Customer Reviews

React

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

 

 

One of hip-hop's unsung masterpieces is surely Erick Sermon's second solo release from '95, 'Double Or Nothing' on which his deep skunk-funk production attained ultimate heights and the extended Def Squad family (Redman, Keith Murray etc.) defined a sound that was to dominate their output for the remainder of the decade. Before this, of course, as one-half of EPMD, Erick drew up the blueprint for the laid-back P-Funk sampling sound that was to be so lucratively refined by Dre on the west coast.

Unfortunately, he was destined never to find that commercial formula that would, by rights, have seen Sermon immortalised on hip-hop's Mount Rushmore alongside Dre, the RZA, Premier and friends. After 'Double Or Nothing' and Redman's excellent 'Muddy Waters', he fell into something of a rut, turning out E-Funk-by-numbers, consistent but never quite spectacular. A hit came with the irresistible Marvin Gaye-sampling 'Music' but the ensuing album failed to deliver.

Now, with a hit from the Just Blaze-produced title-track, 'React' arrives in the nick of time to prove the doubters wrong. It is without doubt Sermon's best solo effort since 'Double Or Nothing' and certainly his best shot at the kind of historical impact as a solo artist that he enjoyed with EPMD. Part of the recipe appears to be his willingness to finally relinquish the production reigns, at least on a few tracks, which in turn seems to spur the in-house productions on to greater heights. It also throws up some fine beats from Just Blaze and Megahertz.

On the microphone, Sermon long ago perfected the art of simply flowing in his own monotone New York style, once memorably and accurately referred to as "cottonmouth". It's a flow that's the essence of the apparent effortlessness in all the greatest emcees. But its relaxed nature belies a nagging bitterness on Sermon's part when on tracks like 'Don't Give Up' he fixates on his struggle through the fickle whims of hip-hop fashion and record company favour. It's a shame that he can't just enjoy the success of this unshowy and refreshingly straightforward album. Overlong, of course, and tailing off towards the close, but a fine antidote from releases that feel they have to come pre-packaged with a gimmick to demand our attention.

Most people will buy this for 'React', hopefully some more will discover one of hip-hop's genuine 'slept on' stars and help him to ease that chip from his shoulder.

This CD is not one of erick's best work, but its worth buying. It is an album with a lot of head bangers, but some of the songs are lacking that hard-core Erick Sermon flavor. also it sound like most of the songs were written in the summer of 2002, and the album was released in november, which might be the reason why this album is not the best work E has ever done, be cause he didnt spend a lot of time writting it.
but if you know what to buy for your hip hop collection this album should be on the top of your list. its worth the money

Great buy, considering its hard to find Erick Sermon CD's in stores nowadays. Very happy with my purchase

Erick Sermon is probably my favorite Producer/Rapper combinated artist but this was really nuthin special...
I became a fan after hearing his "duet" with Marvin Gaye, music and then I bought the album and became a certified fan.

Ratings of the E-dub albums I own:
Music: 4.5/5
Double or nuthin: 4.5/5
Erick Onassis: 3.5/5
Chilltown New york: 4/5
React: 3.5/5

So as you can see, if you're planning to get an erick sermon album get those I rated higher before getting this...

Sure there is about 6 definite bangers and 4 more okay and only one bad one... a couple of tracks is trying to be commercial tracks...

Just 13 months since his best solo album "Music" was released, E-Bub is back with my least favorite of his albums, barely getting a 4 star rating. With 13 songs, 5 are ok, 1 I skip, and 7 are good, no classics on here. Guests are on 4 songs rapping and a few others doing the hooks. As always the green eyed Bandit's lyrics aren't the best, but the production on this isn't near his other albums, maybe because for some reason the Funklord only did 7 of the 13 when he usually does at leat 90% himself (which is probably why many didn't like this as much as his other albums). Just Blaze does 2 songs, Rick Rock, Kaos, Andre R., Megahertz all do 1 song. A good album for his fans but far from his best.

#2 - 8
#3 - 9 (f/ Free -- nice beat)
#4 - 8.5 (good beat)
#5 - 7.5 (f/ Redman)
#7 - 6.5
#8 - 8.5 (nice Al Green sample used)
#9 - 7.5
#11 - 8 (f/ Keith Murray -- nice beat)
#12 - 7 (f/ Rah Digga & MC Lyte)
#14 - 8 (f/ Icarus, Red Care, Sy Scott)
#15 - 7.5 (about hip-hop's state)
#16 - 5 (Khari freestyle - no E-Dub)
#17 - 9 (f/ Lyric -- tight beat)


Erick Sermon -- b. 11/25/68 -- Brentwood, Long Island, NY
Check all my reviews

"Double or Nothin" was on point. He hasn't done an albulm that good since. I will say that "React" is the best since. This album has quite a few hits, Its classic Erick Sermon. The Funklord in my opinion has returned. Out of the 12 music tracks on this album, 6 are true head bangers. Thats 50% of the album. In my opinion with todays albums not even having 3 good hits on them, I think that's excellent. If u lookin for that ghetto funk by Erick Sermon, this album is a must. Everybody mentions the commercial cut "REACT" with Redman, but that's not the best cut on there. Track 14 is the track that'll have your head bobbin off your neck. After that, track 12 with MC Lyte and Rah Digga is a head bobber in itself with vintage MC Lyte flowin like she always do and Rah Digga doin her thang on it. He didn't slip on Track 11 either with Keith Murray and Redman.

first of all i am a big rap and hip hop fan and i know wat i like i really really liked erick sermons "music" there were alot a tracks that were really enjoyable but react only has a few songs like the first release song react that r really good its still a good cd but if u want want erick sermons better cd i suggest "music" and if ur not really into hip-hop i do not suggest buying react.

First, A MUSIC FAN - If you listened to hip hop more, I am sure you would know that it was a reference to Outkast and their song "Bombs Over Baghdad".
Secondly, I thought the cd was good. Not the best CD I have ever gotten, but not a waste of money. I am sure I will get [my money's]worth of entertainment value from it.

I expected a lot better from E double. From one of the better hip-hop producers of all time, this album was wayyyyy below average.
Maybe its my fault...Whenever a new Eric B & Rakim, Nas, Roots or Redman album came out, I always graded those albums with a different scale that I judged the Afro-Man album. Feel me?
There is nothing on this album that you would remember ten minutes later. Nothing.
I'll take into consideration the fact that I'm changing as a hip hop fan (Hell, no album could ever touch Illmatic). But this album isn't even close to average!
Maybe I'm a little harsh, but that's my take on it. I'll never spend money on Erick Sermon again.

The only really good song on this album is React. I was unimpressed with the overall quality of this album because it really lacked to illustrate the talent that I believe Erick Sermon has. One thing I will mention about his album which I think is pretty low is the lyrics in the second song titled "Here I Iz." Erick Sermon makes reference to "dropping bombs over Baghdad." I am not certain if he is just trying to make some political point or he was just being careless with words he used. In any event, I thing it is in really poor taste, I think he should really take a good look at his political philosophies before expounding them on his albums.