Customer Reviews

Portrait of a White Boy

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

HAYSTAK is one of the sickest & most underrated rappers i've ever heard in my life! This album is insane! A must have for real true hip-hop fans.

What can I say? 'Stak just keeps getting better and better with every track. This album is an instant classic and anyone who appreciates rap music for true lyricism and honesty must own this one. Haystak paints such a vivid portrait of life in lower class white America it could become easy for those detached from that enviroment to feel the same pain for the 73 minutes the disc spins. It combines all the ingredients rappers look for these days to make an album "whole". He starts off with "Fight, Write, Die" which sets the tempo for the whole record as he comes through on some Pro-White, hardcore, never say die attitude which carries through to the next track "Dadgummit". The CD switches pace on the next cut, the club banger, "Broads and Alcohol" as Mak Million makes sure the party don't stop dancing on his account. The emotions the track leaves you with turn 180 degrees on the next track, "Red Light", which makes the hardest gangsta rappers seem soft as toilet tissue as 'Stak invites any and all haters to: "Catch me at the red light slippin' sittin' still/ Catch me at the red light grippin' on the wheel/ Catch me at the red light. Aim for my head/ If you don't like one f*ckin' thing that I said.... B*tch catch me at the red light!" That song leaves ready-to-get-crunk taste in your mouth as Hay teaches us the dice games on number 6 "Hustle & Flow" immediately followed by "Still you doubted me" on which he rubs his success in every face that didn't believe in him back in the day. Next up is "Off the Wall" and "Girl" which are fun cuts for the radio but probably won't hit home as hard as "My First Day" as Big Stak tackles the issue of overcoming drug addictions on a well produced beat. The inspiration left by "My First Day" doesn't have time to subside as it is quickly followed by the hustlers anthem "Make Money". The next several songs are just filler. Mostly decent beats and each song has some memorable one liners but not on par with what has just been heard on the previous 11 tracks. That all ends on track 16 "First White Boy" where Stak states his pride in his race and boasts about being "a white boy before these white boys was white boys". The hook is rather repetitive and can get annoying quickly but the rest of the song is excellent. I'd say overall I'd rate this album an 8.5 out of a possible ten. This isn't the Top 40 watered down overly commercialized version of rap the young kids want to hear. This record is for the streets. This record is for all those real hardcore white boys looking for someone in the music industry to identify with. This record is for the south. Portrait of White Boy is the best rap album I've heard that has come out in 2004 and is must own for any true hip-hop head.

-Stock Gotti-
Gainesville, TX

Just got this CD the other day and it really is something different that is on the market right now. Haystak has his own type of flow that really sinks you into his music. I really love almost every track on this CD. Don't underestimate this rapper just because of the color of his skin...Vanilla Ice is in the past. You will not regret getting this CD.

The CD is very entertaining and his lyrics are better than most mainstream rappers. My question is, why is he still underground. I will be ordering the next 2 in the trilogy.

I own over three hundred cds and this is my personal favorite.Stak adresses a wide range of subjects in this album. The concepts in these songs are pure genius and lyricly no one in this rap game can touch him.Homeboy is as real it gets and his music has got me threw some hard times.Much respect to Haystak and CWB.Look out for stak's new album Start to Finish.

GREAT MUSIC. Haystak really steps up his lyricism on this album (I guess he's trying to show Def Jam that they shouldn't have dropped him), and he shows growth as an artist also. The production on this album lacks at times, but overall it's a MUST HAVE.

Haystak CD was here earlier than expected. We tend to be a little impatient, so timely efforts are very important to us. Packaged safely, and in tip top condition. I am so glad we found it on Amazon, because it is very hard to find in stores! Thanks a million!

First thing, out of 16 tracks 12 of em are bangin this cd I have to say is a Stak classic behind Car Fulla Of White Boys and From Start To Finish. I've even seen people who don't like rap listening to some of the tracks on here. Tracks I think yall would like is Dadgummit, Off The Wall, I love this 1, he's just rappin about random subjects but pulls it off perfect! Another song Girl is great cause I think any dude can relate to this in some way. Still You Doubted Me is the best to me, he raps it out perfect and explains how he told everyone that he was gonna do it when everyone thought he couldn't. And lasly My First Day is about battling addiction and I could relate to this as well as others I know and I know some of yall reading this will too just listen, you'll see.

I am hoping that this is a good cd. I have his first cd and that thing was awesome. I would love to try to review his new album "The portrait of a white boy"

Stak has been around for a minute, being overshadowed by fellow Durrty Durrty cats like T.I., Lil Jon, Luda, etc. I heard alot of his earlier efforst and was never impressed enought to take notice. First off, he has two lables to overcome, first the "dirty South" label which can either be good or bad. but most importantly he has the "White rapper" label which, 9 times outta 10, can be a downside. Well, Stak defintely has that dirty South grimy flava, but the white thing really holds no weight. He sounds like Haystak, neither white nor black, and on this album, his flow and lyrical gunplay have improved majorly ya hurd me!! I can safely say that "Portrait" is Haystak's "Marshall Mathers LP", in other words, his swan song classic moment. Beatwise the flavor is of course, dirty dirty, nothing really like Lil Jon esque bangers, but more of a down home Memphis groove, which ain't all that but ain't too bad neither. The real magic is in Stak's EXTRA grimy, extra dirty, and quite lyrically proficient flow. sure, the dirty South nflow is slow n drawls, but he has his own thing going on. T.I., for example, has that Atlanta drawl down pat, Stak has his own brand of "Memphis White boy ISH" which is one of the best flows to come out of the South in a minute. The South, as heada may by now realize, was never a lyrical hotbed. In listening to "Portrait" you get the sense that Stak is sincere, he so Sincerre, in his craft. On the opening cut "Fight Write die" he addresses the Source's comments about him, which is something to the tune of "how on EARTH can a White boy do that there?" Well, Haystak ain't Eminem, he hasn't garnered ghetto respect, I'm sure in Memphis he is the man, but stak lets Zino and Dave Mays know that he gon do what he pleases and what! Of course, the source has been infamous as of late for race baiting...and they just come off like has beens, suckaz! Stak sounds more black but then again, he isn't exactly trying for that. He is just a big ol White Kuntry boy, and this is how he delivers. Lyricvally he is a good mc, not for a White or Black one, just a good mc. He ain't Eminem, so comparisons are pointless. If you wanna compare him to other melanin full dudes pit him up against Lil Wyte or Bubba, who are both proficient, but I feel Stak can claim fame as the South's greatest White hope right now. Now, I give this 3 and half stars actually, it has flaws no doubt, but it's flaws are lesser. "Girl" Stak's take on heroin addiction is the best drug track out right now perios. It easily blows 50 Cents' "Baltimore Lovs Story" off the map. Where fiddy goes the Common Sense route with the metaphors, speaking AS a bag of diesel, Stak talks heartfelt and serious about Heroin and methadone addiction. The result? An honest and REAL tale of drug addiction! 50 Cents is just bogus cuz it may be true what he is speaking, but come on man, does 50 have ANYTHING ELSE to speak on? Na he don't, Stak doesn't really break the originality barrier either, but this here is a nice step foward for a downtrodden white boy from that dirty dirty, and for that I commend him. For cats who just DON'T like Dirty south hip hop, this will be a dud, but for cats who like HIP HOP whether it is Ny, Atl, Japan, Missoula, or wherever, this is an album not to sleep on. He still has a ways to go but i don't see him buddying up with Lil Jon anytime soon...and that is a good thing. Stak belongs to the underground, point blank!