One of the most forgotten legends in hip-hop music has always been the great Redman. Not worried about pleasing the "majority" with rolling on dubs, throwing bows, and club anthems, Redman represents a different kind of hip-hop than these sell-outs. Redman spits flames on the microphone, mixing up a variety of styles but always letting his charisma please us. Unlike other emcees who rely on their charisma, but spit with tarnished lyricism (50 Cent, Snoop Dogg), Redman has both. In 1992, Redman arose from the weed-spot with his classic Whut? The Album, which was excellent. But who would've thought that he would grace us with two more classics: Muddy Waters and Dare is a Darkside, his excellent sophomore album.



Track List & Rating

1. Dr. Trevis (NOT RATED)
2. Bobyahed2dis (*****)
3. Journey Throo Da Darkside (*****)
4. Da Journee (****)
5. A Million And 1 Buddah Spots (*****)
6. Noorotic (*****)
7. Boodah Session (NOT RATED)
8. Cosmic Slop f/ Keith Murray, Erick Sermon (****)
9. Rockafella (R.I.P.) (****)
10. Rockafella (*****)
11. Green Island (****)
12. Basically (****)
13. Can’t Wait (****)
14. Winicumuhround (*****)
15. Wuditlooklike (****)
16. Slide And Rock On (****)
17. Sooperman Luva II (*****)
18. We Run N.Y. f/ Hurricane G (****)
19. Dr. Trevis (Signs Off) (NOT RATED)
20. Tonight’s Da Nite (****)



Redman kicks off the festivities with "Bobyahed2dis", which is, needless to say, an opening braggadiocio track. Immediately we notice that Darez is a Darkside is much darker than any of its predeccessors. Redman's humor is still intact, but now it seems that both lyrically and production-wise, he has decided to deepen his overall sound. The production, is basically as old-school as it can possibly get. With a drum / snare / bass accompaniment, the track hits us with some old-school styled horns, which matches beautifully with Redman's humorous and charismatic lyricism.

"Journey Throo Da Darkside" continues the madness as Redman spits flames complementing the underground. His lyricism is loaded with charisma and punchlines on this track, perhaps even more than before. His wordplay and similes are extraordinary, and his cleverness and wit stand-out on this song. The beat is a bass-driven track with some weird background whistles and old-school samples. His delivery changes from slow and fast, but each time he spits he has something to say with very few filler lines which many emcees have to resort to adding to fill up space. For example: "Black stars or moons eclipse the volume, Bang zoom I'm sendin honies on the moon with ten bags of boom, Ridiculously I will pimp an emcee, To degrees I leave spots like chicken pox, check the synopsis, I grow confusing just like Rubik's cube boxes, Float like the butter, fly so what if I blow your lenses, tear the f*ckin hinges, Did I mention that my lyrical format gets more ahs than a dentist". There is a perfect example of what Redman is capable of.

Redman gives us a dedication to his favorite green, braincell-destroying narcodic on "A Million and 1 Buddah Spots".

Erick Sermon mans the boards for this nicely produced track with some scaling, old-school styled bass and drum mixtures, stripped down with very few other sounds. The beat is a simplistic and as ripped down as it can possibly get, but then again, it fits with the subject matter Redman gives us. Redman gives us a humorous and witty storytelling track about his love of weed and what he does with it. His lyrics, as usual, are crafty and well-written along with a perfect on-point flow. We catch him spittin lines like: Who can get swift with the microphone mist, Plus I'm crisp like CD's on LP's in 3D, My funk respect it, cosmic injected, That cause me to "Set It Off" just like that club record, Hit it from the back, stay strapped like two packs of lubricants, It's gonna hurt -- no it's not a gat experience". Redman is underrated and very skilled.

Redman continues the same madness on "Noorotic".

However, on this track, Redman's lyricism is even more bouncy and well-written, as he spits old-school braggadiocio. The overall sound of the track definetely brings me back to the late-80s, and early 90s style of hip-hop music, with stripped down sounds and lyricism hitting the forefront. Redman's lines are extremely memorable, loaded with class and wit, and clever punchlines galore. Over simplistic drum / bass production, he spits: "I'm Flexi Wit Da Tec like Artifacts make Memorex, blow tape decks when I'm more strapped than latex, Felt like menopause, I make n*ggaz act like beatches, Yo yo that n*gga Red be frontin -- with they a** full of stitches". Redman's style is definetely to his own and his delivery is humorous and varied, but definetely skilled.

