Bronze Nazareth – School For the Blindman

    The ranks of the Wu-Affiliates have run the gamut from hype-men and weed carriers to established artists and promising younger acts. Part of the latter category, Bronze Nazareth came on board around five years ago and quickly established his value to the group both as a rapper and producer. Coming from Michigan instead of New York, Nazareth brought a different set of influences while still keeping with tradition. Now on his fifth album, School for the Blindman, Bronze continues to hold it down for The W. But in a way, he also highlights why it may be time to move on.

    While Nazareth doesn’t go out of his way to emulate early classics, School for the Blindman does a suitable job feeling like a legitimate Wu release. The rough drums and scraps of soul records that make up “King of Queens” could just as easily feature Ghostface, but Nazareth’s intricate rhymes fit the atmosphere perfectly and have their own identity. When the veterans do show up—like on “Fresh from the Morgue” with RZA—Nazareth sounds confident and natural, even managing to outshine Canibus on “The Bronzeman 2.”

    Bronze Nazareth handles the bulk of the production work, so the album feels cohesive despite the tracklist running a bit long due to its many interludes. This is probably better than going too broad, but eventually, that cohesion becomes a bit too tight and the individual tracks blend together. “Fire Implanters” brightens things up a bit early on, but most other tracks are the darker, gritty beats you expect.

    There’s a clear effort put into the project, but it still ends up sounding a bit dated. Nazareth solidly applies the Wu formula, but not in any way that we haven’t heard before. It’s decidedly “’90s” (right down to the abundance of skits and interludes) but more as a side-effect than a tribute. “Gomorrah” and “The Letter” stand out because of their clear subject matter, but much of the album’s latter half is ultimately forgettable.

    Bronze Nazareth performs his duties as a late-era Wu-Tang affiliate well, and frankly, seems to be putting more effort into carrying the flag than several of the core members at the moment. Nevertheless, times have changed and it would be nice to see what he would be capable of if he were more willing to branch out a bit rather than carry on other rappers’ legacies. It’s nice to hear good Wu-Tang tracks still being made in 2011, but it could be better to hear some Bronze Nazareth tracks in 2012.

    77 thoughts on “Bronze Nazareth – School For the Blindman

    1. album is dope 5/5, fuck yall mainsteam bubble gum bullshit, the wu sound is the best sound, this website can eat a dick

    2. what the fuck??? This a 4 stars at least!!
      Starting to think that this site is better at rating pop albums then real hip hop

    3. WTF! This dude is WACK and doesn’t know what the hell he talking bout 3 stars! You know what though I used to always check out websites like this one to get a review before I bout some shit, now, I just listen to the samples and make my own decision cause everyone ears different. I got Bronze Great Migration and this joint is better than that! It’s at least a 4 probably a 4.5 according to my see.

    4. 3 stars sounds about right. Some decent beats, average rapping. Bronze is a snooze fest on the mic. Painfully boring. A lot of the beats sound the same, nothing special. I think this guy would be better off dropping compilations featuring other emcees. Literally nothing redeeming about his voice, flow, or style. Super flat.

    5. My question is…why haven’t they reviewed Cats and Dogs By Evidence it’s been out for two days now, idiots. Also stop posting pop shit on on the singles area…change your the name of the website if your gonna do that, it’s called Hip Hop Dx after all.

      1. hip hop is dead bro.

        thats why dx has to post amber rose gossip, mac miller news, and album sales. music is a secondary interest to these crack babies claiming rap today. the site is getting awful, i have to weed through 100’s of stories i could care less about to see some good shit hidden in the cracks.

      2. @ DX Fam a lame

        Ya’ll “underground” is ass!! Ya’ll ride all the wack industry underground, I guess payola is still alive huh? (mcdonald’s and video game ads?? FAAAAAR From UNDERGROUND. In Fact far from hip hop period. Ya’ll lame.
        XXL is lame.
        hiphopdx is lame.
        allhiphop is Lame.
        2dopeboyz is lame.
        Okayplayer is lame.

        All ya’ll push is wack industry inspired hip hop. FUCK THAT THAT AIN’T HIP HOP.

