Big Noyd :
On The Grind

Release Date: 21 February 2005

Reviewed By: Christine Serio

Intro

2. Hu, What

3. Most Famous

4. Come Thru

5. Hoody Like That

6. Louder

7. Rush

8. Get Doe (skit)

9. Kill Dat There

10. All My Peoples

11. Off The Wall

12. Ain't Too Much

13. On The Grind (skit)

14. Young and Thuggin'

15. Infinite Team

16. Money Rolls

17. Trust 'em

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As a diehard Eminem fan who hasn’t had extensive exposure to many other artists in the rap realm of Music Land, Big Noyd’s sophomore album ‘On the Grind’ had an interesting effect on me. The mellower, more consistent style of his music intrigued and relaxed me...for about five and a half minutes. Unfortunately, by the end of the CD’s fourth track, my relaxation had become an R.E.M. cycle. No, his music isn’t bad, it’s just all been done before by every rapper known to man, beast, and extraterrestrial life form within spitting distance of the sun.

‘On the Grind’, produced almost entirely by Havoc and Ric Rude, and featuring Prodigy and Mobb Deep in bulk, contains 17 tracks, including three skits. Forty-seven minutes and eighty seconds of perpetual monotony, but as is the case with most such albums, it does have a few redeeming points. In this case, those points are: ‘Hu, What?’, ‘Louder’, and ‘Young and Thuggin’’. To his credit, Big Noyd goes solo on both ‘Hu, What?’ and ‘Young and Thuggin’’, and there is only a short feature of Prodigy on ‘Louder’. ‘Hu, What?’ has the energy and catchy riff of a good opener, despite ultimately falling victim to the droning repetition that kills most of the other songs. ‘Louder’ and ‘Young and Thuggin’’, whilst also victims to said repetition, are subsequently blessed with addictive piano accents that snag the listener’s attention and manage to keep it through the whole song.

Content-wise, ‘On the Grind’ offers about as much lyrical variation as the music itself. Aside from the grating nasal voice interrupting the music every 25 seconds to remind me yet again that I am, in fact, listening to a promotional CD, the unoriginality was the most annoying aspect of the album. Zilch on the topical freshness, though that’s to be expected as we have yet to discover the genius rapper who comes out with an innovative rhyme about sunshine and coconut martinis. And while it’s hardly fair to take a stab at Noyd for following the masses in this respect, he could at least try to rephrase what he’s saying. I’ve heard the “baby mama drama” spiel, for instance, in at least four other songs before – a point highlighted by the fact that I really don’t listen to extensive amounts of rap in the first place. Hence, hearing relatively new artists like Big Noyd (his debut album, ‘Only the Strong’, came out in 2003) essentially just repeating virtual blueprints of rhymes that have been around forever gets frustrating after a while.

As with any album, the more you listen to ‘On the Grind’ the easier it becomes to make distinctions between the different songs, though I confess that I’ve been listening to it for four days straight and this has just started happening for me. Don’t turn to this album if you’re looking for something that’s going to bounce around in your head and keep your foot tapping all day. But, if nothing else, I will vouch for it being quite good lullaby music. Really. He and Enya would make a great team!

Rating: 3 out of 5

Top Three Tracks:
14) Young and Thuggin’
2) Hu, What?
6) Louder (feat. Prodigy)

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