Customer Reviews

The Fix

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What's so admirable about Scarface is that when he raps, he never tries to impress anybody. With his voice, social commentary, and wicked on-and-off again flow, you can feel him AND believe him, unlike most icy, studio gangsta rappers today. That's why fans like myself have supported him, even on his okay days. And I'm glad I did, because The Fix is his best solo album since The Diary.

While his last albums (The Untouchable, "My Homies" compilation, Last of a Dying Breed) each had a few hot joints on them, this album never runs out of gems. Scarface still brings those hood tales to us like on "In Cold Blood" and "Keep Me Down". On the latter, the music is just plain funky, and speaking of production, the diverse production from everyone from Kanye West and T-Mixx works in his favor more on this album than on Last of a Dying Breed.

The song that you've all heard already, "On My Block" (which uses a slightly chopped-up, sped-up sample of Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack's "Be Real Black for Me"), sounds just as good now as it did the other million times I played it. Hearing that song (and seeing the video) reminds me of 1994 rap, where there's just a gangsta beat and a gangsta rhyme, minus any pimping, jiggy dancing and popping Mo'. And while most "back-in-the-day" raps are played-out now, Scarface wins by telling original tales of how it used to be.

Though I was skeptical to hear Scarface with The Neptunes and Faith Evans on "Someday", that track actually works, as does "What Can I Do" with Kelly Price. On the latter, 'Face goes back to his low-key, "I Seen a Man Die"-esque voice, which is classic in its own way. The other guest star contributions are also stellar: check out "I Ain't the One" with W.C. (man, that even looks good on paper). And while I loved the Nas/'Face 1999 collabo "Favor for a Favor", "In Between Us" blows that track out the water. Both rappers give introspective tales, and while most people don't like the long chorus in between the two verses, I actually think that it's good to hear a song that defies the usual "16 bars-chorus-16-bars-chorus-16 bars-chorus-fade out" formula.

Only ONE flaw to find on here: though I like "Guess Who's Back" (with Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel) as a single, it sounds a little out of place on this album full of Down South flava (Jay-Z even starts off the track by saying, "Welcome to New York City"). And every time they say, "Guess who's bizzack," I always wanna say, "They were gone? Where did they go?", "And why does this song sound like it was left off Jay-Z's Blueprint album?". But enough hating, this album is great, and it's even 47 minutes long. FINALLY, someone gets it: you don't need to have a long album to get your point across. Scarface is real rap, not HIP-HOP, I said RAP. Get this album now to get your rap fix. Anyone who's looking for Reynolds (read: plastic rap) can seek elsewhere.

Simply stated, Brad Jordan has been putting in work for years, ladies and gentlemen. As a Geto Boy and as a solo artist, Scarface has been impressing many hip hop fans for awhile. Tracks like the original "Scarface", "Mind Of A Lunatic", "Mr. Scarface", "Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta", "Money And The Power", "A Minute To Pray And A Second To Die", "Good Girl Gone Bad", "Now I Feel Ya" and his best song of all time in my opinion, "I Seen A Man Die" are still classics to this day. Scarface put the South on the map and it's good to see that he is still holdin' it down. "The Fix" is an all around CD. There were some bad reviews about 2000's "A Last Of A Dying Breed" for some reason. It may have been that Scarface was trying to be more diverse than he had on past CDs and he had a lot of guest appearances from his Def Jam mates. 1998's "My Homies" couldn't be counted as a Scarface CD because it was mainly brought out to include his friends in the rap business and on some songs Scarface wasn't even featured on them. So to some of his diehard fans, 1997's "The Untouchable" was his last real CD. "The Fix" may be Scarface at his best, but that depends on what aspect of Face that you like. If you like the hardcore and dillusional Scarface from the early Geto Boys CDs and his first solo CD, you may not enjoy his new CD as much as I do. This release demonstrates Scarface's growth in the game and he clearly demonstrates that he has matured in many ways. First of all you get the Scarface that we all have come to know and love with the hardcore stories of the hood in the 1st two tracks, "Safe" and the Kanye West produced "In Cold Blood". Nobody can tell a story like Scarface and in most cases they are real stories that are brought into the light by a song. "Keep Me Down" follows this format as well. After the 1st two tracks, Kanye West shows up again on the boards and Jay Z & Beanie Sigel join Scarface on the smash "Guess Who's Back". The collaboration on "The Last Of A Dying Breed" that featured Face and Jay Z, "Get Out" is clearly blown out of the water by "Guess Who's Back". This would be the best song on "The Fix" but the Nashiem Myrick produced 1st single, "My Block" holds that honor. Although, you may see the video on BET and MTV2 constantly, "My Block" is the best single that Face has released in awhile. Over the nice blues beat Scarface slows things down and allows people to know how it was growing up in the 5th Ward. Kelly Price is featured twice on "The Fix" which is unusual because when r&b artists show up on someone's CD they aren't featured on more than one song. "What Can I Do?" is reminiscent of "I Seen A Man Cry" as Face speaks the same lingo as he did on the 1994 classic and "Heaven" starts out as the same type of song but towards the end Kanye West switches the beat up and Scarface speeds his flow up a notch. On the Nas featured, "In Between Us", Nas Escobar and Face have tight lyrics but in the middle of their verses they are interrupted by a dragged out chorus by Tanya Herron. This takes away from the quality of the overall song but it is still listenable. The Neptunes produced "Someday" seems out of place but after a few listens the song will start to grow on you and Faith Evans does a good job with the chorus. Overall, Scarface has pleased me with his new release. He has demonstrated tremendous growth and maturity and his fans should enjoy this quick fix. Hopefully, this will not mark the end of a great career.

