With Ja Rule and Ashanti ruling R & B and hip-hop charts, it was only logical for the producer behind their hits, Irv Gotti, to capitalize from the success. And the album, “Irv Gotti Presents The Inc.” from the “world’s most talented record label,” as Ja Rule said on the album, does just that.
The newly released album is a collaboration of all the artists signed to the record label Murder Inc. The compilation has 16 tracks with the word murder laced throughout the entire album.
The first song of the long album, “Gangstafied,” features producer Ja Rule and label unknowns Chink Santana, Ronnie Bumps and Caddillac Tah. It has the typical hard-core gangster lyrics which depicts how criminal this label thinks, and supposedly acts. With a strong bass line and vocals, the song sounds grimy and harsh.
Murder Inc. is just another hard-core record company for an oversaturated hip-hop industry of rappers entertaining with violent thoughts. But Chink Santana is an artist to keep your eye out for.
It’s hard to believe Ashanti, who had a hit with “Foolish,” came from this label.
R & B and hip-hop’s new princess has a smooth singing-style. She’s featured on three tracks. One of the tracks is “Down 4 U,” a radio hit about females being down with their man - the whole Bonnie and Clyde vibe.
Then there’s “No One Does It Better,” featuring Charli Baltimore. The only thing good about this song is Ashanti and her vocals. Baltimore does an average job rapping and I have heard others do it better, such as label-mate Vita. Baltimore needs to work on her delivery and hone her style.
Ja Rule also is featured on four tracks, including “Down 4 U.” But the ninth track, “The Rain,” featuring Ja Rule and label-mates Jody Mack and 0-1, is hot.
Murder Inc.’s new artists Santana and Tah sound like they could have promising careers as rappers. Santana has a lyrical style similar to Tupac’s, but is still distinct. He’s featured on the last song, “Hold On,” which is about how he escaped from the life of selling drugs. “Life up on the corner/All I could try to is hold on.”
Surviving inner city obstacles seems to be a personal subject that he describes throughout the song.
But don’t forget about the Inc.’s lyrical veteran Vita, who should have been featured more on the album. Vita was featured on “Down 4 U” and “Here We Come,” where the ghetto mommy shows how no one else does it better because she’s right on track with the guys and their hard-core lyrics: “I promise to lose no contest/This click don’t front they squeeze/This click I roll with is the Inc.”
Murder Inc. has a nice upcoming roster of artist to compete in the world of hip-hop. But the album sometimes falls off on various songs because there just aren’t enough stars on the team. Overall, it’s an average hard-core rap album with hot tracks and sweet vocals.
