Customer Reviews

Soul Survivor 2

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Great album with jazzy beats. I agree with some people that Postaboy shouldn't have appeared on this album. Dead Prez "Warzone" is sort of a party sound track but just listen to what they're saying and it was weird with "in the club" at the end of every bar. RZA and GZA "Head Rush" is a short but awesome track and nice beat. Pharoahe Monch, Kardinal Offishall and Black Ice did pretty well. Skillz and Talib Kweli both fit so well with Pete Rock, those were the standout tracks. Also Slum Village did great. J-Dilla and Pete Rock rapping okay on a nice beat. "It's A Love Thing" and "Appreciate" were great songs with CL Smooth reunited with Pete Rock. Little Brother and Leela James did well too. All in all, this is a pretty good album and Pete Rock did a good job on the beats fitting in well with the rappers. Really loving the beats, one of the best of 2004. Check out Madlib, another great jazz producer. Also check out 9th Wonder of Little Brother, he's great too.

A review of a Pete Rock CD always has to be prefaced with the fact that it is better than 99% of material out there, but having said that, this CD disappointed me. I'm with the other reviewer- the spoken word gives me a headache too, and Postaboy is just awful. But as bad as he is, "Warzone" with Dead Prez has got to be the worst Pete Rock track ever. If I didn't know it was Pete Rock I would have guessed it was Ludacris or Ying Yang Twins or some bs. The tracks with CL Smooth are obviously the highlight of the album, and the tracks with J-Dilla and Slum Village work well. The other reason I am dissapointed is that Pete doesn't rap except for one song. I know he is often critisized for his skills on the mic, but I actually enjoy his rapping very much and think it is missed here. I don't think he should put out an entire album of just him rapping, but when he shares verses like on Soul Survivor I, it is very effective. Overall, a good 3/4 of the tracks are slammin, but compared to Soul Survivor I, where every tracks was incredible, its a letdown. But once again, compared to everything else out right now, I'll take half a CD of Pete Rock over anything else.

If you have ever heard "Mecca & The Soul Brother" or "The Main Ingredient" with his back'n the days partner C.L. Smooth on the mic you know what Pete Rock is capable of. If you take a look at 90's New York hiphop history you will most likely get to the conclusion that he was one of the most influential producers in the first half of the decade and has left a mark on the sound of rap's world capital like few others.

Pete Rock is, to be honest, a mediocre MC. As mentioned above, in his earlier days it was C.L. Smooth who accompanied him and did most of the rapping on his albums, his first solo effort "Soul Survivor" was crowded with guest rappers from Common to Kurupt and its official follow-up actually comes in the form of a compilation with Pete doing what he does best - beats.

The expectations people tend to have for albums like this one, albums by legends they had to wait for half a decade, are usually impossible to live up to. If the artist tries to move on with his style, the album will be compared to his earlier work and critisized, if he sticks to his trademark sound it will be compared to his earlier work even more and he'll be critisized for not moving on. However, the route Pete chose to take kis the latter. And it turns out to have been the right decision.

Indeed, Pete fails to produce another classic. His work on "Soul Survivor II" is solid, but at many points lacks the brillance of some of the material he has done. Still, there is no jumping on bandwagons and when it comes to 2004 trends, Pete is not very obliging. Instead, many of the beats seem to be geared to the artists that rap on them much more than to the majority of the potential audience - "Give It To Ya" featuring Little Brother and the short yet very entertaining "Head Rush" featuring the Wu-Tang masterminds RZA and GZA are good examples.

The tracks on "Soul Survivor II" are usually carried by both Pete Rock and the MC's. "One MC, One DJ" featuring Skillz reflects the concept of the album and "Da Villa" featuring Slum Village, "Beef" featuring Krumbsnatcha and "Fly Till I Die" featuring Talib Kweli & C.L. Smooth are more examples of how both the MC(s) and the DJ should contribute to each track. Also, Dead Prez turn their formula into the menacing pseudo-club joint "Warzone", Pharoahe Monch does the good (by his standards average) rapping part on "Just Do It" and Kardinal Offishal drops some nice verses on "We Good".

The album's flaws are minor. Not every track is equally strong and the long-awaited reunion with C.L. Smooth (that has, on a side note already turned into beef by now) is not what people would have hoped for it to be. Nevertheless, this is overall one of the more solid hiphop releases in 2004 and anachronistic in a quite positive way

Give the guy a break. You can't expect Pete to produce classics every album. Most artists today compromise their sound in order to attract a broader audience, but Pete has been holding it down for years with the same formula. Think about it, how many Illmatics has Nas produced since 93, How many Reasonable Doubts has Jay produced since 96? Did Tribe put out another album as dope as Midnight Marauders? Are these guys wack now? Did we not like any other music they put out? You can't tell me you're not gonna be playing some of the songs off of Soul Survivor 2 10 years from now. Thats a whole lot more than you can say for the majority of the muSICK thats being put out nowadays.

