Commonly called the "Queen of Hip-Hop Radio," Angie Martinez has long been a respected figure in urban radio. For roughly a decade she's been heard spinning rap music on Hot 97, New York's most popular station for rap and R&B. After a short conversation with rap legend KRS-ONE one day, Angie caught the rapping bug herself, and eventually went into the studio to record her solo debut, Up Close and Personal. Though the album didnt perform as well as expected, it proved that the deejay did have passion for the mic.

Now in 2002, Angie is back on the mic with her new album Animal House. Though definitely a step up in quality from her debut both lyrically and musically, the effort still leaves much to be desired, and does little silence those who believe the deejay's time is more wisely spent promoting other artists work on the air.

Tracklisting
1. Animal House
2. A New Day
3. TRL
4. If I Could Go
5. Never
6. Take You Home
7. Been Around the World
8. We Can Get It On
9. Whats That Sound
10. F***ked Up Situation
11. Waitin' On
12. Lifestyles of the Big and Famous
13. Live Big
14. So Good

Even if Jay-Z didn't personally ghostwrite any of the tracks in Animal House, he certainly deserves to be paid royalties for this LP. His flow is bitten blatantly and repeatedly throughout the album by Angie and her protege Sacario. The style heist is most obvious with songs like the slow, fiery introductory title track, and the bright, upbeat first single for this effort, "If I Could Go." For this appealing single, Angie raps loosely about desiring to take off on a romantic jaunt, while Sacario almost perfectly emulates Jigga's relaxed voice, laid back rhyme scheme, and fluid delivery between her verses. To help guarantee a spot at the top of the charts, "superwoman" Lil' Mo is recruited to project her radiant voice on the chorus. Don't expect this one to marinate on the airwaves too long though; Animal House has a second hit single waiting in the wings with the Missy Elliot produced, "What's That Sound." The queen of commercial rap music production crafts a catchy, rubbery beat for this, so expect to hear it played the instant "If I Could Go " finally dies off.

With years under her belt as one of New York's premier deejays, it's only natural that Martinez chooses to address some career-related issues on this album. The synthesizer laced "Never" allows Angie to vent on the constant heat that she and her fellow Hot 97 deejays have been taking from fans and rap artists alike over the past few years because of their proclivity to play wack commercial rap ad nauseum. She sticks up for her compatriots and dismisses her detractors with lines like "got complaints? I turn your comments to Arbitron." The slower, melodramatic keyboard chords match her tone well, though the sped up, almost Smurf-like vocal sample in the hook gets annoying rather quickly.

But for the most part, Angie's lyrics on this album deal primarily with love and relationships. The title for "F**cked Up Situation" is self-explanatory; the rapper discusses a deteriorating relationship, describing how her career aspirations are adding to its failure. The lamenting feel of the song will instantly draw comparisons to Jay-Z's "Song Cry". "So Good" is another track along the same subject line, though it is much more solid than most of the other songs on the LP. Producer Ski skillfully constructs a soul-tinged dynamic track augmented by Tony Sunshine's reflective vocals, though it suffers due to Angie's awkward delivery. Martinez does make it a point to create light-hearted songs though, crafting pieces like "Take You Home," a vibrant club banger with catchy Latin guitars. Here the the seductress playfully describes enticing a male club patron into accompanying her home.

The combination of middling production, mediocre rapping and four unnecessary, unfunny skits (for the non-math wizards out there, that cuts the track listing down to only ten actual songs) all adds up to an unfortunately disappointing album for Angie Martinez. Animal House was clearly a low-priority side project for the busy New York celebrity, a fact that comes shining through in the lack of enthusiasm shown within. Don't be afraid in this Animal House; nothing ferocious resides within.


-madtheory
www.hiphoptheory.net


Recommended: No

Great Music to Play While: Hanging With Friends