Click here to view all of Benz0's reviews

JR Writer Album Review: WRITER’S BLOCK 4

“Trying to find the real reason why they say hiphop’s dead [cause] I’m still breathing….” – JR Writer, “Freestyle”.

“Hiphop is dead”?? Benz0 says Bull$%#@. Whoever says hiphop is dead has never heard 40 Cal’s “BROKEN SAFETY album. Whoever says hiphop is dead has never heard a Hell Rell verse (His album FOR THE HELL OF IT coming soon). And whoever says hiphop is dead has DEFINITELY never heard a Writer’s Block Album authored by the “Writer of Writer’s” JR Writer. Here’s some trivia for you. What album is the ONLY rap album reviewed by Benz0 that you couldn’t buy at a national record store? Answer: WRITER’S BLOCK 2 by JR Writer reviewed June 22nd, 2005. WRITER’S BLOCK 2 wasn’t released nationally but it represented the rawest form of hip hop that I adore. So much so that I personally was sending copies of that album to anyone who would take one. Mind blowing stuff. Remember this line by JR on that album? “A playa with a DEAF game, I hit a ho with sign language…walk in the [club], flossin n’ s$$$, point to a chic, point to the door, then point to the whip, [then what?], open the door, point her to sit, Drive off, point to her lips, then point to my d$$$...”. Whoa!! WRITER’S BLOCK 2 basically put the typical underground artist (usually all lyrics with no beats or swagger) out of business.

Here’s an underground album in WRITER’S BLOCK 2 that was better than 98% of hiphop albums in national record stores. I mean what do you do if you’re a local underground artist trying to sell CD’s at the park talking about “Yo, I’m real hiphop, I’m underground, support me” and a kid comes up to you with his IPOD to let you hear the REAL underground s$$$ in WRITER’S BLOCK 2 that has beats you could only dream of getting? Straight up. The Writer’s Block series puts the whole underground scene on notice and just lets the starving artist know that he’s gonna keep on starving if he doesn’t step his game up. Hiphop ain’t dead man. Hiphop has elevated to the point where an underground artist can care so much about their art that they’ll put out underground albums that CONSISTENTLY are greater than almost anything out there that you can buy in stores. Case in point is JR Writer’s newest release in WRITER’S BLOCK 4. The only difference with this album is that now you can ACTUALLY BUY THIS ALBUM AT NATIONAL RECORD STORES LIKE BEST BUY! Trust me kiddies when I say you need to stop reading this article and not only cop WRITER’S BLOCK 4 at Best Buy but scour the internet for WRITER’S BLOCK 3. WRITER’S BLOCK 3 JUST MIGHT BE THE BEST WRITER’S BLOCK ALBUM TO DATE!. Any album that starts out with a song quoting the wildest Mike Tyson quote ever “I’m the best ever…there’s no one that can match me..My style is impetuous, my defense is impregnable, and I’m just FEROCIOUS, I want your heart, I WANT TO EAT YOUR CHILDREN!!!, PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!!...” has got to be a tight album!!!

Then when you cop Part III hit Benz0 up and I’ll tell you where to get WRITER’S BLOCK 2. I know, I know. I sound like I’m part of the Dipset street team right? Nah man. I’m the most dangerous journalist in hiphop cause I don’t write for money. In fact I don’t get paid ONE RED CENT. I WRITE FOR FREE simply for the love of hiphop, MY FIRST LOVE! What folks don’t know is I make over 6 digits and counting already in my day job. That’s why any publication featuring a Benz0 article is a real media outlet cause they know they can’t control me. I write what I want to write about and diss or praise anyone who deserves it. You can’t buy Benz0 cause he’s just as paid as these artists he writes about. I mean what are my editors really gonna do? Fire me? Hahahahahaha!!!! I’m a wack/average artist’s worst nightmare. I truly write from the heart and these Writer’s Block series of albums are what keeps me listening to hiphop non-stop these days. Before I forget though let’s go ahead and dissect JR’s latest offering: WRITER’S BLOCK 4.

Right from the jump Track 1, “Live From the Kitchen”, keeps that Writer’s Block legendary flavor going as JR jumps right into a lyrical attack and seconds later the ROCKY theme pops up and then you know it’s ON AND POPPIN BABY!!!...”Backstab you for the ROCK quicker than HOV..” (get it) is spit by JR in like the first few seconds of the song. Yeah that’s JR man. 40 Cal gives you a punch line about every 5 seconds, JR gives you a punch line about every 6 seconds. Then on “Critically Acclaimed” he lets us hear an audience clapping cause that’s “the only way you’ll hear somebody clap at [him]”. “I’m A Hustler” flows next and JR’s rimmed up car wheels are so skinny that the “shoes look like [he] done ran down the soles…”. And yep a lot of folks ain’t even up on the style of JR so he reps on “You Don’t Know Me” and let’s them all know any of his tracks can be hits as “Get Em” fries your brain. Straight up “Get Em’ can be a hit for him but for reasons unknown Dipset just never puts JR out correctly. EVERY album he’s ever made has hardcore hits that could cross over. “Get Em” is just pure fire that would wreck any club as producer Spectacular just laces JR with the hot track.