The bottom line is, appreciate the music and the fact that Pete hasn't strayed from his formula, "Real Hip Hop". He's not able to sample as much due to stricter sampling laws, and he's no longer using the SP-1200. This album to me represents a new beginning for Pete. When Jordan couldn't drive to the hole as much, he had to learn how to use a jumper. Did that stop him from scoring? We may not have seen as many highlight reels, but he was still the "Man". There are at least 12 cuts on SS2 that are tight. If that's not scoring in todays hip hop industry than I don't know what is.

A Realistic Critic,

When you talk about most Pete Rock releases, they're usually showcases for his production skills. Every now and then he'll drop these albums with him rhyming on them. On this release Pete plays the background and lets the guests handle all the rapping. Artists like Talib Kweli, RZA, GZA, Dead Prez, Kardinal Offishall, J. Dilla, Slum Village, Little Brother, Leela James, and a few others all show up to lend their talents to Pete Rock's excellent production -- the cherry on top, in this case, would be when Mecca & the Soul Brother resurface and drop two dope tracks. Even the RZA & GZA collabo -- even though I thought it would never work. Top that off with the musical snippets/interludes between tracks and you have an album that demands your attention. Any fan of the Chocolate Boy Wonder should be familiar with that aspect of P.R. releases.

As far as skip material goes, I found "Just Do It", "One MC, One DJ", "It's The Postaboy" and "Beef" fell under that category. Don't get me wrong, none of these songs have bad beats, but the flows and rhymes on them are forgettable -- with the exception of "One MC, One DJ" which actually has the opposite problem (great lyrics, forgettable production). Some may disagree, but I simply didn't feel those tracks. The rest of the album is definitely on point though.

Soul Survivor is nothing short of guaranteed satisfaction. It'd be nice to hear P.R. go back to those jazz samples every now and then, but the man still has an ear for production that no producer has been able to approach since he came out back in the day. There are a few tracks on this LP that fall short of Soul Brother No. 1's pedigree, but they are in the minority. With that being said, I still think a good 85% of the tracks on this joint are pulled off seamlessly. I recommend checking this out.

Standout Tracks: Headrush [RZA & GZA], Give It To You [Little Brother], No Tears [Leela James] (My favorite), Truth Is [Black Ice], Fly 'Til I Die [Talib Kweli & CL Smooth], Ni**** Know [J. Dilla], It's A Love Thing [CL Smooth], and We Good [Kardinal Offishall]

Even though this album came out two summers ago, I'm still bumping it like it's brand new. Pete Rock never fails to please and manages to stay consistant with the times. It's because of his golden ear and mastery of the boards that he continues to influence young up-and coming producers. With "Soul Survivor II", he makes the tracks for the artists instead of sticking to the horns n bass formula. The stand out tracks are:

1. "Truth Is" feat Black Ice- From Mount Vernon to Philly, Black Ice drops def poems like rainfalls and PR brings the heat. This track is about what happens when MC's with a message get into the industry.

3. "Just Do It" feat. Pharoahe Monch- Beat and rhymes so gutter, you'll be sick for a week. This is probably the dirtiest beat he ever made.

4. "Give It To Ya" feat. Little Brother- The very first time I heard LB and I'm still a fan to this day. Light, mellow track about their hopes of getting into this industry. Listen close to the 2nd beat. It's "Skinz" (Mecca & The Soul Brother)remixed.

6. "It's A Love Thing" feat. CL Smooth and Denosh- throws it back to the good ol' days. CL's laid back flow and PR's horns complement each other. Stuff like this'll have you begging for a reunion album.

7. "One Mic & One DJ" feat. Skillz- the rock n roll meets the menace from VA.

9. "No Tears" feat. Leela James- introducing Leela James ladies and gentlemen. Remeniscient of Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone. The soul you NEED to hear. Reminds me of "Get By" by Talib Kweli.

12. "Warzone" feat. dead prez- OH MY GOD. This track is undescribible.

13. "Da Villa" feat. Slum Village- the banger of the album. I was feeling Slum Village before this. But after this I realized what kind of beasts these two can be, 'specially Elzhi.

14. "Niggaz Know" feat. J. Dilla- who says producers can't rap? R.I.P. Dilla.

15. "Appreciate" feat. CL Smooth- Mecca & The Soul Brother bring the album to a full circle by giving thanks to everybody who's supported them over the years. The beat got 60's soul all over it.

