Contrary to popular belief, weed carriers serve many a purpose in rap. Outside of carrying umbrellas, catching cases and – in some worst case scenarios – taking bullets, many of these individuals are often called to a higher service on their bosses’ (read: weed owner) albums: an ad lib here, a chorus there, a full sixteen bars if they’re especially lucky. Some may even get a chance at creating their own entire album, as if it were a Christmas bonus from their employer. Unfortunately, the problem with that is when the weed carrier keeps receiving these opportunities and doing absolutely nothing with it, further signifying the general notion that weed carriers should be solely limited to, well, weed carrying.
A perfect example of these audio mistakes is Queensbridge based rapper Big Noyd. Despite a co-sign from Mobb Deep and a multitude of guest slots throughout their extensive catalogue, outside of his infamous (no pun intended) opening line from 1995′ “Give Up The Goods (Just Step) – Yo, it’s the R-A double P-E-R-N-O-Y-D/Ni**as can’t fuck with me!” – the rapper curiously titled after the Dominoe’s Pizza mascot of the 1980s has been unable to capitalize on his opportunities, instead being relegated to the over-bloated “mixtape rapper” status.
While his debut album, Episodes Of A Hustla, went largely overlooked due to a buzz-killing incarceration, Noyd has really not done anything to sustain any momentum with each following album. Now on his fifth release Illustrious, he tries once more to reignite any smidgen of fire, unfortunately producing the same results as his first four efforts.
Beginning with the boring “Snitches,” Noyd comes with the same dated murda muzik that hasn’t had much of an impact in rap since Havoc and Prodigy perfected it in the nineties. The downward spiral continues with the awful crooning of Serani backing the equally shoddy rhymes in “So Much Trouble,” the hilarious threat to Suge Knight any naysayer on the faux-rock “Heartless,” but things get particularly uninteresting when Noyd jumps on tracks with his fellow ganja smuggling brethren, Ric Rude on “It’s A Wrap” and 40 Glocc and B.A.M. on “Trying To Make It Out.”
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While the often subpar beats do little to enhance the album’s monotone flow, Noyd’s limited subject matter (guns, drugs, money and women) doesn’t stray anywhere outside of the same hood mentality displayed throughout his entire career. It also doesn’t help that he hasn’t improved his flow over the years, often getting overpowered by the few good beats (“Things Done Changed,” “The Paper”) or getting out pointed by his own guests (the Joell Ortiz-featured “Ghetto”). Both of these mistakes add up to a disappointing combination.
With its pitiful soundscapes and poor rhymes, Illustrious is yet another strike against the Mobb Deep camp that proves nothing else but to show that weed carriers should really just stick to what they know best rather than ruining their supervisor’s bottom line. Hell, it’s worked for Memphis Bleek and Spliff Star.
