Not many producers manage to hold their own as lyricists, and if they do, it only seems to be for one or two tracks. Take the example of Pharrell Williams – possibly the only good verse he’s ever dropped was on Drop It Like It’s Hot…which he himself produced so it pretty much goes without saying, most producers should stay away from the mic.
JR Writer, the man behind the biggest beats not only for Dipset, but many other major artists in the industry, is, yet at the same time is not, one of these. He has proven with the release of this mixtape-style album, Writer’s Block Vol. 5, that he has the potential to lyrically stand among the very rappers he produces beats for.
Writer lyrically jumps straight into the furnace from the jump-off. On the intro track he displays raw lyrical skill over a beat containing a sample from one of the themes used in The Karate Kid Pt.2. While the flow is simple, this track is packed with some hard-hitting lines such as “It’s like throwing his album in space/It ain’t gonna never drop” and“ Toilet tissue in the booth because I shit on the track”.
An epic beat which any MC would die to cop the instrumental of (even though it was produced by Spectacular, not JR himself), with many lyrical highlights, this is a great start to the mixtape. Unfortunately, this is not something which is maintained throughout. This can be seen in tracks like Runner, which feels like an extremely half-assed beat assisted by rather mediocre lyrics (probably the only entertaining thing about this easily skippable track is the sample sound of the Road Runner).
Another example is Heavy Jewelz, which is seriously not something that Hip Hop needs right now since there is so much of it, and it just proves Common correct when he says “So many raps about rims/surprise ni**as ain’t become tires.”
The album suffers greatly from how repetitive the themes are. Whilst the lyrics do pack a 'punch' with every punch line, you can’t help but get déjà vu with each cut you listen to. In addition, you can definitely hear the influence he has copped from the other Dipset rappers, but especially Cam’Ron.
The other feature of this album which may be considered by some as positive, is that he only produced one of the 14 tracks on this release. The negative is that you get the feel that he might’ve lazed off on this project, but the positive is that the substitute producers (mostly Spectacular who does the majority of tracks) are more than sufficient in what they do.
Altogether, the album is very listenable with highlights such as the Intro, We Gettin’ It Baby and They Don’t Really Want It, yet the generic tracks such as Heavy Jewelz and Make a Move (which features Slim of 112), although the latter is strictly club material.
Generally, Writer maintains a basic flow on each track, which does not help in making it less repetitive. It would have also possibly inspired him to switch up his content more often had he been spittin’ over his own beats. However, if you have yourself a great sound system, and enjoy taking a cruise at night playing whatever music as long as it’s (at least borderline) music, then highly consider this if you want to the bass to bring an earthquake to your block.
Available through Baby Grande Records
