Sophomore Expansion: Big Daddy Kane Broadens His Scope
Written: Mar 14 '07 (Updated Mar 19 '07)
Product Rating:
Pros: A sonic and topical expansion; the usual high standard of lyrical technique; more exciting music
Cons: Some filler at the second half slows things down. Literally
The Bottom Line: Big Daddy Kane avoids the sophomore jinx with It's a Big Daddy Thing by expanding upon the template he has established with his landmark debut
balogun's Full Review: It's a Big Daddy Thing by Big Daddy Kane
After the gold success of his debut Long Live the Kane, Big Daddy Kane must have thought about changing up a little on his second time out. His 1989 sophomore set, It’s a Big Daddy Thing, was thus a remarkably different album from his debut. Whereas Marley Marl produced all of Kane’s first album; he is restricted to just two tracks here, Kane opting to produce most of this album himself and delegate the vacant spots to Easy Mo Bee, Prince Paul and Teddy Riley. And whereas Long Live the Kane was a taut delight, It’s a Big Daddy Thing is a sprawling, 77-minute opus, with more of the topics he had explored before. Quite literally, Big Daddy Kane was back – bigger than ever.
Is Big Daddy Kane still the baritone-voiced, fast-rapping maniac with raps full of interlocking syllables and killer metaphors, similes and puns? Like Dr. Dre would say, Hell, yeah! “It’s a Big Daddy Thing” and the live version (at the Apollo Theatre) of “Wrath of Kane” are blitzkrieg-styled raps, Kane flowing over the speedy funk sample-clothed breakbeats with the speed of a cheetah without once losing his breath or falling off-beat. Yep, he’s still “attacking like a psychopath” and “breaking rappers in half”. But “Mortal Combat” is especially crushing, as Kane delivers this address over the guitar lick-bathed “Funky Drummer” breakbeat: “Rappers are so full of sh!t, they need Ex-Lax/[…]/And I don't have beef with no other performer/Keep to myself never bother another/But if a rapper tries to diss I crush the motherfu@ker!” And oh yeah, this song is the origin of the “Your arms are too short to box with God” line that would be used by future rappers from Xzibit to Common.
This is where Big Daddy Kane truly began to make himself known stylistically. Already reputed for his high-top fade, gold dookie chains and four-finger rings, It’s a Big Daddy Thing finds the “cameo haircut man that's dark and lovely” step beyond the image to express himself vocally as a smooth brother as capable of slaying his foes as bedding the hottest chicks. Come on, look at that album cover with him on top of that limousine with those three fine sistas! Forget McDonalds - call him the Big Mack!
In that regard, “Smooth Operator” is the centerpiece of this album. A self-produced cut comprising a reposeful bassline and subtle drums occasionally punctured by claps, Kane implicitly breaks down the dual sides of his “smooth operator” persona – the battle rapper with a silky-smooth flow and the witty, sweet-talking loverman. “But I'm not animated like a cartoon/I'm for real, shooting lyrics like a harpoon,” the battle-ready dude claims in the first verse. Yet, in the third, the music segues into the “Impeach the President” breakbeat as Kane lays game to the ladies: “One simple kiss, and it's over, miss/[…]/Girlfriend, you been scooped like ice cream/[…]/I'm loving ‘em right, word is bond/So just play Marvin Gaye and Let's Get It On!” “Smooth Operator” is arguably the best song Big Daddy Kane has ever done.
Not to leave out “I Get the Job Done”, though. This time, Teddy Riley steps behind the boards to give Kane the New Jack Swing backdrop for him to intensify his love talk to the ladies who feel trapped in underwhelming sexual relationships with their husbands. Ladies, “never fear – the Big Daddy is here, to do things in places your husband wouldn't/And do certain things he probably just couldn't/[…]/So when your main course is doing nothing for ya/Just look at me as a tasty side order”. Hey, adultery is reprehensible. But when you have a guy who is that skilled on the mic, he can convince you to think – and do - otherwise.
And It’s a Big Daddy Thing is the album in which he matures as an Afrocentrist and social commentator. When he yells, “The red, black and green, the sun, moon and star!” in “Wrath of Kane”, he makes it symbolically clear – he was going to rep his black consciousness and his Islamic beliefs to the fullest. A remarkable thing about Big Daddy Kane is how he was always concerned about black unity. In “Mortal Combat” he salutes the Nation of Islam when he actually belongs to a more radical faction (the Five Percent Nation) that split from the organization back in around 1967. He name checks other rappers in the industry (e.g. LL Cool J, Salt-n-Pepa, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, etc.) as a call to sibling-like unification in “Another Victory”. And he gives the 1980 McFadden-Whitehead classic hit “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” a rap remake, instilling pride in his own people with what they have accomplished while still having a long way to go. “Who the hell said we can’t live large?” he snaps. I guess it was some bonehead, Kane.