    6. dont mean to hate on this album, but why the fuck havent you reviewed phonte or evidence’s albums yet but you got this shit up here

    7. WTF @hiphopdx. I guess you guys really don’t know shit! I Just read the reviews for 9th Wonder and Daily Bread. Same thing they shit all over on this Bronze album, they praise 9TH & Apollo Brown for. No consistency in their reviews.

    8. 4th Down. Worship. The Road. Farewell. Sounds like thornton didnt even listen to the whole album. No mention of the best songs?

    9. Great Migration was unexpected and on point lyrically and production wise. School for the Blindman……less of the off beat slow drums. Some of the samples were tight, but the drum beats sounded TOO MUCH like Rza.

    10. I haven’t heard the whole album yet, but the Bronzeman 2 is insane. The beat is ridic. Classic wu signature sound. I can bang that shit all day.

    11. By the way, this review is off point. The second half of the album is forgettable?? Maybe you skipped these joints: Records We Used to Play, Reggie, Worship.

    12. “Nazareth solidly applies the Wu formula, but not in any way that we haven’t heard before. It’s decidedly “’90s””
      Sorry when was the golden era of rap? there are some forgettable tracks and doesnt rate with the top 10 Wu albums but what can? this is a VERY solid release and 3 stars is disgraceful review.

    13. so people can listen to joints like farewell, cold summer, worship, reggie, records we used to play, letters and say “meh, thats weak”? hmmm, maybe the niki minaj album is more your style.

    14. Great album! I’ve been listening to it all week mixed in with the Great Migration. Thanks to the Bronze Man for making QUALITY hip-hop! My ears appreciate it. Suuuuu

    15. easily Album of the year!
      (along with the Tmbo King joint, which is also part of Bronze’s work!)

      Same ol Wu sound – Since when has Wu made a sound like that, SHOW ME!

    16. Can’t agree with this review in any way. Album is classic material and everything Bronze shared with me and everyone in his interview here he showed and proved.
      Peace, Sunez

    17. Honestly the best hip-hop album so far this year. Production-wise, everything is classic and lyrically, everything is progressive. A beautiful thing.

    18. I don’t know what kind of rating 3/5 is for an album that deserves so much more than that…what a shame…

    19. did the reviewer grab the wrong album? this album is CLASSIC. Put obvious work and Actual effort in his rhymes…SMH @Alex Thronton. Maybe you should do lady gaga reviews.

    20. If the reviewer favourite sound is more like
      a Nicki or Big Sean then how can we take his review seriously. Bronze is keeping that Wu sound alive why should he go another route, fuck branchin out we love this to death
      Promote real hip hop by checking it out by yourself and if its good just buy it.

    21. Classic. If you have all the comments saying the same thing, and HipHopDX saying its not that tight, then its a straight classic.

    22. PICTURES…BRONZEMEN 2….FUCKING SHITS ON ANY SONGS OUT RIGHT NOW….the albums hot…it will take some people a minute to understand him but once you do youll be like damn…he ripped it…good shit bronze

    23. Yall must be trippin with this review. My brother Bronze album is fire. No filler whatsoever. Front to back WU Wise Bangas. Every emcee brought they A Game, cuz Bronze gave them A Plus beats. Bronze is the new RZA. WU Tang go to producer. This a 5 mic masterpiece

    24. DOPE!!!! Watch this man blossom. Music gets better and better. He had some fire on that Great Migration too, but this one is damn near all the way through DOPE. Only skipping a few.

    25. Bronze iz a MASTER! S/O to my man for putting his SOUL into his craft and makin a BANGER!!! Lyrics are on point, production iz sick, concepts are raw… My brotha understands how to make an “album”. Peace & Respect to U fam. Congrats on a great addition to hip hop. This will carry me thru a cold Michigan winter. 5-Stat fasho. Runin in front of the Grim Reaper…. U ahead of ya time. 5-Star of Dezert Eez & The Almighty.

    26. Do u fools listen to music or do u just skim thru it!!! DX smh! This is a brilliant album!! Production alone gets 5star

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