quite the opposite especially with his group Nitro who 5 years ago became known for their raw underground east coast style delivery. The only thing left of Bigzam's old career now is some similarities in his lyrics but the beats have changed totally and the whole direction is more in the gangsta styles that we've heard from L.A. for the past 15 years already. Let's be honest for a minute and let it out that G-funk in America has lived through it's prime years ago. Nobody, even the biggest west coast haters can hate on the classics such as Doggystyle and The Chronic but what those albums did in 1993 is still getting repeated over and over again. After hearing hundreds or even a thousand albums about money, hoes, drive-by's, homies, ghetto problems the taste in your mouth becomes as bad as after taking a bite out of the bush downstairs that some drunk just pissed on after having slept there last night. This is what in the end is the biggest downfall of Bigzam's major debut as well. Why is it that the people who became legends 10 years ago like Warren G are still recycling the same that they themselves made fresh back then but which certainly has lost its edge over the years. The G-funk scene desperately needs new ideas and originators who can take the shit to new levels that have not yet been explored because no matter how funny it may sound that even Japan (mostly DJ PMX from DS455) is making more progress in taking the music somewhere compared to the place where the style and culture was born. Let's take it back to the album itself and explain the pro's and cons. The only positive thing that i can think of is the fact that Bigzam as an MC and i mean lyrically is much better than almost anyone in the g-funk business today. The album has it's stereotypical gangsta moments but Bigzam does bring some flavor to the table with his lyrics that is not done everyday in the particular genre. Don't expect anything Guru style from the man but compared to your usual G-Funk MC's the lyrical offering here is better than average. However even the lyrical standard suffers greatly from the lack of thought on the songs especially on the production side. There are moments when the hooks and verses work but more than often the songs become a struggle to listen because of the "cook for 2 minutes and add water" style beats that remind me of instant noodles when i'm too tired to cook myself a gourmet meal (which was probably the thoughts in the producers heads when they did this album as well). The beats are not only from poor to average at best but the chemistry between the producers and the artist himself have failed big time. Language barrier or not Bigzams flow and delivery does not suit the production half of the time and the album makes you feel like it consists of freestyles that don't really go hand in hand with the beat plus a few catchy hooks. Some of the the productions are really so horribly done that i could make a bet that i could make better with 1 week worth of practise with Warren G instructing me. Westside Far Eastside also comes equipped with 4 bonus tracks that sadly are better than the rest of the album (well at least tracks 14, 16 and 17) which were all recorded before the other material. The vocal arrangement job is bad too and the raps usually start at ackward moments half a second after the beat first kicks in which makes it very hard to get into the song. Word of advice to people wondering, do not think this album in any way reflects japanese g-funk because the whole release is american produced and just happens to have a japanese mc on all the tracks. What is weird is the amount of flaws in everything this album has to offer even though the album had big production values and G-funk legends working on it. The replay value is non-existant almost because every time you insert the cd you wish that something would be different about the songs, more polished and equipped with more overall thought. With the way things are now the album sounds like a 75 minute release with most of it being filler tracks even though the album is really under 60 mins in length. By no means is the album extremely horrible but don't expect to hear anything you haven't heard already and i definitely wouldn't recommend this album to anyone except the most hardcore Bigzam fans however few they may be. Every man is entitled to dream of being a gangsta i guess but this trip to America was a waste of time and money. Since we're talking about Konami here i'd compare this album to buying the latest beatmania game from them which is the same as it's 100 prequels before only with new colors on the cover of the cd. Words By : Jesse Viinikainen |
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02. Gangsta Flavor 