Customer Reviews

Understand This

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

 

 

This by far had to be the biggest dissapointment of 2001. It's sad that one of the game's most entertaining as well as conscious brothers relesed an album that's as bad as this. The only standout out track and I mean the only decent track on the album is "Up & Down" where Puba spits that witty fire like we expect him too. The rest of the album is flooded with rushed (inexpensive) sounding keyboard beats and corny skits. If you're a Brand Nubian Fan or if you loved Grand Pu's 2 previous solo albums, Do not get this one... you will be very disapointed. I gave this one star since 0 stars wasn't available.

Grand Puba's third and long awaited album Understand This finds the Nowrule lyricist on a new label (Koch) and a very low budget. His lyrics are still on point and he still keeps it real, even though his beats don't match up to the rhymes. The album is produced almost entirely by Puba with guest appearances from his Brand Nubian partners Sadat X and Lord Jamar and MCs from Pubas label, Rising Son. If you are a devout Brand Nubian/Grand Puba fan this would be a good purchase, despite the heavily analog keyboarded tracks. But if you haven't heard of Puba, I would pick up 2000 and Reel to Reel before spending money on this release.

I'm really surprised - this album has been out for nearly a month but no-one's written a review yet. Have you all forgotten Grand Pu??? After the superb Brand Nubian come-back album "Foundation" I couldn't wait for Pu's new solo outing. Got to be honest - I was well disappointed by the beats at first hearing - but Pu's flow and lyrics are the key here and they don't disappoint. Pu's got one of those voices that are so distinctive - you'd recognise him anywhere. He flows with the rythmn (not against it like some of these recent thug cats) and he always drops knowledge. My favourite track is "Dreams" in which Pu breaks down the different ways folks hustle for the paper. Lots of other intelligent tracks on this album too. Keep staying true Pu - you deserve that Land Rover that you're flossing with on the cover!

all of the industrial strength, corporate controlled record reviewers need to respect the hip hop architcts! any true fan of GRAND PU and BRAND NU won't let this one slip by...

This is far from Grand Puba's best work but there's enough here that would please most Brand Nubian/Grand Puba fans. The major gripes I had with this were the average production by Puba himself, but the usual high standard of his rhymes more than make up for it MOST of the time. Also the amount of skits on this annoyed me b'cuz I hate them on albums, they ruin the continuity of the whole thing. Lastly, the guests on this are weak, apart from Sadat X+Lord Jamar, there's no other way to put it. His rhymes are much more socially conscious than on his 1st two solo albums, were battle raps and party joints were more of his focus. Tracks like "Issues" discuss the trials+tribulations that most of us go through day to day. "What U Gonna Do For Me?" talks about the type of women that are only in relationships for what they can get out of it. "Dont Lie To Me" goes into detail about the pitfalls of the industry if youre not prepared for them. "Dreams" talks about how you have to strive for better+earn yours instead of holding out for the lottery or a handout to save you. "Baby Mama Drama" is self-explanatory. The real highlights of this however are when the man just gets down and spits hot, metaphor laced, witty wordplay. The standouts for this were "All Day" (similar to "Very Special" from his "2000" album),"Whats Up With It?", "Understand This", "Up+Down"(my favourite) and "Keep It Movin'". With so much negative hiphop around back then, and right now for that matter, this acts as a nice breath of fresh air. Very mellow and laid back with afew nice uptempo moments. Lyrics-wise its tight as afacelift aswell.

...and the rest is pretty bland lyrically. I will give this cd credit for having great production. I just wonder if the Grand man finally lost his steam.