Customer Rating:      Summary: Violent J - "Wizard Of The Hood EP" (5 stars) Comment: In 2002, Violent J from the legendary underground rap duo the Insane Clown Posse, took some time away from the tales from the Dark Carnival, to release this 11 track solo debut EP, and it is magical.
Violent J continues to prove he's one of rap's best storytellers, in which each track (with the exception of "Axes Swingin'" and "Multiple Myselves", which are bonus tracks), he tells a different chapter of his story. The plot of the story is, J gets lost in a weird fantasy land after a horrid storm, and he must get to the Wizard so he can get back home to Detroit.
Along the way, J runs into The Scarecrow (Monoxide), The Tin-Man (Jamie Madrox), The Lion (Blaze Ya Dead Homie), The Gatekeeper (Anybody Killa) and finally The Wizard (Shaggy 2 Dope), I'm not gonna go into much detail of the story, I don't wanna spoil it. But to put it in prospective, this is basically the ghetto version of the classic film "The Wizard Of Oz".
Violent J's raps here are amazing. He flows very well to the beats, he stays relevent to the storytelling and doesn't wonder off of the plot. He has his lyrics very well planned out and executed brilliantly throughout the entire album. He also sings here a small bit, and it's great, but his rapping takes over his singing.
The beats here are consistant to the plot of the story, which adds on heavily. The album is produced by Violent J and Mike P, who adds some great acoustic guitar licks here and there in the album. But most of the production is heavily into the "Wizard Of Oz" theme. Including happy-go-lucky loops and soft drum beats. And all is done perfectly.
Here's my individual track ratings.
01. "Intro" (N/A)
02. "Let It Rain" (A)
03. "Yellow Brick Alleyway (ft. Legs Diamond)" (A+)
04. "Homies 2 Smoke With (ft. Monoxide)" (A+)
05. "Thug Whilin' (ft. Jamie Madrox)" (A+)
06. "Horribly Horrifying (ft. Blaze Ya Dead Homie)" (A)
07. "What U Thinkin' About? (ft. Twiztid & Blaze Ya Dead Homie)" (B-) (least favorite)
08. "Shiny Diamonds" (A+)
09. "The Wizard's Palace (ft. Anybody Killa & Shaggy 2 Dope)" (A+) (favorite)
10. "Axes Swingin'" (A+)
11. "Multiple Myselves" (A)
So in conclusion, this album is an outstanding debut solo release from Violent J. It also furthers why he is the greatest storytelling rapper in the underground (possibly of all time). This album is for every rap fan. Of course I recommend this to each and every Juggalo, but if you like (storytelling) hip-hop, then you gotta own this. Peace.
Legs Diamond appears courtesy of Psychopathic Records.
Monoxide appears courtesy of Psychopathic Records.
Jamie Madrox appears courtesy of Psychopathic Records.
Blaze Ya Dead Homie appears courtesy of Psychopathic Records.
Twiztid appears courtesy of Psychopathic Records.
Anybody Killa appears courtesy of Psychopathic Records.
Shaggy 2 Dope appears courtesy of Psychopathic Records.
Customer Rating:      Summary: it was different Comment: than most other icp cds. i bought a used one from here and it was in pretty good condition. it arrived extremely fast.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Good Album Comment: This is a pretty good album, but not as good as i was expecting. Don't get me wrong, this album is really good, but i was just hopeing for more, i guess. Anyway, juggalos will enjoy this album, great story-telling tracks.
MCL.
Jono
Customer Rating:      Summary: Not that great. Comment: The story on this is great and some of the songs are kinda catchy, but this album just falls flat to me. I've never been a fan of Mike P. and his production just brings this whole thing down. Like I said, some of the songs are kinda catchy, but other than the first song, none of them are actually good. Shaggy, Twiztid and Blaze make some good guest appearance's as spin offs of the classic Wizard of Oz characters. Shaggy's new solo is much better, so I suggest picking that up as oppossed to this.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Violent Jay gets 10 out 10 stars on this EP Comment: icp loves dissing eminem but eminem dissesing the clowns back but violent jay ep owns bottom line great cd it owns be sure to check out shaggy 2 dopes new album that comes out february 21 2006 its gonna be awesome be sure to check it out
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