Post by StevePulaski on Apr 8, 2015 12:00:36 GMT -5
Down for Life (2005)
By: D4L
By: D4L
Rating: ★½
"What's your name? Bitch, I'm the Stuntman!" - D4L, "Stuntman"
The lyrical complexity of snap group D4L's first and only studio album Down for Life doesn't really surpass the above line, but then again, was it ever expected to? D4L is a curious oddity in rap music because they came at the dawn of the snap music craze but didn't even stick around to see it develop; they came, they saw, they conquered with a huge first single, and faded into complete obscurity, disbanding shortly after the release of this album. For starters, it must be said that snap music isn't known for the depth of its lyricism, and I wouldn't even think of grading a snap album based on the simplicity of its lyricism. Snap is all about sound, flow, and wittiness, and because of that, it's very rare to see an artist accomplish the style for an entire album. The end result is usually a handful of decent songs and the remainder are mediocre or extremely poor quality. Even Soulja Boy, who really gets the recognition for kickstarting the genre, has yet to make a thoroughly good album on all of the aforementioned fronts.
Down for Life is a throwaway album, mainly because its two singles are so lame and uninspired and the instrumentation of the album isn't even marginally strong or assertive enough. This goes to work against the album during songs like "Bankhead" and "What Can You Do," which want to take on a more crunk personality but simply don't have the means to do so based on their content. Consider Lil Jon, who can make it work thanks to booming production and hilarious lyricism, and then look at a song like "Bankhead," bent on a nauseating "chopped and screwed" style that leaves the wit and fun at the door.
The two frontrunners of the album are the monstrously successful single "Laffy Taffy," which, even ten years later, is still as stupid and as witless as ever, with instrumentation that sounds like it was ripped of the background music of a Nintendo Entertainment System game, and "Betcha Can't Do it Like Me," a song that's even more senseless and monotonous. Just to show the level of idiocy on the album, there is a song that comes two tracks before "Betcha Can't Do it Like Me" called "Do it Like Me," almost as if D4L couldn't be bothered to think when naming their songs. However, "Do it Like Me" is one of the only passable songs on the album, with the group acting like a band of snap choir boys, bearing a catchy sound and a smooth flow from the chorus to the respective verses. It's one of the most impressive tracks on the album and functions in a manner that's both catchy and not so moronically structured it's burdened by its own inconsistency.
The only other passable track on the album is "Stuntman," which, despite a repetitive chorus, even though that complaint could go for every song on this album, still finds a kind of mounting energy that, again, makes it feel structured as opposed to genre affronts like "S*****' Me" and "Bankhead" that feel like they're defying that kind of attention-to-detail at every turn. With the barrage of indifference and stupidity to be found in D4L's Down for Life, it's no wonder the group disbanded shortly after the creation of this album. Group member Shawty Lo was already focused on the future, and Atlantic Records already got their smash-hit ringtone of the decade. Similar to the Shop Boyz, famous for "Party Like a Rockstar," there really was no need for a sophomore effort in this case.
Recommended tracks (in order): "Do it Like Me" and "Stuntman."