Album Review: Sadat X – Brand New Bein’ (2009)
Rating: 2 out of 5 Potholes
Sadat X hits us with his sixth studio album to date entitled Brand New Bein’. This album champions Sadat as the most prolific writer in the Brand Nubian camp, but as I came to realize quickly that being prolific doesn’t mean much without quality to back it up. The whole album of Brand New Bein‘ is plagued by terrible production and lackluster verses. On paper, the album looks wonderful sporting guest appearances by CL Smooth, KRS-One, Craig G, Buckshot, Lord Jamar, Grand Puba, and C-Ray Walz but the reality is different when this album is played. All of the production of the album is handled by DJ JS1 who I had never heard of. After digging up some info I found he was a member of the RockSteady crew and one of the only members to produce his own records. He has even produced the Roulette battle records which are fairly well known in the DJ world. I then came across some information that said DJ JS1 has even produced for Common, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, Canibus and Pharoahe Monch. So after reading the impressive facts I popped the album in.
My first impression of the album was good up until I hit play on my iPod and heard “All For One ’08”. Right out of the gate I am confronted with Sadat X’s need to rehash his past with Brand Nubian (besides the clever album title). The beat is an exact remake of the original song “All For One” and even uses the same James Brown sample chopped in the exact same way, but the twist is that the production is worse! The beat sounds like it was programmed with stock Fruity Loops drums and the chops on the samples are less than should be expected on a classic emcee’s album. The other problem I had was that Sadat’s backing tracks were so off from his verse that it actually made certain parts of his delivery hard to understand. So right out of the gate I am confused and disappointed, but I decide to give Sadat the benefit of the doubt and listen on.
The rest of the tracks on the album continually go down hill after “All For One ’08” save “Blow Up Da Spot”, which features KRS-One and Sadat trading verses on a track that DJ JS1 definitely came correct on. Sadat delivers his verses fairly well through the album with the opening track being recorded the worse, but Sadat’s lyrical content was lacking and is often more focused on the past and shallow topics rather than what Sadat is capable of. The guest appearances out shine Sadat on almost every track and carry the weight of most of the album. As much as I love Sadat and Brand Nubian, this album shows that Sadat X is still stuck in the past. The few dope tracks on the album suggest that Sadat still has it in him and I would rather see him go out with a bang then fade away slowly.
Sadat still has potential and skills, but I think he has surrounded himself with amateur-hour people. Which I don’t understand why, because if he can call in favors from Pubs, KRS One, Craig G, Buckshot, etc why not call in producers? I was really disappointed because I love Brand Nubian.
Felt Ed Zachary the same. There are so many amateur mistakes on the album it was bizarre. Proof that most artists NEED a real producer to be making technical-level decisions for them. Not having your ad-libs squared up is some amateur hour shit, and I’m sure I don’t even have to talk to you about the tinny-ass beats and funkless mixing on this.
It’s a pity cuz Sadat has real potential, and there’s not too many OLD DUDES you can say that about.