3/5
The Hunger For Even More.
Nelly on 'Another One' like DJ Khaled once rapped, "I should move to Bel-Air the way I fill-up banks." Damn! That rap wasn't filthy rich..."but it could use a bath." The only thing hotter in heere than 'Pimp Juice' moving units in the 2000's was 50 Cent and G-Unit. Now forget that line for a second, the punchline king and former second in command to Curtis Jackson's Aftermath (even when The Game came) shares his name with an actual bank in the UK (Lloyds Bank...just switch the 's'). That's building society big. More M's than millions, the Prodigy (Rest Peacefully) dubbed, "Billionaire Budget Jackson" even brought legends Mobb Deep, M.O.P. AND Ma$e across the pond to England once for a massive tour that was meant to feature Eminem and D12, until Marshall Mathers' best friend and right hand man Proof was tragically killed in Detroit. In the former M.E.N. Manchester Arena 50 brought the house down like dropping dimes before putting a cassette in a tape deck. The only one not in attendance was a house arrest, passport surrendered Tony Yayo (his Proof). Then after showing he was so fly, Lloyd had to bank on calling it a night after becoming so sick like Ne-Yo...literally with food poisoning like a MJ flu game. Seriously there's nothing quite as gangster as hearing, "Lloyd Banks will not be returning to the stage...he has an upset stomach." But hey, what can we say. His stomach was 'On Fire' ("what you say?"). There's a lot of bad pizza in Manchester. Just memories of the good ole days and a hunger were this time Banks didn't want more like Oliver, "please sir". It's been too long like blowing birthdays instead of cake, but now he's back for some post-90's rap reminiscent nostalgia like reading Vibe and XXL between college classes.
G-Unit may not be getting thrown up anymore like stuttering on the G, but Banks still has 'The Hunger For More' like his classic or the 'H.M.F. 2' sequel after getting into the 'Rotten Apple' of being one of New York's finest. All for his fourth album and first for Apple Music and in a decade and one years change, 'The Course Of The Inevitable'. Why so long you ask? Despite the briefest of those inevitable rap retirements like 'The Black Album'. No one in this game fades to black. Ignited by the lead track 'Propane' that sets the roof on fire again. Nah, he aint putting nothing out on the 'Sidewalks' he strolls like the black and white artwork, hand-in-hand with his son. This is as street as the dreams Nas used to have with a NY state of mind and firm Dre like piano. On 'Empathy' he has none for the competition rapping, "from here on out its independent, f### what the labels are offering." On the 'Early Exit' with Roc Marci and smooth soul samples Banks goes even deeper, before giving you 'Formaldehyde' with Benny The Butcher. "Every song is a homicide/My breath of fresh air is formaldehyde/Just let the album ride/I'm back in the zone in 2009 (oops)/You're in the browsing lines," he raps, terminating everything on site that begs for mercy like 'Poppin' Them Thangs'. "I'm about a buck" he says on the chorus like Jay-Z once rapped on 'It's Hot' ("I'm about a dollar, what the f### is 50 Cents?"). Some like it hot like Marylin Monroe. We wonder what's good with Banks and the man who put him on as Curtis compares him to an "estranged son". On 'Death By Design' Lloyd warns, "money don't make the man, but you better make you some/Envy hides behind compliments so watch who you take them from." manifesting his own destiny that's not ready to die like B.I.G. "My zodiacs a dollar sign" he says for those who "thought (his) first was a fluke." "Red circles middle of white tees that looks Japan", he says offering another Notorious warning...to those trying to stick them for the paper of his rhyme book. They've got a red dot on their head too like as he said on the Biggie 'Victory' remix, "it was part of your religion" (his words...not mine). "I give a f### about your Instagram/I give a f### about your Twitter/Don't follow me you see me in the streets n###," he tells Gen Z on the 'Food' with Styles P (thanks for the Christmas Cameo by way of G, Ghost. I love you too) of The Lox. "You've got something to say to (him) tell (his) secretary". All before taking the 'Crown' like the lyrical King of NY he still is. Watch the new underground throne.
Heavy is the head on the 'Falsified' note with Ransom who himself warns of the "carnivores in the corner stores". The slow flow of 'Break Me Down' breaks down the industry into exactly what it is as Banks saves his best lines for this, "the devil want to take.me.down/But I can't let him break.me.down/I can't make no mistakes.he's.round/Feel like I'm going.cray.now/I'm paranoid late-ly.now/Feels like nothing can.make.me.smile/I know they want to break.me.down/Everyone in.my.face.seems.foul." On 'Commitment' he wants to see you 'Smile' again like wanting to get to know R&B ballads, riding with rhythm and blues soprano Joe. "It's time we have a talk about commitment/I thought with that everything would be different/I'm trying to lead you in direction/I thought if I gave you space things would get better but they didn't/The line between reality you gotta know the difference/Important you separate what is from what isn't/There'll never be progress if there's no room to listen." Now if that doesn't sound like real talk then YOU must not be listening. There's more 'Pressure, Pain (and) Paranoia' for this man who is mining diamonds as he realizes, "n####s show you their colours as soon as you flip the Rubix," "in this world were they love to build and destroy." Dialling it to eleven on the unlucky for some track 13, 'Stranger Things', this friend doesn't lie with bars of truth that turns the game upside down like those Indiana Fever Nike 'Rebel' jerseys for the WNBA's 25th anniversary. He keeps it riding on 'Drop 5' before having 'Panic' with Sy Ari Da Kid and his classic chorus. "Evil will look you right in your face scarred if you lock eyes/Misery is a long ride that carbon monoxide." Through the 'Smoke and Mirrors' of who's family and what's fake, separating what's real, Banks breaks it down, "things aint always what they seem/You claim to be family stay that way no give a f###s in-between/Don't know what you're out there looking for they put me here to be king/Got to be more then a shoulder for you to lean/Things aint always what they seem/You claim to be family stay that way no give a f###'s in-between/Queens." On the penultimate 21 gun 'Saw', 'Spiral' savage salute with Vado and a 'Dishonourable Discharge' this soldier lets them things go over good doctor prescribed like keys. In this likes over currency world of social media coin, "attention's the strongest drug known to man." "Are you the type", Banks challenges the IG following crowd. All before the album abbreviated titled closer of 'COTI' that finishes everything and everybody off. "Take a walk through my catalogue that no one helped design/Just when you thought you finally clipped my wings you helped me to fly," he not so subtlety and cryptically raps in the final cipher before cut. "The streets don't show love and get in to it don't make you a boss/There's no remorse/The terms of the inevitable course/Don't follow nobody else's, figure out which path is yours/'Cause lights go off/And I pray to God I never get lost/They always watching, pretending they want you winning of course/They want the torch/The terms of the inevitable course/All I got is my words and principles I never cross/Can't get knocked off/The terms of the inevitable course", this wise and weary wordsmith concludes in circling couplets for this street poets lyrical laments of pure and uncut rhymes. We live in a time in this unforgiving genre and industry, let alone entertainment business and world were we don't know what we got until it's Janet Jackson and Q-Tip sampling Joni gone. Like Black Rob. Like DMX. Just to name a few. But at least Lloyd Banks and Earl Simmons got to squash their beef before the 'Exodus'. Now let's celebrate a modern great whilst he's still in his prime of life. When it comes to COTI it's good to have Lloyd back. Bank on it. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Propane', 'Break Me Down', 'Commitment'.
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