Smif-N-Wessun used to be my least favourite 'group' in the whole Boot Camp Clik, I just didn't find them that interesting in terms of flow or lyricism. O.G.C. are similarly a little too soporific in their flows on Da Storm, but everyone seems to acknowledge that - Dah Shinin' is usually seen as the definitive early BCC album, with better rhyming than Enta Da Stage and the purest, hardest set of Beatminerz beats. I'm a big fan of the rapping on Enta Da Stage, so I've always been a bit indignant listening to this one and had a 'hey, it ain't that special!' attitude. Recently, I've got more into it and I recognise it's an essential part of those great first 4 Beatminers-aided BCC albums. And heeeeeeere we go.
First off, the beats. DJ Evil Dee produced most of Enta Da Stage with a little help from his brother Mr. Walt. