Year of the Beast [LIMITED EDITION]

C-Rayz Walz

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 17, 2005)
• Original Release Date: May 17, 2005
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Limited Edition
• Label: Definitive Jux
• ASIN: B0008F10Y2
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #175,475 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Perhaps Def Jux's (increasingly less) best kept secret, lrycist extraordinare C.Rayz returns with his finest effort to date. An honest-to-goodness banger straddling the line beween street and backpacker, featuring guests EL-P, VORDUL MEGA, JEAN GRAE, ROB SONIC, M-1 of DEAD PREZ and more.

DVD limited to initial pressing, includes live songs filmed at BB Kings', plus 2 videos, and commentary by AESOP ROCK, MR LIF, & EL-P.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Make sure you bring your dic...tionary, August 5, 2005

By	DukeOfEarl "I Hiphops for life" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This was yet another chance for me to catch up on an artist that I have missed, since this album dropped this year. After hearing this, needless to say, I'm intrigued to hear more from him. C-Rayz Walz has a voice that is a cross between Sadat X and Pharoahe Monch. Also, he has a personality like none other. That's what everyone kept reiterating on the DVD: how much personality C-Rayz has. The truth is, you can't say enough about his personality and charisma. It happens to be his greatest asset as an MC.
On a sticker for the cd, it quotes someone saying, "Nobody wrecks a stage like C-Rayz Walz." Judging by the footage on the DVD, he seems rather laid-back on stage so I'm wondering how that claim was made. Anyways, I bet C-Rayz has the personality and look to gain fame on BET and MTV, but thankfully he chooses to make his music too thought-provoking and personal to lower himself to their level. The dude's got absolutely some of the best metaphors you'll ever her. That seems to be his bread and butter when he's rhyming.
On to the cd, the second track is alright, but the highlight area of the album is #'s 3-7 (all essential songs). I would say that "TheRhymeIntervention" and "Paradise" are the strongest out of those. The only other true standouts are the personal/introspective "Carefree" and the smooth collaboration with M-1 (Dead Prez) on "Black Soap." "MusicTakeovah" is a decent change-of-pace, but not that memorable, and he tackles a tired underground concept with suprising freshness and humour on "Pink." He goes for a sensitive topic over a rock beat on "BlackOut" and makes his point, but the song isn't overly praiseworthy IMO. The last track has a very tight beat.
Despite the number of different producers, for the most part the production works, and works well. Most of it is dark, which seems to be what C-Rayz works best with anyways. This album is not easily forgettable, yet I wouldn't quite claim it as in the top-5 of this year. C-Rayz is as "conscious," witty, charismatic, and hilarious as anyone else out there. He seems to be quite the song-writer as well. This "Year of the Beast" has definitely made its mark in 2005 and should not be ignored by any true lover of music.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A real life walking, talking, spittin' BEAST!!, August 24, 2006

By	gavin redmond "phrase" (rep of ireland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As with all C-RAYZ releases you get an mc jam-packed with skills, delivery, passion, charisma and heart. What you also get is an original sounding album EVERYTIME. Whether it be to do with his choice of producers or his choice of topics its always different to every other mc out now, which is always a good thing. Unfortunately that "originality" doesnt always come off and in turn actually makes it very hard to get into alot of his stuff like on the "Ravipops" album. However this time round, more times than not, he hits all of his intended targets. Tracks like the opener "R'Thentic", "FirstWordsWorse", "Knowledge", "StreetReppin", "Paradise" and the truely amazing "SayWerd" are examples of this. I always find RAYZ much more entertaining solo rather than with afew guests, he just has so much mic presence that you want to hear only him. Other strong joints are "WalkThrough", "MusicTakeovah", "Carefree" and "BlackSoap". Not to say the other tracks are weak, they just didnt satisfy my hunger as much as the these did. Well worth copping, for something original that these crunk/jiggy idiots could only DREAM of being able to do!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a new blastmaster emerges, September 26, 2005

By	yajdubuddah "yajarod" (cheboygan,michigan usa) - See all my reviews

believe the hipe, c-rayz is a beast in the hip hop sceen. nyc finest, down with the brooklyn sceen which hip hop was born. c-rayz is not concerned with destroying, but like others such as krs-one, c-rayz is about uplifting the streets "i walk through the getto holding my dic-tonary others are mad & pissed" not scense the blastmaster krs-one has someone really been this vivatious about hip hop & the music & people surrounding it, knowledge reigns supreme over nearelly everyone. he is also the only other rapper besided krs-one who ive ever heard rap about Mumia Abu-Jamal who is an award-winning Pennsylvania journalist who exposed police violence against minority communities. On death row since 1982, he was wrongfully sentenced for the shooting of a police officer. New evidence, including the recantation of a key eyewitness, new ballistic and forensic evidence and a confession from Arnold Beverly (one of the two killers of Officer Faulkner) points to his innocence! Mumia had no criminal record. see krs-one self titled cd free mumia. the beats on this cd are also amazing featuring up beat hip hop & down tempo beats similar to gorillaz tacktics, using real instruments with samples & effectz. c-rays videos may not get mtv play time but when mtv needed a made couch for their show of the same name, they called apon c-rayz to help a white highschool nerd turn into the freestyle spit king. the dvd is also awesome which takes you from meeting people who also agree that c-rayz is a beast of this hip hop music, live performance, & 2 videos.
anyfans of gorillaz, Lateef & the Chief, Aesop Rock, metabolics (wordsound), krs-one, channel live. he reprosents the real hip hop