Review Summary: An incredible lyrical display that is let down by the production.
At the young age of sixteen, Chino XL was signed by super-producer Rick Rubin to his label American Records and “Here to Save You All” is a great showcase for Chino’s amazing lyrics but unfortunately there aren’t many memorable beats on the album, so Chino has to carry the show mostly on his own with guests on only three tracks.
Years before Eminem claimed “I Just Don’t Give A ***,” and became known for taking aim at popular celebrities, Chino XL’s debut was practically an encyclopedia of hilarious and scathing pop culture references. Unlike Eminem, Chino proved that he truly didn’t give a ***, after all who else would spit a line like “Government engineered like ebola for this rap garage sale by this industry, I'm trying not to get ***ed like 2Pac in jail” or “Punchlines with more elasticity than Biggie's stretch marks?” Dissing two of the top rappers at the time (when both were still alive) was unimaginable. While Eminem’s targets were safer and picked more carefully: Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, N’Sync, but Chino would say anything about anyone just to get his point across.
“Riiiot” features a guest spot by Ras Kass and perhaps it is fitting because much like Chino, Ras Kass is a highly respected lyricist who only occasionally creates great tracks but has also hamstrung by awful production. Another guest spot is by fellow un-commercial rapper Kool Keith on "The Shabba-Doo Conspiracy," if you know anything about crazy-ass Kool Keith, nothing he says should surprise you but “camouflage tampax?” Simple production doesn’t necessarily equal bad production, there are many great hip hop beats that are simple but that’s not the case on this album, the beats here are simple AND bad. The only producer of note here is KutMasta Kurt who contributes the beat for “Deliver,” while it’s not terrible, it’s also nothing special, just drums with some barely audible strings sample. The bluesy horns for “Kreep” make it the highlight of the album, it really gives it an appropriately somber feel because on this track Chino spins a tale about an ex-lover while borrowing the hook from Radiohead’s song of the same name.
Chino’s lyricism is nearly unparalleled in the hip hop world but his punch-line laden raps are pretty hilarious and entertaining. He uses his skills mostly to diss everyone in sight and to exalt himself however he proves effect at telling stories as shown on “Kreep” and “What Am I,” the latter dealing with his identity crisis concerning his half-black half-Puerto Rican heritage. Although “Kreep” got him some airplay, Chino would never get to much recognition because of his tendency to say whatever about whoever: “Avoid battling me like I’m Eazy-E’s blood sample” and “My company is ***ing me like Arsenio does Eddie Murphy,” needless to say, that wasn’t going to make him very many friends.
When an album is as lyrically dense as “Here to Save You All,” it’s good to have simple production so you can concentrate on the almost impenetrable lyrics but when it’s this bad, it’s also distracting. It makes you wonder what this lyrical phenom could do with even decent production. This album contains 61(!) tracks but 17-59 are blank, track 60 is just a minute and a half of tasteless OJ Simpson jokes, way to go out with a bang Chino.
Recommended tracks:
Kreep
What Am I?
Ghetto Vampire
