DJ Quik & Kurupt - BlaQKout Album Review

In imperiled times , fictitious and actual, there has always been one constant: A hero/savior has come to save the imperiled. At this point in time, the West Coast's Hip hop legacy is beginning to look bleak once again. The West Coast fought long and hard to be respected as a Hip Hop powerhouse, as it was often overshadowed by Hip Hop's birthplace, The East Coast. Drawing strength from numbers, the West Coast began to make noise with NWA and even made attacks on the East Coast with NWA's progeny Snopp Dogg and the Dogg Pound. Much later the banner for good West Coast Hip Hop is most proudly waved by, sadly, only Snoop Dogg and The Game. Neither of these emcees have dropped a successful album in a while, so others attempt to seize their opportunity to save the West Coast from Hip Hop mediocrity & obscurity.

Enter super producer DJ Quik and witty lyricist Kurupt of the aforementioned Dogg Pound who have served OVER 17 YEARS in the Hip Hop game! The combination of these two should undoubtedly create an album that's more than enough to combat the East Coast's recent barrage of new albums from Jadakiss, Busta and Meth & Red. Unfortunately, our heroes are not up to the task.

I never have and never will expect much from Quik on lyrics, although he is entertaining. Kurupt, on the other hand, I have come to expect a lot from lyrically and hold to a lofty standard. However, on The BlaQKout, Kurupt drops the ball, or the mic as it were. There were no standout verses on this album and to begin to speak about Quik's contributions lyrically would be beating a dead horse. Quik does however redeem himself on the beats, until he begins to recreate sounds from his past, most notably the Truth Hurt's Addictive beat(Whatsha Won Do, Hey Playa) to no great effect. You'll be nodding your head at the first track Blaqkout but by Whatcha Won Do (The Alternate version) you're ready for it all to end.

Kurupt asks on the title track, " How can you go wrong? DJ Quik on the beat. Kurupt Young Gotti on the mic. Quik on the mic" Answer: The emcee and producer are not consistent throughout the album, played out beats, wack choruses (Cream N Ya Panties) and possibly overconfidence. DJ Rahdu gives The Blaqkout 4.5 out of 7 Headnods. My notables: Blaqkout, Ohh!, F*ck Y'all, & The Appeal

Head Nod Scale
1=Don't waste your time like I did mine.
2=Waste your time like I did mine but I dare you to disagree.
3=Well, there was the single.
4=If it were a hand in spades there's "two and a possible".
5=It's a "good" album. Meaning at least 3 or 4 solid songs.
6=Really Good Project. Has the "Rewind Factor" more than once.
7=The number of completion. Great Album. Instant Classic.