mc chris - knowing is half the hassle (2002)
mc chris is back with yet another album/EP/whatchamacallit full of a few songs and a few skits that you're bound to hit "skip" on with repeated listens, but for different reasons than before. The songs here aren't bad but are pretty cookie-cutter (fitting given that "Cookie Breath" is the name of a song on here!) and don't really leave a lasting impression on me, even after having listened to the album four or so times in a row (given that it, like its predecessor, is so short) I had no urge to grab any of the tracks to throw them into my "shuffle" playlist.
The skits just had me cringing because I expected more from mc chris even this early on in his career. Instead of funny skits, you get three: One where a character (played by mc chris) is bullied and cries, a second one where the bully basically threatens to rape mc chris' character in the restroom at school, and the third one where mc chris' character buys a gun from a kid at school and murders the bully to death before realizing how badly he messed up and apologizes over and over, leading into the final track "Geek" which is pretty much the anthem for whatever dumbass you went to school with who insists "The Big Bang Theory is just blackface for nerds!" because if they say that shit, it's obvious they weren't a history nerd, huh? While I'm asking questions, it's pretty fucked up to basically encourage your fanbase of insecure teenagers with nerdy interests to do such a thing, isn't it?
Sure, you could say "But you like Eminem and don't fault him for saying [insert whatever]!" but the context is entirely different. With Eminem, you know what you're getting, and with mc chris, you mostly know what you're getting: A guy who's probably just like you who just wants to fit in, so when he's basically saying in his skits to get a gun and kill the dude at school who's bullying you, with a distinct, I repeat, a REALLY FUCKIN' DISTINCT lack of humor presented in the skits (they're just dark, no laughs or attempted laughs to really be found aside from a brief one or two in the last skit) it's pretty concerning and is worth noting, especially when the last song, the one I mentioned, "Geek", again makes reference to how you should be nice to geeks or they'll fucking shoot you.
A well-intentioned warning for those who might be bullying kids who are 'off'? Really dark humor? It doesn't really matter, considering the infamous Columbine shooting was just a few years prior, and regardless of what the intention behind the skits were, they didn't rest well with me, and neither did the songs. Funny how I had more to say about just three skits than the mostly mediocre songs, eh?
6/10
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Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!
