Now residing in sunny Los Angeles, Roscoe (not to be confused with Rasco of Cali Agents fame) is a credible street emcee from the streets of ‘Brotherly Love,’ and also the younger brother of rapper Kurupt. On his debut LP, where most of the production is steered by Organized Noize, there is a tri-coastal feel – an East Coast lyrical flow at times, with a West Coast gangster attitude and a trunk of hefty bass from the South. Raising the energy level is “I Call Shotz,” a hard-hitting vocal onslaught of Roscoe’s teenage youth furiously aiming and sparking thoughts onto wax. Actually the original is “I Call Shotz (part II),” a song first recorded for his brother’s Tha Streetz Iz a Mutha (in 1999), but this redone version out-blasts the original with supreme power and new production.
Roscoe’s love for the West Coast hood culture of hitting switches, Crenshaw Blvd cruising and old Chevys is a constant throughout. His heavy influences from 2 Pac and his evidently similar style on ‘It’s That Time Again” and “Get Ready;” both pushing typical funk-swinging grooves, show a youngster from a new generation of emcees who isn’t concerned about which coast he’s from, or resides on. Instead, he proudly explores the positive, catchy and compelling trends from the East Coast to the West Coast. On “Get Ready” and “Last Night,” the melodies are definitely the most distinctive on the album, and judging by Roscoe’s comfort in rapping alongside these R&B-tinged tracks, let’s hope he doesn’t fall victim to that easy format of hip-pop that quickly climbs up the Billboard charts.
The task of really getting into this album is also somewhat of a hard one as well. The skits are far from imaginative or for that matter, original. Some tracks, like “Shakedown” and “G-Fide,” are crashing the bass and beats so loudly that by the time Roscoe’s boasting rhymes enter and intensify the Richter Scale, you’ll be taking deep breaths to avoid getting a migraine. However, if one had to rate him for the confidence many so-called emcees lack on the mic, he is comparable to any other at the top of their game. On “What I Look Like,” his demonstration is a dangerous warning to anyone who opposes, and at the same time a perfect magnet for fans looking for a new, raw emcee who in his first album attempt shows the brashness of a veteran.
