Customer Reviews

Seasoned Veteran

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The "Double R" has rightfully staked his claim as one of Oakland's finest. Richie Rich belts out some great hits in this, his debut solo album. A clear representation of pure, smooth West Coast Hip Hop, Richie Rich's signature rasp brings a refreshingly unique and original flavour to the game in these parts. He particularly excels in delivering laid-back, ponderous or reflective rhymes with "Do G's Get To Go To Heaven", a dedication to the late, great Tupac Amaru Shakur, and "Pillow", both showcasing the diversity of his range. He clicks nicely with Tupac Shakur, The Luniz and Rame Royal on their respective appearances. All in all, it's a smooth album with a nice mixture of laid-back and catchy beats; at least 80-90% of them are solid, quality songs. Richie Rich is truly a star to look for in the near future, leaving us in great anticipation for this seasoned veteran's next drop.... hopefully soon!

Richie Rich - Seasoned Veteran (Def Jam, 1996)

You may remember Richie Rich from rhyming with 2Pac and The Luniz, among other West Coast rappers. This album was pretty decent, with my favorite songs being "Do G's Get to Go to Heaven", "Let's Ride" (a classic), and "N's Done Changed" with 2Pac ("No more regular rapping!"). It's weird that T-Boz's "Touch Myself" remix was on here but I liked that song so I'm glad it was. Everything else was okay but the songs that stood out were the ones I mentioned. -EJR

The "Double R" has rightfully staked his claim as one of Oakland's finest. Richie Rich belts out some great hits in this, his debut solo album. A clear representation of pure, smooth West Coast Hip Hop, Richie Rich 's signature rasp brings a refreshingly unique and original flavour to the game in these parts. He particularly excels in delivering laid-back, ponderous and reflective rhymes with "Do G's Get To Go To Heaven", a dedication to the late, great Tupac Amaru Shakur, and "Pillow", both showcasing the diversity of his range. He clicks nicely with Tupac Shakur, The Luniz and Rame Royal on their respective appearances. All in all, it's a smooth album with a mixture of laid-back and catchy beats; at least 80-90% of them are solid, quality songs. Richie Rich is truly a star to look out for in the near future, leaving us in great anticipation for this seasoned veteran's next drop.... hopefully soon!

The "Double R" has rightfully staked his claim as one of Oakland's finest. Richie Rich belts out some great hits in this, his debut solo album. A clear representation of pure, smooth West Coast Hip Hop, Richie Rich's signature rasp brings a refreshingly unique and original flavour to the game in these parts. He particularly excels in delivering laid-back, ponderous or reflective rhymes with "Do G's Get To Go To Heaven", a dedication to the late, great Tupac Amaru Shakur, and "Pillow", both showcasing the diversity of his range. He clicks nicely with Tupac Shakur, The Luniz and Rame Royal in their respective appearances. All in all, it's a smooth album with a mixture of laid-back and catchy beats; at least 80-90% of them are solid, quality songs. Richie Rich is truly a star to look out for in the near future, leaving us in great anticipation for this seasoned veteran's next drop.... hopefully soon!

Richie Rich's (Richard Serrel) "Seasoned Veteran" (1996) is a dope album from a slept on rapper. Repping Oakland and the Bay, Richie Rich has a distinctive and memorable flow, and is an entertaining MC to listen to. Production on this release is solid throughout. My favourite cut on this one is "Do G's Get To Go To Heaven?", an outstanding track dedicated to the late great Tupac Shakur a friend he did a number of collabs with. The track has a memorable instrumental, and is laced with addictive/reflective lyrics and a smooth chorus. 2Pac is featured on "Niggaz Done Changed", another great track. Other standouts for me include the ominous "Funk", West Coast Party banger "Let's Ride" and very smooth "Pillow" feat. Rame Royal. Listening to other West Coast MC's years later its clear to see the Double R influenced the MC's to come like Snoop Dogg. "Seasoned Veteran" is Richie Rich's best album, and an album worth having in the collection.

From the title and sound of this album, you'd never guess it's Double R's debut. He really does come across nicely on here, and contrary to what some will have you believe, it's not just his great voice which makes him a good artist.
"Let's Ride" sounds like a California Love pt. 2...pretty decent track. "Pillow" (featuring Dewayne Wiggins and Rame Royal) is real smooth. And the Luniz stop by for a great guest appearance on "Questions."
But the standout cuts are "Fresh Out" and "Do G's Get To Go To Heaven."
"Fresh Out" features a great beat which blends with RR's flow smoother than anything you can imagine (I'm not going to throw out an overused term, i.e. "smooth as silk"...you get the point that it's smooth, LOL).
"Do G's Get To Go To Heaven" is a heartfelt dedication to Tupac, who passed just before Double R dropped this album. One of the greatest Tupac dedications, if not the greatest.
There are a few tracks which could've been left off this album, mainly the pointless "Touch Myself" remix featuring T-Boz. But overall, this is a solid debut album which is recommended if you're a fan of that West Coast sound.
I just hope he hurries up and releases his next album already...it was supposed to drop in the spring of '99!

Richie Rich delivers a strong 14 song album and his best one he's done. With very good funky, groovin' beats (6 songs by DJ Darryl with the rest by a bunch of different producers) and his smooth laid back flow he delivers a near classic. Features about 4 songs with other rappers and a few with hooks by others. Released by Def Jam (who never gets west coast rappers the right promotion - see Jayo Felony, Warren G, South Central Cartel) it doen't sound anything but West Coast. It has no classic songs but many very good ones and only 2 that I skip. A must have album for all rap fans.

#2 - 9 (nice beat)
#3 - 9 (nice beat)
#4 - (f/ e-40 -- nice beat)
#6 - 8.5
#7 - 8
#8 - 9.5
#9 - 8 (f/ 2pac {R.I.P.})
#10 - 9 (f/ Rame royal)
#11 - 8.5 (f/ tony toni tone - relaxing beat)
#12 - 7
#13 - 6.5 (f/ Luniz {yukmouth & numskull})
#14 - 7
#15 - 9 (dedicated to 2Pac -- f/ BoRoc of the Dove Shack)
#16 - 6 (f/ T-Boz)

Richard Serrell -- Oakland, CA
415

check all my reviews

There is only one Richie Rich, nobody else in the the rap industry posesses that raspy voice of Richie Rich. His flow is so chill and smooth. The beats on this album are awesome, and by the way, for all u 2pac fans, track 9 is one of the cooler songs out there. Pac raps more about his planned death in this untouchable track. This album is definitely worth buying. There are only about 2 tracks out of the 16 that aren't completely hits in my mind, and one of them is the intro. This is definitely one of my favorite albums out there, so pick this one up and support the Oakland rapper.

Rich, even if I did not know you personally, I would say your cd is bomb! For the most part, I don't think you are marketed well enough. Locally and in certain other regions of this nation, folks got mad love for you. Personally, I think most of your love comes right from the Yay Area and that's cool, too. Rich is the original "Mr. Raspy" so if you were thinking it was that dude from the east coast, give "Seasoned Veteran" a taste. They don't want to fool with Double R! Most of your lyrics pertain to experiences that could only happen in Oakland so outsiders may be clueless. Believe me, it goes on everywhere: Blowin' dozier, whoriding, all that but nobody does it like they do it in the Yay! Much success Rich...

Reppin' Oaktown (415 & 510), Richie Rich set off his major label debut Seasoned Veteran on Def Jam back in 1996 (but from what I understood, hes been around since the early 90's). First time I heard him was on the Luniz' "I Got 5 On It (Remix)". What RR brought along this album was his real deep voice and his playa lifestyle lyrics all throughout here. The production here is real deep bass sounding here as well, giving this album a real deep atmosphere all thoughout.

A few easy standouts were "Lets Ride" and the funky "Fresh Out". A problem that I had was that since he had his deep voice, and the album had its deep sound, after a while I began to loose my attention because not much would hardly switch up (don't get me wrong, his flow and the production are great, but it got monotonous after a while). Thats why I'm glad that Rich recruited some guests like Tupac on "****** Done Changed". "Pillow" is an easy laidback, cruising track with DeWayne Wiggins and Rame Royal. Rich and Simply E team up on the male/female song "It's Not About You". "Do G's Get To Go To Heaven?" is another standout as Rich dedicates that song to Tupac (who died shortly before this album was released). Then the album ends with him colabing with T-Boz and Jermaine Dupri on "Touch Myself (Remix)".

Even though this album didn't get the promotion that was deserved (oh wait, this is Def Jam we're talking about), RR dropped a dope album back in late '96. Despite a few filler tracks ("Real ****" and "Questions"), this is one that I recommend you check out, especially those fans of Bay Area rap. Peace.


Lyrics: B+
Production: B+
Guest Appearances: B
Musical Vibes: B

Top 5 Tracks:
1. Lets Ride
2. Pillow (featuring DeWayne Wiggins and Rame Royal)
3. Do G's Get To Go To Heaven?
4. ***** Done Changed (featuring Tupac)
5. Fresh Out

Honorable Mention:
1. It's Not About You (featuring Simply E)
2. Funk