Post by StevePulaski on Feb 5, 2015 22:45:53 GMT -5
Rockstar Mentality (2007)
By: Shop Boyz
By: Shop Boyz
Rating: ★★
The more I've thought about it, listened to it over and over again, and talked about it with peers, the more I realize how the Shop Boyz's mega-hit song "Party Like a Rockstar" was one of the most successful experiments in mainstream music of the 2000's. In an era that saw many teenagers drifting from hip-hop to heavy metal and rock, the Shop Boyz created a zippy and inspired anthem that was perfect for any raucous club or any school dance (the song was guaranteed to be played twice or thrice during the school dances my middle school would always put on). Even as I seek it out on my phone today, each listen fills me with a sense of excitement as the snares and guitar riffs tear through the standard but adequate lyrics shouted by the three Shop Boyz members in a way that creates an effective blend of two very distinct musical genres.
It's a shame the Shop Boyz debut album Rockstar Mentality doesn't bear the same kind of quality control; what could've resulted in an album that ambitiously and uniquely blended the sounds of hip-hop and rock is nothing more than a calculated commercial experiment resulting in a rote line of conventional tracks, most of which barely capitalizing off of the Shop Boyz's self-described genre "hood rock." In fact, only three immediate songs come to mind that effectively blend the boisterous qualities of rap lyrics and the instrumentation of rock and roll and those are "Party Like a Rockstar," "World on Fire," bearing another line of guitar riffs, and "Sumthin' to Talk About," throwing in a collection of average sounds seemingly stripped from a rock and roll soundboard. The rest of the songs exhibit more of the former qualities of hip-hop in a depressingly standard way, with only a few tracks breaking away from that and diving into some truly questionable R&B fare. This is one of the past decade's most questionable musical releases.
For example, "Bowen Homes," the follow up to "Party Like a Rockstar" on the album, is a hip-hop track, plain and simple. Its highly-repetitive chorus and snare-heavy instrumentation practically rob it of any element of the latter part of its "hood rock" brand. Other follow-ups like "They Like Me," again, heavy on repetition and looping beats, "Flexin'," a bonafide brag-anthem, and "Totally Dude," a repetitive slog sampling the weaker half of "Party Like a Rockstar" all exist in a state of predicating themselves off of mixtape-quality rap rather than the potential of the group's self-described brand.
"Rollin'," however, is an interesting track, combining a more R&B and low-key hip-hop sound, especially on its smooth, easy-listening chorus, definitely making for one of the more unique songs of the album. While none of the tracks on Rockstar Mentality are particularly loathsome in any way, they suffer from a smothering sameness that dodges and dances around its genre rather than embraces it. Most of the rap tracks I mentioned above are okay, and worth a listen, but none of them transcend what the Shop Boyz's image or album title truly embrace. The mentality at hand is clearly the mentality of commercial minds striving to go where the puck isn't in hopes it will magnetize itself towards the goal, and in this case, it was headed for the goal before dodging and weaving sooner than anyone had expected.
Recommend tracks (in order): "Party Like a Rockstar," "Rollin'," "Flexin'," and "Bowen Homes."