The trio known as the Def Squad, which is composed of Keith Murray, EPMD alumni Erick Sermon, and Redman unite on the tight track "Cosmic Slop". Redman mans the boards for this track, giving us a simplistic, sort of spacey style of a beat, with a thumping bass, some weird synethesized sounds, and some keyboard set up nicely. Each member of Def Squad drops some tight verses, as we find all three of them competing for the top spot to steal the track. Redman and Keith Murray are both extremely skilled emcees and specialize in humorous similes and metaphors, mixed with clever punchlines. Def Squad uses a multi-syllable flow on their verses, making it difficult to decide who is the better emcee. However, Keith Murray spits some of the most memorable lines of his career, in my opinion, with "With amazing manifestations, I dictate to nations, More Cosmic Funk innovations in my creation, This Cosmic sick mic cylcicyst, Mega segments, be Sega, like Genesis, I orbits the solar system, listenin, Guzzlin, never sippin, or slippin and sympin when the track is rippin, I gotcha brain cells bendin and twistin, Man listen, I give your whole crew an a** drenchin".

"Rockafella (R.I.P.)" and "Rockafella" are two tracks dedicated to Redman's fallen friend Rockafella, who was also an emcee. The first of the two tracks is a short freestyle sampled from a Rockafella track, and the second is the actual tribute, done by Redman, not featuring the artist. The track however, isn't a sad track dedicated to the loss of a friend, but more of a celebration of Rockafella's life and the times that he and Redman had together before his passing. The low, yet light-hearted production with some tight guitars are perfect with Redman's impecable flow to touch on, as he spits flames, as expected, from this legend. Definetely not on to miss.

Redman continues his darkness on "Basically". The melancholy beat fits perfectly with Redman's aggressive braggadiocio and clever punchlines. He also attempts to play with his voice, raising and lowering the pitch throughout the song, specially at this part: I drop a punchline at lunchtime, cause I'm a Close Encounter of the None Kind, with dumb rhymes, I battle allay'all at one time". It must be heard to be understood.

"Winicumuhround" turns up the juices for Redman. The production is a much more light-hearted, more head-bobbing style, with some deep changing bass, background guitar, and some tapping drums, loaded with samples. Redman spits three lyrically adept verses, spittin some of his typical similes and punchlines which we are all accustomed to. Nothing much to say here except that the track is a complete banger and that Redman is excellent, as expected.

Skipping ahead we find Redman ressurecting his Sooperman character, which was first shown on Whut? The Album on the track "Sooperman Luva II".

Any of you who have heard Redman's debut know exactly what im speaking of when i say this, and for those of you who have not, then you are about to find out. Redman tries his hand on humorous, at times laugh-out-loud mysogony, which as you can tell he is damn good at. The sequel to the original track shines on equal terms of legendary status as its predecessor. The production is a head-knodding soulful track with thumping bass, R&B samples, and soft violin. The jazzy and soulful sounding production is beautiful, and a perfect match for Redman's amazing lyrical display. His personality and charisma expands to a heavy level on this track, as he exemplifies his storytelling and narrative skills on this hot one. His humor and wit, backed by excellent production and unique subject matter make this one of my favorites from this album.

"We Run N.Y" features the same sample Jay-Z used on his "Takeover" track from KRS-One. Hurricane G sort of brings the track down with her uninspired sounding rhymes, and ridiculous, at times, not-rhyming style and a choppy flow. However, you can count on Redman to bring the track from mediocre to great, using his signature flow and memorable lyrics, its easy to differenciate the skill level between Redman and Hurricane G.

Redman finishes off the album with a remix to his old school "Tonights da Nite", which provides a great listen and outro for the album.

Dare iz a Darkside is Redman's most underrated album. A lot of Redman fans may not enjoy this album, as well as some fans of bouncy production, because this album is gritty and grimy and has sort of a different sound than some of Redman's other work. The simplistic, yet head-bobbing production is nice, and Redman remains to be an incredible rhyme writer and lyric spitter, and gladly his sense of humor is still there. This album is very dark, but i suggest giving it a listen due to the fact that its a near-classic and a great listen. So be prepared, be set, because the darkside invades...

4 Stars









Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Going to Sleep