Customer Reviews

Midwest Cowboy

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

 

 

Bizzy Bone has really lived up to his name over the past months, releasing 8 albums over the past year and a half, with at least two more scheduled for this year. Call him crazy or schizophrenic or what you will, but Bizzy's rap career is definitely going in a new direction. "The Midwest Cowboy" is his second release for Real Talk Ent., following "The Story" in March which I enjoyed. "The Midwest Cowboy" is another decent album, marked by better production than he's had in the past and great lyricism. Bizzy has endured a lot in his recent lifetime, so he has lots of material to work with. On this album, like on "The Story", Bizzy seems very spiritual, often citing the lord and Jesus. A few weeks before this release, Bizzy surprised fans by converting to Islam. This album was apparently recorded before his conversion, but for the first time this sadly makes me question Bizzy's credibility. I found that "The Midwest Cowboy" was not quite as good as "The Story", which had a lot of deeply emotional and personal songs. "Cowboy" has a little of everything, some club songs, some fast harder songs, and some softer ones. I wish that instead of pumping out a pretty good album every two months, Bizzy would take his time and make a really great album. Until that time, "The Midwest Cowboy" is pretty good.

The first full song, "Around the World", is very promising, marked by a great beat and rapid-fire delivery from BB. "It's The Light" and "Lovey Dovey" are both pretty good tracks but nothing that I will listen to much in the future. The true standout track on this album is the excellent "Thugs Need Love Too" which should go down as one of the better songs of his career. It has great production from Playalitical, and Bizzy delivers a heartfelt verse with a great chorus. If you're a Bizzy fan, you'll feel like you've heard "When the Sky Falls" before, and the same could pretty much be said of "Wit A $20 Bill". "All We Can Be" is a great song, one of the best on the disc. It has an encouraging message and a great beat with synths and keyboards. "Doin' It Wrong" featuring Playalitical is a bass-heavy club banger that really doesn't fit Bizzy's style or the theme of the album at all. "Blown Away" is a nice chilled-out song, almost reminiscent of the weed songs of his past. "What Do We Say" is a very nice song all around, with a nice chorus, lyrics that were obviously very well thought out, and a good instrumental. "Come, Go, See, Know" closes out the album nicely with a good song.

Casual hip hop fans should know that Bizzy is a very unique artist and will not necessarily appeal to everyone. Fans of Bizzy's early career with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and his first solo albums should also know that he is a very different artist now. But for fans that enjoyed "The Story" or "Thugs Revenge", I recommend this album as well. I found that it was not quite as good as "The Story" but was pretty enjoyable anyway, the best songs basically making it worth the purchase.

This is hard for me to say, but this is probably Bizzy's second best cd. The beats (for the most part) bang, and Bizzy sticks to doing what he does best: spit between well-sung choruses. Okay, the Christian overtones have (thankfully) taken a backseat on this cd. Playalitical does a good job providing Bizzy unique and dope backdrops to do his thing. The first song is really dope, but too short. Also, the inclusion of skits (including one that seems to be drug-induced rambling about Jesus) doesn't help the cause of an album that's only 15 tracks deep (including both skits and the short intro/song). "Around the World" has to be the albums high-point as it showcases the best of Bizzy. Playalitical likes to mess with the way Bizzy records his vocals, and I think it's very original and adds a lot to the "evolution" of Bizzy, as sometimes it seems as though he's rapping like it's 1998. The influence of the album's producer is evident all over this album (and that's a GREAT thing). I don't think the direction-less Bizzy found on previous albums could do the great harmonizations as seen on "Thugs Need Love Too" or the amazing chorus from "What Do We Say?". The artistic growth leads to some more good ol' confusing and confounding hypocrisy with tracks like "Lovey Dovey" finding their sonic and moral opposites in songs like "$20 Bill" and "Doin It Wrong". The pleading to Bizzy's ex-wife to see his child on "I Must Fess Up" are deeply personal and a great addition to Bizzy's repetoire of songs. This is a good cd, but it's a tad short and "If the Sky Falls" doesn't tell us anything we haven't heard from Bizzy before. "Blown Away" doesn't match the caliber of weed-smoking anthems Bizzy's capable of. Bust mostly it's the off-kilter electric piano melody throwing me off, as well as the pointless guest appearance. All in all, this is a good album, and I hope Bizzy continues evolving and even working with Playalitical (it seems Bizzy pumps out alright albums every few months, each on a different lable with different producers and artists...prolific, but disappointing).

