Jedi Mind Tricks - Visions of Gandhi (2003)

Some people have said that Gandhi was actually a horrible person but I don't know anything about that. Maybe the next time I'm fucked up on sleeping pills I'll read up all about it and become a walking Wikipedia page for him, but I doubt it.

Remember the guy that was a huge part in making the last album awesome, Jus Allah? Yeah, he ain't here anymore. Everyone will give conflicting stories of what happened, but all that matters is that he's not on this album and that sucks ass for two reasons: One of which being the obvious that the arguably best part of "Violent By Design" isn't here to bring the group into further and greater heights, but also that you're getting a SHITLOAD MORE Vinnie Paz in the process, which isn't bad, but it's weird, because if you compare him to his style on the previous album, where he was a hateful son of a bitch in the same vein as early Eminem and Wu-Tang Clan, he's almost like a cartoon character on this album: A cartoon character that seems almost like a parody of Vinnie Paz himself and is constantly screaming out homophobic insults at an invisible battle-rap enemy, or maybe Vinnie Paz is just REALLY FUCKING MAD at me for some reason, making me generally get more excited over the idea of the features on the tracks, notably including Ill Bill, Canibus, and even Kool G Rap to help him carry the album's weight.

That being said, 2/3rd of the "Violent By Design" line-up is still here, and that includes the excellent producer Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind, whose music production on the previous album I described as sounding like as if RZA of Wu-Tang Clan fame and a cyborg had a baby, but here? HOLY SHIT!! THE DUDE STEPPED HIS GAME UP!! He seems to still have his first-love for raw, underground hip-hop, but the dude developed a crush on orchestral, classical, and Italian music since the previous album. The way "Blood In, Blood Out" starts out as an acoustic guitar piece before turning into some weird shit you wouldn't expect anyone to rap over is pretty crazy, the oddly 2000s action movie vibe of "The Wolf (Feat. Ill Bill & Sabac Red of Non-Phixion)" that wouldn't sound out of place instrumentally on a Deus Ex soundtrack, and don't even fucking get me started on "A Storm of Swords (Feat. Planetary of Outerspace)" which is oddly gorgeous and intricate but has a GREAT swing to it, and even has a third verse reminiscent of the classic third verse of "Heavenly Divine", with Planetary and Vinnie Paz trading off constantly in it. THAT'S SOME GOOD SHIT. This is a track you leave on repeat until your dad tells you "turn that (...) music off!" and you have to do it because he bought you an Xbox a few years ago.

So as I was saying, the production is generally gorgeous, lively, colorful, and very cultural in a respectful way that shows a lot of love for the source material that it samples, to the point where the album, much like many of the albums that Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind has produced, very well could've stood on its own two legs as an instrumental album, but there's just.. A bit of a problem, or multiple problems: Stoupe's production and Vinnie Paz's rapping don't always mesh as well as you'd hope. You can't pretend to be some hard gangsta over the happy, Cuban (?) beat of "Walk With Me (Feat. The Rhyme Inspector Percee-P)" when the lyrical content and how it's delivered sounds like the 180 of the instrumental. This can be said about several tracks on the album, and makes you wonder if there was any humor about it to be found in the studio, or hell, even resentment from Stoupe like "I FUCKING SPENT SO MUCH TIME ON THIS BEAT AND HE'S JUST CALLING PEOPLE FAGGOTS OVER IT" while he does that Dragon Ball Z thing of clenching your fist so hard it bleeds. Still, it's interesting, even if it's a bit awkward at times.

Not as good as "Violent By Design" but with this album, they were essentially learning how to walk with one leg missing, and that's very respectable, and the album has some even more exciting moments on it, but when it sounds like Stoupe and Vinnie Paz are fighting each other musically, it can be hard to not gravitate back towards "Violent By Design", Jus Allah or not.

7/10
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