The Bottom Line: Let's see... Kelly Price, Quincy Jones, Ma$e, Whites, Blacks, Latinos, Chino fans, Chino non-fans, Angie Stone, MC Shan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston, Richard Pryor, the Insane Clown Posse…
madtheory's Full Review: I Told You So [PA] by Chino XL
…Magic Johnson, Stephen Spielberg, West Virginians, Biz Markie, Chris Spencer (former host of the now defunct Vibe TV show), convicts, MC Hammer, Jon B, Mariah Carey, Chaka Khan …it just doesn’t matter. Chino XL disses everyone. The thing is, he does it so well and with such humor that it’s become the popular New Jersey rapper’s hallmark. His unique style of battle raps laced with name-dropping and a complete lack of respect for anyone has influenced the rhyme formulas of all that have come after him, including the kid that everyone loves to hate, Eminem.
Last year, Chino XL dropped his first album in five years, titled I Told You So. Appropriately, the cover has the chiseled rapper surrounded by burning coals and open flames, reflecting the blazing lyrics Chino XL spits passionately throughout the album. With I Told You So, no subject is sacred; Chino spits witty verbal abuse almost blindly at his targets, “like Ray Charles with loaded automatics”. Be prepared, a bullet is definitely headed your way.
Track Listing
1. Rude Awakening feat. Azz-iz
2. What You Got
3. History
4. Nunca
5. That Would Be Me
6. Last Laugh feat. B-Real
7. Let ‘Em Live feat. Kool G. Rap
8. Water
9. Baby Momma
10. Sorry feat. Shaunta
11. Chino XL
12. Chinophone, Part One
13. You Don’t Want It
14. Beef
15. Chinophone, Part Two
16. I Told You So
17. Don’t Say a Word
18. Chino Fans
19. It’s My World
20. A**-In-An-Instant feat MaryAnne
21. Chianardo Di Caprio
22. Be Here
23. (Bonus Track)
24. (Bonus Track)
The CD begins with a short, spoken introduction by Azz-iz of the New Jersey rap group, the Outsidaz. Then Chino quickly starts the audio attack with “What You Got”. The synthesized audio is turned up a little too high here and drowns out some of Chino’s rapping, but the intensity of the track helps hype the listener up for the rest of the album. Chino matches the fire of this song very well, freestyling his diss-heavy battle lyrics forcefully. He drops these lyrics on the track:
”At a lynching I smile, cut myself down, murder your guest list /
My style murders and drags like they do black men in Texas /
Next rapper to mention this, I'm a show them the real threat /
Cause I'm a ride till my daughter’s like, ‘Daddy are we there yet?’ /
Ain't no priest in the streets, only drugs perform miracles /
Seen more keys than the lots seen Hammer’s repossessed vehicles /”
After a skit that gives the listener far too lengthy a look into Chino’s past as related by a young boy, your patience is rewarded with “Nunca” , one of the better tracks off the LP. Over a slow, dramatic track with strong orchestral string accompaniment, Chino raps about how he’s never going to fail in the rap game, making sure to diss everyone as he discusses the matter. Then, Chino collaborates with West Coast weed-head B-Real from Cypress Hill on “Last Laugh”. B-Real spits his funky freestyle in his trademarked staccato style, while Chino XL disses everyone in his raps.
Rap legend Kool G. Rap stops in to trade battle rhymes on the energetic synthesized-heavy track, “Let ‘Em Live” . I can’t believe I used to hate the veteran back in his Kool G. Rap and Polo days; it was just that lisp he had would feel like something was grating against my eardrum. Thankfully though, the lisp is mostly gone and the hot lyrics are intact, so he’s definitely becoming one of my favorite emcees. He and Chino dismantle the mic, ripping apart the mediocre rappers in the genre. As to be expected Chino XL disses everyone.
With “Sorry” Chino fans get to see a more human side of the larger-than-life rapper as his lyrics allow him to apologize to the mother of his daughter for his absence and neglect. Femcee Shaunta raps the part of his significant other, doing a pretty nice job with her pained and angry lyrics over the somber track. Actually, Chino starts out apologizing but, surprise surprise, he ends up dissing her near the conclusion of the song.
Chino constantly dissing everyone has earned him his share of conflicts, and he reflects on that (while dissing everyone, of course) on “Beef”. With lines like I’m wack; I’ll just retire and blame it on God. Like Ma$e.” it’s easy to see how Chino XL is “more known for beef than Bad Boy and Death Row.” Towards the end of the CD, Chino takes a much needed break from battling to tell us about how much women love him on “Chianardo Di Caprio” . At first I wasn’t sure how Chino would work dissing everyone into this slightly more R&B-style track dedicated to women, but of course, Chino finds a way.
I’m sorry, did my excessive use of the phrase Chino disses everyone get old and repetitive? That’s strangely appropriate, because Chino XL’s constant use name-dropping and dissing in his battle lyrics gets a little old and repetitive as well. The album is in desperate need of more songs with actual topics instead of a perpetual loop of Chino’s rapid-fire battle rhymes. After a while, you just want to listen to more than clever jabs at Hip-Hop and pop culture icons.
Plus, Chino must me a huge fan of skits on rap albums, because there are like 9 or 10 sprinkled liberally throughout I Told You So. Granted, a few of them are extraordinarily funny like the “Chinophone” interludes, but like I say far too often, even the funniest, most inspired skits lose their bite after a few spins. There is no exception here. The only reason I could imagine that Chino would want to have so many skits on his album is to break up the monotony of constantly dissing everyone.
But still, even with all the repetition, I Told You So is a pretty good album. Few have truly mastered the art of verbal combat in rap, and Chino readily displays his skill at this technique throughout the album. For the most part, the production is on point too; Nick Wiz and the few other beatmakers do a nice job of providing Chino XL with some very nice head-nodders without overshadowing the emcee’s lyrical onslaught.
So for those looking to hear some deft and humorous battle lyrics, check out I Told You So by Chino XL. You might get upset when (not if, when) he disses you, but be honest; you had it coming anyway.
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