James' Top 5

1. My Block
2. Guess Who's Back w/Jay Z & Beanie Sigel
3. In Cold Blood
4. Safe
5. Keep Me Down

Okay i bought it about ten minutes ago. The packaging was ambitious, so ambitious that the title Fix can't even be found on the cover. And the cd comes with a mock foil-wrap like the ones Face sold in the early eighties before he started rapping. Don't ask me how that got past the censors.

Enough about the cd cover. How does this Face stack up? Good, somewhere between the poorly recieved My Homies and Face masterpieces like the Diary and The World is Yours.

The Beats are good, for the most part. These days my expectations for any release are pretty low. I've been burned too many times. If it has three listenable cuts i'm happy. Now that Brad has been taken under the Def Jam wing Russel taints the Texas sound with a gloss that works in some cases (IN Between us) and fails in others (someday). Female back-ups don't really lend themselves to Scarface but he triumphs in spite of Def Jam tampering. And this glossy R&B sound didn't really infect Face until the late nineties (on Untouchable).

There are seven or eight good cuts and newcomers who aren't quite sure why Scarface took home the Best Lyricist at the Source Awards would do well to listen to The Fix. Scarface's greatest virtue is his ability to ignore the jiggy/ big willy BS that so many rappers rely on, talking about what kind of cars they have, how much money they have, how many women they have. And he probably owes his longevity to this. He's been in the game for fifteen plus years and in rap years that translates to about 150. He is one of a few top-notch acts (among them Wu-tang and Outkast) that is consistently original. The Fix will do nothing to lower him or elevate him even higher above the plateau very few reach. In short it's good and will probably be one of ten hip-hop releases worth a listen as 2002 comes to a close.

This is a great album, i actually didn't expect it to be this good, but great beats from the likes of Kanye West and Scarface's awesome flow make this underrated cd a classic. Scarface himself is also underrated, he is one of the best lyricist ever and has such a good flow, this dude can really rap. Some of my favorite tracks are On My Block, Guess Who's Back, and What Can I Do, and even the intro,outro sound pretty good. On My Block is what made me buy it, but before that all i knew about scarface was that he's a pretty good rapper, but i didn't know he was so deep lyrically. Anyways, on my block has got a very good piano-souled beat, not to mention the lyrics on the track. And this whole cd doesn't have one weak song, and that's one of the things i love about it. Every song has got a great beat, great rappers like nas, jay z help out too, and Scarface spits fire in all of his verses. Scarface should be considered one of the greatest rappers of all time, and in my book he is definitely up there.

I will admit that I wasn't much of a Scarface fan and the only album I really heard from Scarface was "The Untouchable" which featured "Smile" featuring 2Pac. After watching the video, "On My Block" on TV and than listening to it on the radio, I decided to give this album a try. After gettin the album, I couldn't stop listening to it. I can listen to just about every song with no problem.

