Guilty Simpson – OJ Simpson (2010) [Stones Throw] // Grade: B-

I must confess I turned on this record expecting not to really enjoy it. I’ve never understood the hype surrounding Guilty Simpson’s linear and all around uninteresting flow. He isn’t a brainy math rapper but he isn’t hood either which is a pretty boring place to land. It sometimes feels as though Stones Throw has too much allegiance to putting on family as opposed to focussing more on new talent. “But Doc! Guilty knew J Dilla cause they both lived in Detroit and J Dilla is real hip hop!” Sorry, but I’m not buying it. Just because Dilla liked the dude does not make him good *cough* Frank n Dank *cough*. Dilla was the sickest but he wasn’t fucking King Midas.

Past all that however, I did find a bunch of tracks on this album that I did enjoy. This was due to Madlib’s production over Guilty’s lyrical prowess though. I truly do love when Madlib focuses his production enough for someone to spit over it. He’s the master of loose spun anthems. “New Heights” really was the standout track in my eyes with a seriously thumping pace. A close second goes to the haunted house joint “Coroner’s Music”. I really do appreciate a tightly produced Madlib track because I’m well aware of all the zany interludes and audio fuckery that one usually has to endure in order to navigate through one of his albums.

I mean, back in 2004 when I was smoking weed every day and listening to Madvillainy on repeat all the bleeps, blorps and vintage black comic samples made sense. Now, six years later and I don’t smoke weed no mo, all of the in-between song antics feel like the days of sobering up after the blunt surrounded by all the food and garbage consumed: over indulgent and tired.