RapReviews.com forced to remove negative album review.

Date: 3 Jul 2003 01:14:36 -0700
Newsgroups: rec.music.hip-hop
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This was just posted at RapReviews.com:
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It's recently come to my attention that members of the record label My
Life Entertainment were unhappy with a review written by ex-staff
member Jayson Young. We understand they feel the review was
unsatisfactory given it didn't take into consideration the factors the
young man who authored the album growing up experienced, and at their
request we took down the review. However, we at RapReviews.com feel
it's the public's right to know that even though we would have honored
this request regardless, the label has chosen to use "scare tactics"
to express their dissatisfaction. This is ironic given the bio for one
of the groups on their record label clearly reads that "We search for
peace amongst our people, knowing that this is the first step towards
unity and peace between all races and religions." Clearly, their
actions are not what one would call peaceful.
The webmaster of this site would like potential artists who submit
albums for review to know that if they are unsatisfied with a review,
we are glad to discuss the issue in a civilized way and take steps if
necessary such as removing the review - hopefully as a last resort. We
can accomodate such a request, but what we will not accomodate is some
Wyclef style Source shit where people threaten editors, families, and
homes. RapReviews.com doesn't handle shit "in the streets" because
quite frankly, this website isn't IN the streets - it's online. As
such we have no interest in discussing issues with people who don't
feel that removing an unfavorable review is satisfactory enough.
White, black, asian, hispanic or otherwise, this is not the behavior
of people in search of "peace between all races and religions."
To state it clearly, this is the policy of RapReviews.com regarding
all submissions:
1. We will review albums at the solicitation of artists who send them
to the website. Some will be reviewed by the editor of the site, some
will be reviewed by contributors to the site.
2. We gladly accept constructive feedback on a review where the writer
may have misunderstood the artist. If a dispute can't be resolved, the
option to remove the review can be exercised by request.
3. We will not respond to terroristic threats. Local law enforcement
will be notified in any situation involving intimidation of the editor
of this website, any contributor to it, or any of their families.
4. If you disagree with the review policies of this website, you are
free not to submit your album for review in the first place. You take
the chance that if the writer doesn't like your album, they'll say so.
We encourage these men of "peace between all races and religions" to
reconsider their attitude and the hypocrisy between their words and
their deeds and choose a more suitable course of action. To reiterate,
RapReviews.com has removed the review of the artist in question, and
we will not be reviewing any subsequent albums from My Life in the
future. Whether praying to Allah or God we hope they'll ask
forgiveness for their sins and try harder to live up to their credo of
peace.
Regards,
Steve 'Flash' Juon
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In case you're wondering what the review in question is, its
"Testimonies of Life" by Stylie Ray. Here's a copy of the review:
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A while back, Steve Juon reviewed the KRS-One album, "Spiritual
Minded" for rapreviews.com. Any of you that haven't read that review
yet are encouraged to, because it will serve as a bit of a companion
piece to my review of Stylie Ray's "Testimonies of Life." In talking
about "Spiritual Minded," Steve made a very accurate observation: for
the most part -- the sub-genre known as "gospel rap" is very weak and
hard to take seriously. I agree with Steve that KRS' latest album
stood head and shoulders above that crowd, and not only because of its
excellent production and obviously top-notch rhymes. What really
surprised people about "Spiritual Minded" was the way it managed to
spread the Word of God without sounding corny or getting twisted up in
stupid gangster shit.
So what does this have to do with Stylie Ray? Well, "Testimonies of
Life," like "Spiritual Minded," is definitely something that most
would call a "gospel rap" album. Unfortunately, that is where the
similarities between the two end, because on "Testimonies," Stylie Ray
manages not only to sound corny, but also get twisted up in all KINDS
of stupid, thugged-out, gangster shit. Now, let me clear things up a
bit. I am by no means opposed to thugged-out gangster shit. Some of my
favorite hip-hop of all time could be classified that way. I am,
however, opposed to corniness of any kind. Because of this, I found
little to like about "Testimonies of Life."
On this album, Stylie and his cohorts don't seem to have any kind of
focus. They go from inspirational, almost preachy tunes to hardcore,
violence-laced tracks without any explanation. This contributes to
some very disjointed and puzzling listening for anyone daring enough
to listen to the entire album front to back. Besides lacking focus,
"Testimonies of Life" seems to also be devoid of any creativity when
it comes to song titles. With names like "Ride Wit Me", "Keep it
Real", "Don't Give Up", and "Surrender" (among several others), I
wonder why Stylie didn't at least TRY to come up with something
original. That type of shit bugs me.
Another of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to rap music is MCs
that have more braggadocio than skills. Stylie Ray is one of those
MCs. It's not that he's untalented, though; he does show some
competence (albeit infrequently). He's got a voice that reminds me of
a watered-down Cormega and a style that has CLEARLY been influenced by
Tupac. But he doesn't come close to the level of either of them,
especially 'Pac (RIP), who he jocks without apology. With a weak,
inconsistent flow, and an unconfident tone that presides, Stylie needs
more practice. And sadly, he is outshone by every one of the guest
rappers on this disc, and there are plenty of them.
The only big name on the disc is Spice 1, but I was much more
impressed by Cindo Reel, who shows up on five different tracks.
Bubblishiz is also kinda nice on the mic, but saying Cindo Reel stole
this show would be a HUGE understatement. This cat has some serious
potential, and I'd like to hear more of him. If he put an album
together, it would definitely be on my wish list. In fact, if there's
one good reason to check out "Testimonies of Life," it's Cindo Reel.
But if Cindo did decide to put out an album, I hope he would be smart
enough to find some new producers to work with. The list of offenders
on the production side of "Testimonies" is a long one, but the only
producers who manage to craft a decent beat are something called Focus
4 a-FOC.aliptic MusicWorks on the track, "Keep it Real." It's got some
heavy-ass low bass and a surprisingly jazzy feel for this "gangster"
album. I'm tempted to say it's the only beat on here that is even
tolerable, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate (although everything
else sounds like a terrible Dr. Dre ripoff from a night when he was
drunk behind the boards). And if you have the need to hear one of the
worst, wackest beats of all time, listen to "Surrender." Listening to
it, I feel like I'm in a fucking elevator. It's that laughable.
Another confusing and infuriating aspect of the album are the horrible
interludes. There are two, and they both feature an aimless Stylie Ray
talking shit about how skilled he is and how he doesn't give a fuck
what y'all think. He's backed by some low-quality synth beats on each
of them, but outrageously, the two interludes combine to make more
than FIVE MINUTES of bullshit. What was the point of this?!? Actually,
come to think of it, 95% of the shit on this CD would be considered
filler material on almost anyone else's album. The ultimate joke on
"Tesimonies of Life" though comes when Stylie Ray claims that he is
"ahead of his time," and that he'll be "on your radio real soon." For
the sake of the music that I love, I hope he is wrong about that.
Please, avoid this album.
Music Vibes: 2 of 10 Lyric Vibes: 3 of 10 TOTAL Vibes: 2.5 of 10
Originally posted: March 12, 2002
source: http://www.rapreviews.com/
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I think Flash should have stuck to his guns on this one. Fuck those
homo-thug, wanna-be-gospel-gangsta assholes.