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Nefarious - "Speak of Da Devil"
Date: 4/24/01
------------This is the fourth cd by this artist. As I mentioned in a past review, Nefarious is the alias of X-Raided. This is the third cd he recorded while in jail. Like "The Unforgiven", the lyrics are exceptionally clear and it sounds very professional. It is also the second to last cd Raided released with Black Market Records. At any rate, "Speak of Da Devil" is a collection of unreleased verses and it encompasses 14 tracks over almost a full hour of music. This cd came as a surprise, since it followed Raided's last one, which was one of the best cds released in 1999.
___The line up starts of strong, stronger than I expected, with "Worldwide". The beat is amazingly forceful. The bass line connects tightly with the foreground elements. This is some shit to ride to and it stays in your head for a while. It keeps up the pace while Nefarious spits some verses that are at the top of his game. Toward the end of the song, a woman called Hanifah comes in and even she ends up sounding pretty good. Next up is "The Hole", which has strong music and sound effects not unlike those found in Natas' "Multikillionaire", which I rather enjoy. Once again, Raided is consistent with his tight delivery and nothing-but-fire lyrics. A few songs later, "Fatal Blow" comes through with a cautionary message to would-be offenders of Nefarious or his crew. A smooth bass line and seamless transitions from verses to the hook make this one of the best songs on the cd. Yet another couple of songs later, "Trial by Fury" is a cut that has guitars in the background, which give it a retro sound. Combine that with the impecable lyrics of X-Loc and the song comes through as an energetic tale of leaving the streets of the business for the streets to handle. The hook makes this clear, "So that the streets can be my prosecutor, judge and jury// Let me have a trial by fury." Tracks 7, 8, and 9 all contribute to the great base established in the beginning of the cd. "Only in the Studio" (7) is a track talking about the fakes in the game who only spit the hardcore shit in the studio and don't live up to the image they spit. "Jealous" (8) has one of the best beats one the cd, with a continuous set of notes that are unshakable if you listen to this track a lot, even thought the hook leaves something to be desired. Track 9, "Hellraizer", has an electronic organ in the background that gives this cut an erie feeling as Raided talks about his life and ambitions.
___Unfortunately, songs 10 through 14 are nowhere near the greatness of the first songs. Their sound is reminiscent of early 1990s Compton, which makes some sense since Raided sounds young and these were unreleased songs. At any rate, the beats just dont seem to match up with X's style. The best example of this is track 10, "The Evil That Men Do", which has too much of a laidback bass line with a fast symbol all under medium paced lyrics. "Decapitation" sounds too much like G-Funk/George Clinton-esque to work with the lyrics placed over it. Songs like "Incarcerated" (the one that sounds most like the old Compton style) and the title song, "Nefarious" just dont serve it up like the first 9 songs do. The best, however, of this last batch is "Use Yo Nina", which sounds like a throw-back to a "Season of Da Siccness"-style of delivery and beats.
___The cd starts out strong but tapers toward the end. The subject matter ranges from enemies to people representin everywhere in the world to fake ass rappers to Raided's life and present position. Two of the best songs are "Worlwide" and "Trial By Fury" (which, along with "Fatal Blow", Raided is heard introducing the songs on, like on "Macaframa" and this adds certain feel of realism and amazement that Raided can record while in jail the way that he does). As on almost every X-Raided cd, what is being measured are the beats added to his recordings during production because his lyrics very rarely faulter from their high degree of tightness. It is very much the same case on this cd. The music is extremely fitting to the style of rapping in the first 8 or 9 songs, but a different kind of producing comes in toward the end, that doesn't connect with the words being spit. Modifying these tracks, some which tend to be slower than the rapping deserves, would improve the cd incredibly. As it is, however, "Speak of Da Devil" is a must have for any fan of Neferious and will be enjoyed by others for its creativeness, delivery, and successful chemistry of lyrics and beats for a majority of the cd.
