R.A. the Rugged Man - Legends Never Die (2013)
So we're about five albums into his career, and who knows just how many songs and features, and while R.A. has always been interesting as hell with his antics, rapping style, and just how unapologetic he is with his nasty lyrics, but he's suffered from weak beat choices and just generally not knowing how to make very interesting songs, aside from a few classic tracks, making his previous albums feel very disjointed at times, as if just a random collection of songs thrown together for no real rhyme (heh) or reason. Thankfully, "Legends Never Die" doesn't fall to this, in the way that this album's pretty consistently good.
For the first time in R.A.'s career up to this point, it fully feels like despite the fact R.A. still probably hasn't come through with a timeless classic we'll still be circlejerking about in 20 years, this is the most solid and cohesive release he's had yet. R.A. comes out swinging from the intro track "Still Diggin' With Buck" almost like him beating a punching bag, and then "The People's Champ" kicks in like his walk-out music to beat the shit out of other rappers in the ring with his bare fists, stating words that not only hold true for the entire album, but also the entirety of DC Talk's discography: "I kill any beat, murder any track, mutilate the snare, rape the kick-drum and shit on the hi-hat."
R.A.'s flow is absolutely TOP-FUCKING-NOTCH with "Definition of a Rap Flow (Albee 3000) (Feat. Amalle Bruun)" being a prime example of his rapping ability doing gymnastics over the simple but catchy beat, making me feel like if there was ever an actual beef between him and Eminem, the diss tracks between the two would be INSANE. R.A. would be able to go toe-to-toe with Marshall Mathers easily, which, despite what teenagers who used to listen to him religiously will tell you, is still a talented as shit MC, but R.A.'s still in the ring boxing Cage, Eminem, and Necro for the title of "Most Fucked Up White Rapper", and no matter who wins, R.A. ain't goin' down easily.
R.A. is one rugged man! When he spits lyrics such as "Every chick left with a broken ovary when I hit it", "I eat pussy 'til every dyke on the Earth turn straight", and "I'm at the Best Western tossing your girl salad with some French dressing", you'll swear that KJ-52 ghost-wrote the entire album, but nah, just like R.A. states on the track that all of those lyrics are from ("Tom Thum"), "Two of my bars are more lyrical than two of your verses", and dammit, he MEANS IT! He's a creative-as-shit MC to listen to on this album! He can be talking about making the sex inside of a girl's private areas and bring his own signature disgusting nature to it, almost like a car crash you can't look away from.
Even more interesting than the outrageous shit R.A. says is when he breaks away from it to do a serious track, such as "Learn Truth (Feat. Talib Kweli)" which might as well be a blueprint on how to do socially-conscious hip-hop without sounding like a complete "woke" jackass, and the spectacular "Legends Never Die (Daddy's Halo)" in which R.A. talks about his father again (if you haven't heard "Uncommon Valor (A Vietnam Story)", which is about his father's time in Vietnam, first off, what the fuck is wrong with you, and GO LISTEN TO THAT SHIT BEFORE THIS), only this time finishing the story of his father by talking about his entire life leading up to his death of cancer. By the time R.A. finishes his last verse, saying through his actual tears as he loses all composure, "You was my teacher, my idol, I worshipped you, you was the best, daddy... You lived a tough life, now get some rest, daddy." it's apparent that it's pure musical magic expressed with genuine emotion. The entire song is incredible, and R.A.'s immense love and respect for his father cannot be denied.
The problem with the album is basically the same as the others he's put out up to this point: Some great tracks, some "meh" tracks, some "what the hell was he thinking?" tracks like "Luv to Fuk (Feat. Eamon)" and the God-awful "Holla-Loo-Yuh (Feat. Tech N9ne & Krizz Kaliko)" in which the beat is cheesy as fuck, the chorus is cringeworthy, and I SWEAR that R.A. purposely fucked over Tech N9ne on, because Tech's verse is slow as a snail compared to R.A.'s fast one, almost like he recorded his verse after Tech's with the specific intent on one-upping him, but ah well, HE'S A JERK! He brags about it often! Did you expect anything else?!
Who knows if it'll end up becoming a classic album, only time will tell, but it's very memorable for what it is. It may not be -great-, but it's almost nearly consistently good, and even if it's not perfect, if this album is anything to go by, if you come swinging at R.A. then you'd best be ready to get your head chopped off. Perhaps not a clean cut, but trust me when I say it's gonna be slow, painful, and he's probably going to have sex with your corpse afterwards.
7/10
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Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!