Thus it makes his battles against racial issues such as “Driving While Black” and hostile cab drivers in New York (“Another Victory”); his lectures about child upbringing and drug abuse (“Children R the Future”) and his denouncement of welfare dependency in a three-part narrative (“Calling Mr. Welfare”) all the more resounding from a moral standpoint. By being a responsible leader on wax, as willing to destroy the dangerous elements within the black community as the ones attacking it from the outside, Kane exemplified the high standards of hip-hop’s musical golden age. He even takes the previous generation of black musicians to task for not possibly being appreciative of the extension of their legacies due to sampling of their works. “If we didn't revive ‘em, bring back alive/Old beats that we appreciated, you wouldn't survive/You'd be another memory to us/Ashes to ashes and dust to dust!” he snarls in “Young, Gifted and Black”. He’s got a point there.
So, with all these strong points considered, it’s a shame that It’s a Big Daddy Thing dips in quality in its second half. It’s quite disturbing when one follows an uplifting song like “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” with a pimp-styled song like “Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy”. Sure, the playful lyrics from Kane, Nice & Smooth, Scoob Lover and Ant Live are meant not to be taken too seriously. But when you hear Kane say, “There's no time for conversation, my dear/’Uhhhhhh-hnh!’ is all I wanna hear,” it’s bound to stir up mixed feelings. And the remark “The Big Daddy law is anti-fa99ot!” is particularly jarring – and uncalled for. Sure, Kane, you’re a proud heterosexual. There’s just no need to announce that at the other sexual orientation’s expense.
It gets worse. “Big Daddy’s Theme” is nothing but two minutes of soul-music filler. And “To Be Your Man” perfectly represents the problem with Kane’s love persona in his later albums. It is a cut that feels much longer than its five-minute running time. What could have been a nice slice of modernized Philadelphian soul (the '70s quintet Blue Magic is recruited for choral duties) instead capsizes as a dragging bore as the Big Daddy eschews rapping for a slow spoken-word delivery over a terribly saccharine beat of melodious keys and lumbering drums. Uck. I guess he failed woefully in making a rap version of “baby-making music.”
Thankfully, things pick up towards the end. “The House That Cee Built” is DJ Mister Cee, well, building exciting collages out of funk, soul and dance samples with his cutting and scratching as Kane’s back-up dancers Scoob Lover and Scrap Lover goof off and give shout-outs. Then they join their comrade in the jovial “On the Move”. Although their raps are rather pedestrian, Kane saves the day with lines like these about his sexual prowess: “Just to hear the girls screaming out wild, G/You're not a Jungle Brother, but that's some Jimbrowski/[…]/I can fill up any girl that's empty/Give you something that's mighty and strong.” “Warm It Up, Kane” returns him to peak battle mode, delivering a rap over the ferocious steel drum and ultra-deep bass that finally matches up with the best brag cuts of Long Live the Kane:
First I caught you, then put you through torture
You moved wrong, my son, so I taught ya
Just like a guardian, that put your body in
The mood to groove with the smooth way that I'm partying
Competition may find it spectacular
Scheme and fiend to take a bite like Dracula!
Oh yeah.
Kane wraps things up with the Marley Marl remix of “Rap Summary (Lean on Me)”. Originally on the soundtrack for the movie Lean on Me (released that year), Marl scales back the rapid guitar chugging and horns to give this version a more stripped-down feel. The lyrics remain the same, though, as Kane basically delivers a third-person narrative based on the school in the movie (Eastside High) that is suffering academically and for who Joe Clark (played by Morgan Freeman) is recruited to clean the mess up. The story ends happily as Kane remarks that “Eastside High is a better place to be,” thus giving the album a triumphant ending.
Big Daddy Kane enjoyed his greatest success with It’s a Big Daddy Thing, the album giving him his second consecutive gold plaque and raising his profile in the music community. It is also with this album that he cemented his place among the rapping greats. It is more exciting than his debut, with a musical and topical expansion that is greatly appreciated and commendable. Even if it rates a notch or two below his debut solely due to its filler in its second half, It’s a Big Daddy Thing is still a valiant follow-up to an undisputed classic. To paraphrase one of his songs, the Smooth Operator gained another victory.
TRACK LISTING:
1. It’s a Big Daddy Thing
2. Another Victory
3. Mortal Combat
4. Children R the Future
5. Young, Gifted and Black
6. Smooth Operator
7. Calling Mr. Welfare
8. Wrath of Kane [live]
9. I Get the Job Done
10. Ain’t No Stopping Us Now
11. Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy
12. Big Daddy’s Theme
13. To Be Your Man
14. The House that Cee Built
15. On the Move
16. Warm It Up, Kane
17. Rap Summary (Lean on Me) [Remix]
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.