All in all, this is arguably Pete Rock's most consistant and critically acclaimed solo album. By improving on his game and bringing more soul to the table, this is a testament that Pete Rock ain't going anywhere anytime soon.

Pete Rock returns in 04 with the long awaited sequel to Soul Survivor.... which was released waaay back in 98 on the now defunct Loud Records label. A good compilation, but with mixed results unfortunately. I wish I could chalk it up to the guest roster, but sadly, the reality is that many beats are just not on par overall with the original joint. Soul Survivor I is quite diverse, and Pete manages to meld genres with his choice of beats and artists. By comparison, Soul Survivor II is formulaic, and seems to be lacking Pete's signature on several tracks which are very lazy sounding and generic.

Surprisingly, some of the lesser known emcees like Postaboy and singer Leela James do better than the more mainstream (albeit underrated)performers like Skillz, Dead Prez and J-Dilla. Others represent though, like Kardinal, Gza Rza, Slum Village and Little Brother (the illest track second to "Appreciate").

The interludes are as ill as ever, but like on the original Soul Survivor, way too short.

For the record though, CL sounds like he never left the scene, and "Appreciate" definitely whets the listner's appetite for the promised PR and CL Smooth re-up (a great song to conclude the album with).

Compilations usually lack what an album by a solo artist or duo boasts: A cohesive theme. Thus, most compilations fail to achieve rave reviews, and Soul Survivor 2 is no exception. On the positive side, the LP is superior to its predecessor, Soul Survivor, and there are twelve solid tracks out of fifteen. A handful of epic cuts, such as Little Brother's "Give It To Ya," and both of the tracks composed by Pete Rock & CL Smooth ("Appreciate" and "It's A Love Thing") re-capture the classic aura of Pete Rock's early 90s production. However, blatantly mainstream tracks such as Posta Boy's generic "It's The Posta Boy" and Dead Prez's "Warzone," as well as the thuggish rants of Krumbsnatcha on "Beef," prevent Soul Survivor 2 from greatness. Cop this album if you are looking for original production and witty rhymes, not consistency.

Who know's if we would even want Vintage Pete Rock? I don't want to hear him doing the same things he did back in 1990, 91 or 92. How unprogressive would that be, especially for an artist of his caliber? Someone said it best, Nas didn't release another ILLMATIC, nor did Jay release another REASONABLE DOUBT, yet most of you would argue that these are two of the greatest ever and we all know that Nas has at least two rubbish lp's and Jay Z has nine of them. At least with Pete Rock, he's consistent in the quality of his production and the artist he chooses to work with. Hands down, Pete Rock is one of the top five producers of all time and you here this even in this release. True there are some misses, especially with the opening three tracks (I love Pharoahe Monch and Kardinal but they aren't sharp lyrically like they usually are and the hooks are just plain awful-tracks slightly above average). The joint with Postaboy is just plain STUPID and has no right even being included on this, and Dead Prez has been very disappointing lately with a number of things they have done, from there less than stellar recent lp to collabos with the less than stellar Jay Z, and the beat makes me SICK! But there are definitely more bright spots on this than disappointments. Just check out the always consistent Little Brother, Skillz "One Emcee, One DJ" (love the classic BOOM BAP sound), Krumbsnatcha on "Beef" sounding like RAKIM ALLAH and "Villa" with Slum Village which is probably one of the rawest beats on the lp. But none of these artist shine on a Pete Rock beat like CL Smooth. The two joints that CL Smooth rocks on are the best, especially "Appreciate" and Talib Kweli doesn't dissappoint either. I love the beat to "Head Rush" which features RZA and GZA but it's disappointing that the joint is only a 1:54 and GZA as usual doesn't spit a long verse.

While the production is not quite on Par with Soul Survivor 1, the quality is better from the standpoint that the feel and vibe of the lp is right. He doesn't force too many emcees on a track at once, which he did on the first Soul Survivor. Everyone (except for Dead Prez and Postaboy) sound like they belong and you can listen to this lp just about anywhere. With that said, this is a must have for anyone who's not only a fan of Pete Rock but who loves solid production and pure hip-hop.

Hip Hop today doesn't really say too much like the hip hop of old. That's why cats like Pete Rock, Mos Def, Talib, etc. are like rare gems and when these albums come out I can't wait to get them in the car. They definitely bring you back to an era when hip hop meant more than just how much ice you can wear, if you're riding in that new Bentley, or whatever. Pete Rock's music definitely has so much substance with or without a rhyme behind it that you can't help but get drawn into it! Long live true hip hop!