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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You Ain't Gotta Go Home X..., September 28, 2003
DMX returns with is quite possibly his last album. DMX is known for his raw emotion and unparalleled delivery and energy. After two lackluster albums `And Then There Was X' and `Great Depression', X gets back to what he does best; rapping about his life and releasing his anger on tracks. `Where The Hood At' is another in the long list of X's street anthems. X's growl is more forceful on this album and the production is moving, rather than being laid back and sad sounding ( although the album Great Depression reflected his life at the time). The 50 Cent & Styles P collabo is straight up gangsta. X easily drops the hottest verse, refusing to be outshined on his own track. The Dark Man sounds rejuvenated on tracks like Bring The Noize, Rob All Night, and We're Back which features Eve & Jadakiss. Everybody drops hotness on this song especially Eve; she can rap. X is also known for his excellent rap/R&B collaborations ( he has a classic one on every album ) and he doesn't disappoint on this album. Untouchable with Syleena Johnson and some Ruff Ryder members is REALLY tight. But the real gem of this album is the collaboration with Monica `Don't Gotta Go Home'. Man this song is a straight up classic ( it also appeared on Monica's album After The Storm ), it's right up there with `Slippin', How's It Goin Down and Coming From. He injects the soul into his album on Thank You which features the incredible Patti Labelle, and the heartfelt track Ayo Kato is also worthy of mention.This album doesn't have too many flaws in it except for the pointless skits, the Swizz Beats track, and having CamRon on the album. DMX drops his best album since Flesh Of My Flesh (almost five years ago), so this album was long overdue...X goes out with a bark, and we can all hear it loud & clear. 4.5 stars
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Grand Champ?? More like Grand Chump, January 7, 2005
There is a lot of controversy when it comes to naming albums. Talib Kweli's title of his album "Quality" brought in a lot of buzz. It is true you can't say quality without the "kweli," but it did bring about confusion. Calling "R&G: Rhythm & Gangsta" a "Masterpiece" brings about that same discussion as well. Nothing is different than DMX's newly titled album, "Grand Champ." If you're a dog lover, after a dog's fifth victory it is dubbed a "grand champ" which kind of makes sense for X since this is his fifth album of new solo material. But if you want to call "The Great Depression" a victory is all up to you seeing that X has lost a lot of pain in his bite if you know what I mean.
"Grand Champ" is supposed to be DMX's last album, since he is upset with the record labels taking all of the credit for his production. It makes sense, artists do work hard. But for a last album, will it be as hard and grimey as "It's Dark and Hell Is Hot," or will it be a major disaster like "The Great Depression?" Well, DMX has always been known to be a tough guy. He has won over women with his "hard" image and the men with his gruff delivery. However, X tries too hard to keep up his image on a lot of tracks. One prime example is the first single, "Where The Hood At," produced by newcomers the Tuneheadz. He has a whole verse where he talks about homosexuals and goes out of his way to bash them. Def Jam even took the liberty to edit out one of the bars: "Empty out (reload) and throw more (slugs)." Seems to me that Def Jam didn't take to kindly to DMX dissing homosexuals. This will be a current trend throughout the album when DMX ever feels the need to diss someone who is different from him just to keep his street rep.
Album Overview:
1. Dog Intro - This is just an intro. I have to admit, I was very impressed with this one. A great open to the album.
2. My Life - Not much lyrical content on this track. The beat will immediately catch your attention, which will draw you into the track more. Chinky sings the chorus in every other line on the entire song.
3. Where The Hood At - Probably the last commercial hit we will ever see from the Dark Man. I would advise you to not even listen to the third verse on this song. There is a reason why the radios didn't play it, and they had good reason not to.
4. Dogs Out - *Sigh*....whenever you have a track where the hook has you barking on it repeatedly, makes you wonder if DMX is running out of ideas for songs. He completely wastes a Kanye West track.
5. Get It On The Floor - Swizz Beatz was sorely missed on "The Great Depression," and I was happy to see him back here. I think that this song tries too hard to recreate "Party Up" from the "...And Then There Was X" album. It's a party track, and makes you quickly forget about the horrid "Dogs Out" track earlier.
6. Come Prepared (Skit)
7. Shot Down - After a useless skit, comes a song featuring 50 Cent and Styles P. A surprise to some considering DMX usually features artists on albums where he can outshine them easily. 50 Cent and Styles P. make great cameos here (thank god).
8. Bring The Noize - This song is just plain silly. DMX yells "I smell p***y," in the beginning, more times that I've heard since the House Party movie.
9. Untouchable - Ahh...at last. A song that features second tier Ruff Ryders that cameo and try to challenge X. But after 6 minutes, you won't care.
10. F*** Y'all - This song pretty much saves the album at this point. Ron Browz does a great job in implementing the beat to DMX's "start and stop" flow. Whenever you have a reference to Kool G. Rap in a rap song, you know it is going to great.
