wakeuptimebomb's Full Review: A Tiger Dancing [PA] by Heiruspecs
There’s a good chance you have no idea who the Heiruspecs are. Not many people do. This St. Paul, Minnesota located group first hit the scene a couple years ago when they released a very, very good album in Small Steps. They came back in 2004 to release a promising album which is unfortunately missing the edge which made their previous album so likeable.
1. Something for Nothin’ (5)
2. Intro (4)
3. Two Fold (5)
4. Dollar (3)
5. 5ves (5)
6. A Tiger Dancing (4)
7. 32 Months (N/A)
8. Swearsongs (3)
9. I’m Behind You (3.5)
10. Fist (2)
11. Get Down (2)
12. It Takes (2)
13. Heartsprings (5)
14. Matching Orders (3)
15. Position of Stength (2)
16. Lie to Me (2)
17. Shoutouts (3)
A Tiger Dancing starts out on absolute fire, with the first 6 songs being all amazing for the most part. The Main MC Is Felix, and rhymes for the vast majority of the album. The opening track is simply ill, with Felix describing the passion of rocking a show and how he prepares for it. The catchy guitar and steady drums make for a very good, unique beat. I was really looking forward to the rest of the CD after such a great opening track, but I would see that not all the songs would have the same sound as Something for Nothing.
Following immediately after the opening song are two tracks which are more or less just as good. Intro is pretty short, just over a minute long, but Felix absolutely rips the rapid drum and piano loop. He continues the subject matter he touches on in the opening track, and drops a couple shout outs to St. Paul. A short but sweet song overall.
Moving on we have another standout track in Twofold. The beat in one word is great, with an extremely catchy piano loop which switches to whistling. It’s not easy to describe the beat here, but it’s definitely creative and one of the better ones on the entire album. Felix again tears the beat apart with his rhymes. The song’s basically about Haters, whether it’s the people who hate on them or questioning if he himself is a hater, the subject is kind of played out but Felix puts his own twist on it for one of the best songs on the CD.
This is not right, move the spotlight
You’re supposed to rock mics
I don’t think you get this
Fe Fi Fo Fum, I smell something burning
I push on to the mess and drop it tight like Tetris
Diabetics couldn’t help you, you’re not the right type
Your fanatics are pathetic, meaning that you’re not right
Should’ve left you hanging on the vine – No you’re not right
You’re just another Sean Paul screaming “Gimme the Light!”
Or “Get Busy”, You’re like a lawyer, you’re a liar
In a fire, couldn’t find smoke, sh*t is not dope
You should really just quit, you’re too young to retire
I’ma keep on turning words and heads like screwdrivers.
As you can see, Felix can rhyme, especially on the best song of the album, 5ves. To me, this is easily one of the better songs I’ve heard in 2004, as it really shows how great the Heiruspecs can be at times. The beat is flawless. I nice slow guitar to start things off, great beat boxing and a beautiful high pitched piano loop to top things off make for the best song the Heiruspecs have yet to produce. The lyrics are on point too, and they are really some of the happiest lyrics I’ve heard. It’s just a song about the great things in life, one big shoutout to everything Felix loves about his life, from the people he loves to his neighbors. You have to hear the song to truly grasp how special it is.
A little bit more hustle as I nod to my neighbors
They have no idea they gon’ be in this song
Still cool, there’s the dopest person out there, my mother
She accepts my for my rapping as if rapping was my lover
And she, she accepts me for my rapping of course
Because art needs inspiration, needs a source
Don’t blink at my DJ I’m on this day
I’m driving by, driving away, driving to say
That my throat hurts, I’m all talk and really no work
And everybody at the club is calling Felix a jerk
So what dosen’t make you wince now can only make you better
We’d all be better swimmers if the earth was really wetter
The moral of the story is to remain untold
It never really ends, it just twists and unfolds.
It’s for the live shows, it’s for the beats and
It’s for the woman who sleeps under my sheets so
It’s for the energy which builds exponentially
It’s for my friends, who keep on re-inventing me
I felt it was necessary for both of the quotes because that’s basically it for good things about the album. This is probably the biggest disappoint of the year for me, as the rest of the album is honestly boring and there’s nothing special about any of the songs. I think it’s so incredibly disappointing because the CD started out so promising and went on to just fall off from there. The only song worth noting is Heartstrings because I love the slow mellow beat on it and the lyrics are poetic.
I don’t even feel that the rest of the album is worth talking about in specifics, as it honestly is that bad. I really am in love with the first portion of the album though, and would recommend it for the 6 standout tracks on the album.
In conclusion, the promising start doesn’t prove to hold true for the rest of A Tiger Dancing, but with songs like Twofold, Heartstrings, and especially 5ves show how much potential the Heiruspecs have if they ever really combine their matures style to the raw talnet they displayed on their debut Small Steps.
Beats: 3.5/5 Lyrics: 3.5/5 Overall 3.5/5…Rounded down to 3/5.
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