Customer Reviews

Doin' What I Gotta Do

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

No doubt Doug E. Fresh is well known as "The World's Greatest Entertainer" as it appeared on his 1988 album The World's Greatest Entertainer, but I'd be lying to you if I said that his third album showed that title. I was on some website where they had a bunch of Source reviews (if you haven't realized I love digging through their reviews from the mid/early 90's), and saw that this album received 3 mics, which had my interest. Since I saw that this album was remastered, I thought "Oh well, it's Doug E. Fresh. So what do I have to loose..."

Actually, this album really wasn't a loss, but more of a gain, since this is my first Fresh album. He seems very energetic on this album, as he brings along his new Get Fresh Crew, which consists of Chill Will, Barry B., and Miss Jonz (for some reason, that name rings a bell as I believe she sung on many rap songs in the late 90's, but I'm not too sure). Hearing Fresh do is signature beat boxing "Bustin' Out (On The Funk)", two opposing thoughts cross my mind. Either he is giving the fans what they want with his signature sound, or his star is slowly fading away as when he does his beat boxing, it tells listeners "Hey don't forget about me, I can still beat box. Here you go..." But either way, I still like that track.

The stand out tracks are not very many here though. Even though he hypes up his crew on "The Get Fresh Crew", and the live track "Back In The Dayz", "Come In From The Rain" is waaaaay too slow for me to listen to. And then the entire last half of the album, with the exception of "Peace To New York" does absolutely nothing for me. Even though they are mostly positive such as "I Love Myself" and the anti-drug song "No" (which sounds like it should be played at a second grade assembly), they do nothing for this listener.

Even then "Doin' What I Gotta Do" is a reasonably good album. If this was 1992, it would fit in perfectly as a party jam LP, but 16 years later it's way dated. The production here is solid, mostly handled by Fresh himself, as well as a few others. It's not a bad album, but don't expect any life changing moments on here either. Doug E. Fresh and the New Get Fresh Crew all do a solid job here. The album has been remaster back in 2005, but you can find the origonal recording from 1992 for a penny. Is it worth a purchase? You make that call. Peace!

Lyrics: B-
Production: B+
Guest Appearances: N/A
Musical Vibes: C

Top 5 Tracks:
1. Bustin' Out (On The Funk)
2. If I Was Your Man
3. The Get Fresh Crew
4. Peace To New York
5. Back In The Dayz

First of all, I have to say this is one of the most sporadic hip hop albums I have ever heard. Almost every track is a different style. It goes everywhere from Doug E. ripping it over funky beats, to slower paced love-raps, to a live track, to a dance-hall style song over Doug's beat-boxing, to crowd participation style songs, to him talking to his kids about drugs, to Doug E. actually rapping in Spanish. I really didn't get this album the first listen. However, upon additional spins the method in the madness became very apparent to me and I'd have to proclaim this album to being nothing less of a great musical accomplishment truely showing Doug E.'s range as a musician. Extremely fun to listen to and the great variety will keep anyone with a short attention span hooked. Production by the Get Fresh Crew and others is also dope. They definantly crafted thier own sound here, and its a very positive, funky one. Don't sleep, Doug E. Fresh is truely a rap icon and an innovator.