11. Ruff Radio (Skit)
12. We're Back - After another useless skit, we're brought "We're Back" which reunites DMX with Eve and Jadakiss. This is an alright track which goes with the artists nicely.
13. Ruff Radio 2 (Skit) - (X lets do away with the dumb skits)
14. Rob All Night (If I'm Gonna Rob) - Rockwilder only seems to give good beats to Method Man and Redman. This song is very subpar at best.
15. We Go Hard - This song features a very good sample of "Didn't I Fool You" by Ruby Andrews. Cam'ron makes a very good cameo right here as well. The song would have been perfect if DMX didn't have to bash homosexuals (again) with this line: "Now the only thing I can do with p***y is f**k it / and I might tell you to s**k my d*** but you might s**k it." That is totally unnecessary.
16. We 'Bout To Blow - This song is alright. DMX takes a chance to display Big Stan's verbal abilities. Big Stan was also featured on the "It's Dark and Hell Is Hot" album.
17. The Rain - This is the most surprising song on the entire album. DMX finally leaves the "hard" image alone and breaks down into a very personal ballad. I like this one a lot.
18. Gotta Go (Skit)
19. Don't Gotta Go Home - Monica does a great job in calming down X's profanity which was starting to get on my nerves at this point. If you have Monica's "After the Storm" cd, you've heard this song already.
20. A'Yo Kato - This is the b-side of the "Where The Hood At" video and is produced by Swizz Beatz. This is an in-depth song about one of X's personal friends. A very nice listen.
21. Thank You - Surprising cameo by Patti LaBelle. I have mixed feelings about this one.
22. The Prayer V- Fittingly, the album closes with "The Prayer V." It's kind of ghetto sounding, but it's not my right to critique one of X's prayers.
23. On Top - A skippable bonus track that features Big Stan.
"Grand Champ," by DMX may not live up to its name but it is an improvement from the lackluster "The Great Depression." DMX, however, has lost his spark a little bit, and it may be time for him to leave the game for good. DMX focuses too much on trying to be too hard and forgets to make a good solid album from start to finish. The constant barking is getting old and not appealing to the fans anymore. But don't worry X, there is still plenty of movies for you to make if you get broke.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
DMX aims to stay "Champ" on 5th LP!, February 22, 2004
With his fifth major release, DMX is claiming that he is the five-time champ. With all respect due to X, this statement is part cockiness, part hype. To his credit, "It's Dark And Hell Is Hot" was an instant classic and one of the hottest debuts to come along in some time. With his sophomore LP, "Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood" X became the first artist to drop back-to-back platinum albums in his first year. While "And Then There Was X" dissapointed some of his die-hards fans, it was a powerful album with a few too many party cuts. It was the 2001 release, 'The Great Depression" that dropped X out of the title picture. To many, his act had become stale. His singles didn't pack the same wallop they once did and many of the other tracks felt like "filler". Angry over his lack of possitive praise for that album, X vowed that "Grand Champ" would be the final solo album of his career.On the album's lead-off single, "Where Da Hood At", X shows that he hasn't lost the anger that has become one of his trademarks. While the hook is a bit too simple for my taste, the energetic DMX makes up for it in other areas. He takes some subliminal disses at rival, Ja Rule. Reportedly, Def Jam pushed for X to remove his radio diss, "Ruled Out" from the album due to the fact that they handle distribution for Rule's label, Murder Inc. There are other thinly-disguised jabs hidden through out the album. DMX has always pulled his best performances from the heart and that's where he's coming from on "A'yo Kato", a passionate tribute to a fallen comrade. "Don't Gotta Go Home", a duet with R&B princess, Monica, actually comes off well despite the played-out nature of its content. Tracks like "Dogs Out", "The Rain", and "Thank You" featuring Patty LaBelle also make for some excellent music. "Grand Champ" has some pretty high-profile guests on it but what looks like a dream collabo on paper doesn't seem to always work in the studio. "Get It On The Floor", which pairs him up with longtime collaborator, Swizz Beatz, is far from "Ruff Ryders' Anthem". While X comes amazing with his trademark flow, the goofy and unispired chorus gets tired real quick. A guest spot from the hottest rapper of the moment, 50 Cent, on "Shot Down" is good but not quite a show-stealer. X's latest outing with fellow Ruff Ryder big dogs, Jadakiss and Eve on "We're Back" is somewhat underwhelming in itself. "Grand Champ" puts on a mean face but X seems to have lost some of his edge over the last couple years. With the rumors speculating that this will be his last album, fans may be less than thrilled with this "swan song" for the Dark Man. Far better than "Great Depression" and not nearly as good as his three first albums, "Champ" is far from being a stinker but a little bit out of the title picture.
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