This is another breather album. I'm glad and proud to say that Bizzy still continues to do what is from the heart.Listening to B's last few albums has kept my love going for REAL hip hop. Though the production was lacking in his past albums; like most have criticized. I myself am able to look past that and see that this man is making music from the soul. If you listen to his music for what corporate rap has to offer you will be greatly dissapointed. Listen to his heart as he is able to spill it to those whom want to listen.

Again, as the days draw closer 'til Bizzy Bone's returns back to a major label debut with Virgin Records...I urge fans of both Bizzy's and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony to go out and pick up this cd "The Midwest Cowboy"

I remember grabbing this cd when I was down in Orlando, Florida while I work at Walt Disney World about a year ago; I saw it at a local Virgin Record store. I notice that Bizzy had bout three new albums out & "The Midwest Cowboy" was one of them. I was glad that I pick this cd up because, to be honest, Bizzy has evolved into a better lyricist than he was when he was still with Bone.

His previous albums suffer a bit due to the fact that he was collaboratin' with sub-par producers. With this album he had a great push for labels to look at him again with the help of Texas native producer Playalitikal. Each track, from top to bottom, Bizzy shows his strength and pen some of the greatest lyrics that come straight from his heart. Whether it is about pleading for his daughter in "I Must Fess Up", or his plans for the future and his outlook on "Around the World", and the ocassional talk about his religion and relationships in tracks like "Lovey, Dovey"; Bizzy gives his all and thats what real Hip Hop fans love -- Honesty.

Of course, the only minus sign of the album is that he does not display his rapid-fire speed in most of his tracks. Moreover, he is just showing that he is not all about speed, but about depth and texture in his lyrics and he wants the world to hear it.

Overall, to satisfy you fix before the album drops pick up "The Midwest Cowboy" & you will not be disappointed.

Bizzy comes up with a dope album. I admit I wasn't really feeling his other solo albums, but on this one he comes hard with good lyrics, flow, and content. The production also helps make this album even better. I feel that the one thing Bizzy needs right now are some good producers, and Playalitical does the job here.

Highlights of Midwest Cowboy include "Around The World", "Thugs Need Love Too" "Thugs Need Love Too", "What Do We Say?" and "All We Can Be". But honestly, I love every song on the album.

Bizzy harmonizes well like always, but I'm just disappointed that he mostly sticks to his slower flow; there's not as much of his rapid-fire flow as before. He does it at times, but not as much as some Bone fans like me would like. I'm not complaining though.

Anyways, this is a great album, in my opinion about as good as Heaven's Movie and The Gift. I just hope that Bizzy can stay consistent, and keep working with good producers. Everyone should buy this album.

i like this album. a huge step up in sound production. lyrics are ill as always. the remixes are dope cuz the flow is altered making it a whole lot easier to catch the lyrical content. its strange how with bizzy, i feel as a listener always ready for more. it may be cuz his flow is very current and evolving in the moment along with the world(jihad). i hear his new album is highlighting the koran and the truth of allah. peace another good contribution to the culture of faith music. oh yea...playalitical did a good job here with production and not a bad emcee. usually i'm not feelin the guest performances besides alpha/omega. aiight yo 1

I listened to c couple of tracks in this album and i had to go buy another pair of speakers in COMPUSA because 2 of them blew up at the sametime LMAO!!!. Bone thugs just rocks the music industry... people have their eyes closed. I swear you guys gotta buy this album. I first downloaded to check it out, but ended up buying it in virgin records just like thugs revenege album lol. Very nice F*****g album.

first off, i really do like this album! i m a big fan of bone, and have all there albums group or solo, but i was kind of losing my like for bone mainly due to weak solo albums, that suffered mostly because of bad production. past albums like speaking in tongues, thugs revenge, and the story are str8 up garbage to me. just when i was about to give up on bizzy, and not purchase no more albums, i just held on to that little love for bone i still had, and thought to give this a chance, and i love it. the best thing about this bizzy album is it has alot better production than all this solos since heavens movie due to producer Playalitical who produces the whole album. bizzy bone is a very talented artist, he is a lyricis, with a great stlye of fast rap, and sing songy harmony which is what bone is known for, with alot of subject matter that really is fealt through his songs. he is very honest about who he is. i recommend this album to anybody who still likes bone, i promise you enjoy it. i just wish him, and all the members of bone would stop rapping, so slow, i dont care if i dont understand every word in the song like the old albums, because that stlye was soooooo cold jack!