The album starts off with a brief intro and then goes into the song "Safe". Scarface spits on how you gotta keep your personal information safe from anyone else so others don't start plotting against you. I'm feeling the beat as well. "In Cold Blood" has a nice, old-time feel to it in which Scarface tells a story of his street life and some obstacles. The radio hit, "Guess Who's Back" featuring Jay-Z & Beanie Sigel works well. The beat Kanye West laid down is a favorite and all three lyricist ripped it. "On My Block" is my favorite song on the album because Scarface retells about his memories on the block over the sampled piano loop. "Keep Me Down" is a guitar-powered beat in which Scarface addresses the hater trying to keep him down from what he does best. The track is followed by the somber "What Can I Do" featuring Kelly Price and this is where Scarface gets real. The beat really helps to bring out a bigger message than what Face is spittin but the lyrics were heartfelt. "In Between Us" feat Nas is an amazing personal track. Both Nas and Scarface told their own personal stories of how friendships were disturbed by a certain something. I like the chorus even though it was kinda long. The Neptune-laced "Someday" is next and it works perfectly. The mix of Face Mob and Faith Evans worked to perfection with Scarface spitting memorable rhymes and Faith's powerful chorus. "Sellout" is about rap/hip hop artists who have the sell out to move more albums and become more famous rather than keeping their same style which made them good. The heartfelt "Heaven" is next in where there's two parts. The first part is where Scarface talks about finding heaven in a girl. Then after the 2nd verse, the beat is different and Scarface talks about the effects on 9/11. The final song "I Ain't The One" featuring W.C. is raw and tight. I loved W.C. spitting to the beat but Scarface kept his ground as well. Then tha ablum closes out with an outro.

Final Review: Even though I haven't heard much of Scarface material other than the Fix and Untouchable, I really expect good things from the Def Jam South owner. Make sure you get this classic album because you won't be disappointed.

Scarface's (B.Jordan) seventh album "The Fix" is one of the nicest to come out in 2002. Thirteen tracks with guest appearances from: Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel, Kelly Price, Nas, Faith Evans,R.Flack, D. Hathaway and W.C. Executive produced by B.Jordan and J. Prince. Track production comes from M. Dean,C.Black, Kayne West, N. Myrick, Nottz,T.Mix,T.Pizzaro,Flip and the Neptunes. Album starts with track called "Safe" which uses nice piano instrumental , short track and good intro to the album. Scarface collabrates with Jay-Z and Beanie Siegel on "Guess who Back" produced by Kayne West one of this years hottest producers, the track is nice, and Scarface and Jay-Z flow well toghther. "On My Block" is the lead single on "The Fix" and its good one and has great replay value. "What Can I Do" feat. Kelly Price is a powerfull track, and face drops deep and memorable verses. "In between us" feat. Nas follows and is another nice collabration. Neptunes one production contribution to this album is track called "Someday" feat. Faith Evans and its a good one. Scarface talks about life and death on "Heaven" feat. Kelly Price, and this continues Faces run of nice Rap/R&B collabration. W.C. drops in for the album closer "I aint the one" a nice banging track. Scarface has lived alot of the stories he tells, so he comes across real, rugged and memorable. Southern Rap at its best, an album definetly worth getting. 4.5

I have been a major fan of Scarface since his Geto Boys days. Seeing as how I was born in Houston and I am still living here, of course I am a fan, but even if I was living in Antarctica I would still be feeling this. The best thing about Scarface is that he has never sold out, and possibly will never sell out. I can't name one song he has ever made were he goes off talking about his diamonds and cars and clubs and all that other worthless ...[junk] that is all over rap these days. Now, on to this album. Well, I didnt give it 5 stars for nothing. From start to finish, you will be listening to the entire album, and there will be no need to skip over a single song. My only complaint, when I first got it, was that it was too short, but after a while that doesnt really matter, because its the best 50 (or 47 or whatever) minutes of music I have ever heard. Your favorite songs on here could just depend on what mood your in (which is true of any classic album). If your in the mood for street rhymes, go for "I Aint The One" which features W.C. In the mood to just chill? Check out "On My Block" which will get you remembering the times you had in your old hood (as it did for me) or how it was when you were a kid, or whatever. Or if you are in the mood to just reflect on life, check out the song "Heaven" which features Kelly Price (who really does a good job on this cd). Also, what alot of people have said about "Guess Who's Back" is true. When I first heard it, I thought it was a new Jay-Z song, and it would be on Blueprint 2. Oh well... this album once again proves that Scarface is the realest rapper in the game today. You can put him up there with the greats: Tupac, Biggie, Eazy-E, Rakim.... Hell, I think Scarface ties with Biggie as being number 2, because Tupac really is the Greatest Of All Time. Just buy the album, it'll be ...[money]that you wont regret spending. I dont think that this review can really describe how classic, great, and perfect this album is, because I'm not that good with words, so BUY IT!!

