Your Favorite White Boy

Before the world came crashing down on YFWB, I posted a link to producer Bangladesh’s new mixtape, Passport Music.  I was initially excited about the project, becuase I think/thought that Bangladesh was an innovative producer, so I did something I don’t usually do: I posted it without listening to it.   Big mistake. Consider this a review of sorts.

If you’re a dude that has been doing some solid work with Ludacris, Missy Elliott, Beyonce and you drop one of the most jumped on beats in the history of hip-hop, you take advantage of it.  That’s obvious.  Most producers (Scott Storch, Timbo, etc) cash as many cheques as they can crafting beats for all kinds of artists before the hip-hop community move on to some new sound.  Bangladesh decided to parlay his popularity into trying to make it as a recording artist.

Okay, that’s not totally out of the question.  Kanye West did it.  Timbaland did it.  And of course, Dr. Dre did it.  So its not exactly a path less travelled.  If Passport Music is a taste of what to expect from Bangladesh – and I’m not convinced it is – then he needs to get back behind the boards and stay there.  

Its not clear to me why someone who is such a hot producer would not really make any effort to, um… produce hot music.  There is a school of thought that a mixtape is basically a stop gap – you use it to keep your name in the streets while you craft your real project.  That makes sense when you’re an established artist like The Clipse and you have a joint that is highly anticipated.

But if you’re a new dude trying to earn your stripes behind the mic, you need to do two things: 1) keep your beats hot; 2) spit dope-ass lines.  Bangladesh does neither.  His beats are either ones he’s already done or tracks from other artists.  As for the calibre of bars he brings, think Pete Rock: strictly part-time status.

If you’re going to use a mixtape to (re)introduce yourself to heads that you are hoping will then buy your albums, it must be on point.  Its a teaser to sell to the audience.  If you’re trying to showcase your skills as an MC, you need to spit some serious ish.  If you’re a producer, you need to bring those hot joints out of the vault.

As my man Quan says, this thing basically sucks.   If its supposed to acclimatize us to Bangladesh as a rapper who can hold an album down, its an epic fail.  No question, Bangladesh is/was hot.  He decided to put his capital in a stock that in turn went down faster than Lehman Brothers – himself.    He may want to think about a career bailout.

Tags: Bangladesh, Passport Music