Scarface - Emeritus

So Scarface says he's retiring. Of course he is. I'm not sure who started the trend, on first thought I'd say Too Short, but the fake retirement ploy is getting more than a little bit ridiculous, especially when backpacker dreck like Lupe Fiasco is playing the card after what? Two records?

Frankly, I'd expect more from our man Brad. He's been in the game as a rapper and a Def Jam executive for years now. Jay-Z may be the paradigm, but Scarface was driving Ferraris and signing Ludacris in 2000. He was one of the first to settle in Atlanta and make it the music town that it is today. Trust me, if you're dumb enough not to know the man's significance, you really need to take a trip on the Interwebs and check the history. Face is a great rapper, but he's market savvy enough to know that collabos are what sell units in this day and age, especially if you're considered old-school. He's got a good number of them on Emeritus. The track with the two MVPs when it comes to collabos in 2K8 (Bun B and L'il Wayne, who claims pretty hysterically on the track that his new name is 'featuring L'il Wayne') is as good as you might suspect, but the tracks with Wacko from UTP are the real eye-openers for me. I liked Wacko quite a bit when he was down with Juvenile and partnered with Skip. It's nice to see that he's still on his grind and getting notice from the big names.

There are a couple of weird eventualities here, like the J. Prince intro that is pretty much three minutes of Prince castigating Rats, The Feds and The Houston Police. He generally comes off like a sociopath and makes me think he's probably OJ guilty of all the charges, but word to his representation, he seems to have triumphed. I know J. Prince is known for intros on Rap-A-Lot releases, but this one has a exponentially higher level of self-centeredness. More importantly, it makes no mention of Scarface, his impending retirement, or the record that follows. There is a sound bite that claims that Scarface approves this message, but this intro is even more extraneous than the average self-aggrandizing hip-hop record intro. I'd call that a must-skip, but save for that, the rest of Emeritusis pretty strong. It's not going to get a lot of love from the average Young Jeezy fan, but if you liked Face over the years, you'll definitely like Emeritus.

Check here for Vegas odds on him staying retired. The Scarface web presence is here. When they aren't hugging puppies or otherwise succoring the afflicted, you can find Rap-A-Lot here.

R