I've been hesitant to write a review of this album because words literally fail me in trying to describe its brilliance to other people. It's been a while since I was hit with something this heartfelt and sincere, and it has been hard to define what gives this album so much impact. But I'll do my best.

Aside from the legendary Tupac Shakur, no one else has ever been able to grapple with the conflicting facets of gangster life with as much force as Scarface. Few, if any, rappers in the game today could switch from the violent and jaded perspective of "In Cold Blood" ...to the deep spirituality of "Someday" ("Wasn't there when You rose from the dead/or You parted the sea/I never seen You but still I believe/How you explain the moon, the sky, the stars and the rain/the sun and the sea/the earth without form, facin the deep/in darkness, challengin the powers that be/It's impossible for scientists to make up the seas/to make up the trees/So why we turn our backs on the truth?/It's Heaven or Hell, a point we seem to hide from the youth"). Yet Scarface does it here, and he does it so believably that you can almost feel his heart yearning for the truth in his lyrics. It's this intangible factor that really elevates this CD above the rest, and it's also why I've quoted so much stuff - it's just too hard to capture the essence of this album so I thought I'd let Mr. Scarface sum it up for you himself.

As far as production value goes, The Fix is top-notch although it's not exactly the same Dirty South sound he is better known for. Instead, it's a more polished effort (for better or worse) that still works well with Face's style. The best example of this is on the single "On My Block", where the laid-back piano vibe melds perfectly with Scarface's memories of his youth. The only track where the Def Jam fingerprint shows up more noticeably is "Guess Who's Back" (with Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel), a song that sounds more like a leftover from The Blueprint than a Scarface song. Still, it's a great song with a bangin beat and solid lyrics; it just doesn't quite fit the Scarface feel if you know what I mean.

All that aside, though, this album is about Scarface and his public display of emotion over the course his life has taken. Yes, the production is very good, but it is also very much secondary to the lyrics here. And in much the same way as 2Pac did with Me Against the World, Scarface has with this release used those lyrics to weave a beautiful, almost heart-wrendingly truthful portrait of what it means to be a gangster.

by j.manning

A paradox of poetry and rhyming is how I would define the new Scarface joint. As always, his storytelling skills are up to par but what makes this CD unique is the depth of his spirituality that he wears like a badge of honor. The consistent blend of the street life and testimony makes "The Fix" sound like collaboration between the Ghetto Boys and BeBe Winans. The best thing about it is that Scarface works this paradox to perfection with lyrical variety and tight production throughout the CD.

Speaking on the streets, the game and God, Scarface hits more topics in one CD than most rappers do their entire career. For those in search of classic gangsta Scarface, you'll find him on tracks "In Cold Blood" and "Sellout". If it's the storytelling, introspective Scarface you need, check out the most heart-tugging song "What Can I Do?". With Kelly Price providing an emotional hook, this song of child abuse is sure to touch even the hardest of thugs.

To find out what can happen to you when you're named president of Def Jam South and the colabs that come with it, hit "Guess Who's Back" with Jay-Z and Beanie Mac.

The Ghetto Preacher shows the depth of his spirit in "Someday". If this were the first track you heard, you'd think you were listening to a Gospel rap CD. But "Someday" simply verifies that Scarface is willing to rep his love for God as much as he is to rep Houston and the dirty south.

If there is anything negative about "The Fix" it is that it seems like a short CD. By the time I hit track 13, it I felt that there should have been another four or five tracks to play. Also, I wasn't that crazy with "On My Block" and the song "In Between Us" featuring Nas had long intervals of singing between Nas' verse and Scarface's verse. A Nas and Scarface colab should be a definite hit and this one falls well short of any anticipation of these powerhouse lyricists coming together on one song.

Overall, "The Fix" is a long distance driving CD. So, if you're heading down south this Labor Day weekend, you can start your southern fix with "The Fix". For those of you that have been down with Facemob since his Ghetto Boys days, you won't be disappointed. And newbies to this rap mainstay, your mind is not playing tricks on you - this IS Scarface at his finest.

Rate: 3.5 out of 4
j.manning

Scarface is the KING of RAP - also check out Smoke Sessions, Vol. 1- from his homie Devin the Dude another 5 Stars.