Things warm up even more when “The hardest out” aka Rueger Rell aka Hell Rell makes a cameo on “Switch It Up” which is another monster hit waiting to happen. Look I’m telling you JR doesn’t mess around. This dude is not only an underground savior but with the right promotion he could easily rock the clubs with a hit single every other month on the national scene. “Switch It Up” is just as good as any corny commercial Juelz Santana song except it never loses it’s hardcore edge. Peep Hell Rell’s rugged lyrics “Meanwhile at the condo duplex, I run through the heffer and holla WHO’S NEXT?, hey yo Writer lets charter a few jets, bring these b$$$$es to the island [and] have tropical sex, I bring the Porsche out, show ‘em how the coup-er rolls, pour Cris[tal] on these b$$$$es like they won the Super Bowl.”. Rewind that!!!...’Pour Cris[tal[ on these b$$$$es like THEY WON THE SUPER BOWL!!!”. Da$n man. Game over…Most of y’all probably don’t know who Hell Rell is but you’ll know soon enough. I got like at least 68 Hell Rell songs on heavy rotation in my IPOD that ain’t even released nationally yet. He’s definitely “the hardest out”. Those with computers Limewire him to see what I mean.

“What Set You Claim” is not only Track 8 on this album but a question you gotta ask yourself when you’re going up against the deepest crew in hiphop today which is Dipset. I mean the craziest thing is that the 2 weakest members of Dipset (Juelz Santana and Jim Jones) actually sell the most records in the crew these days while lions like JR, 40 Cal and Hell Rell still are somewhat anonymous to the brainless masses out there. Imagine when the latter 3 catch fire nationally. Speaking of 40 Cal. Mr. Fight Klub collaborates with JR to form the climax on the album in “Overdrive”.

Peep 40’s lyrics – “When I’m in the spot they say it’s a flood, you’d think I roll with Indians the way it rains in the club..20’s, 50’s, big Benjy’s ($100) and 10G’s official, [meanwhile] you’re throwing out singles ($1) y’all ni$$az making it DRIZZLE…Whole city behind me like my network’s VERIZON...40!!!”. Yes sir folks. Meet the new underground rapper. Lyrics, swagger, and beats. 40, JR and Hell Rell have officially put the underground artist out of business. So much so that when my editors send me your albums to review “I play Duke Da God and treat your albums like Frisbees”. Straight up man. If you’re a local artist step your game up man. Cop Hell Rell and JR Writer’s mixtape called “GOT THE BLOCK LOCKED”. If your stuff can’t beat that then don’t even send me your album you wack a$$ artist.

The supreme underground hits continue with “Back In The Lab”, “Kill Em Every Time”, and “Cover Shot”. To show you how crazy tight this album is all three of these songs exhibit different flavors that are just mind-blowing. “Back in the Lab” has that old school “golden age of rap” feel. “Kill Em Every Time” has that Keith Murphy and Eric Sermon “Hostile” type feel, and “Cover Shot” has that Outkast, Aquemini, Rock N Roll type feel. “Freestyle” means more crazy questions like “You might see me on the block with your moms on Lennox, Is this still a drop if I’m getting TOPPED off in it?”..You couldn’t bring New York back if you were Flavor Flav..get it?”.

The album ends with one more hardcore salute in “In My Zone” and has JR proclaiming his perseverance in “I Gotta Make It”. Yo seriously y’all. There’s really no words that can express how grateful I am that there are still hiphop artists out there like JR that truly put not only their heart and mind into their art but also go the extra mile to enlist the help of genius musical producers. JR puts his all in every Writer’s Block album and lets the chips fall where they may. Even my manz Zack Mitchell aka Big Zack aka Drunkman who’s loved hiphop just as much as anyone told me “Hiphop may be dead” recently but this is what I told him - “Nah man, hiphop ain’t dead, folks just ain’t up on the real flavor that’s out there…”. Flavor like JR, 40 Cal and Hell Rell. But it’s not just them.

You got E-40 and the Bay area crew innovating, the South still putting out that raw, Nas and Brother J of X-Clan fame still representing greatness and you got the next Rakhim right now riding a 5th grade school bus writing rhymes in his little notebook who is gonna blow every predecessor out the water when he comes of age cause hiphop will never die even if it stops selling. Hiphop is more than a genre and far from a fad. It’s a way of life for us and a voice box of the ghetto. My sister Cynthia Benjamin’s children and their children after them will have something to say in the future and hiphop will be that vehicle that allows their words to be immortalized forever. All my hardcore hiphop heads y’all gotta support the artists that keep it lyrical like JR but especially JR cause Dipset has the BEST beats in hiphop and EVERY beat on this album is tight similar to 40 Cal’s BROKEN SAFETY album. So go out right now to Best Buy or your favorite hiphop shop and cop WRITER’S BLOCK 4. The first Writer’s Block album that can be bought nationally. Bout time man.

Benz0
Contact Benz0: BenzWritings@Hotmail.com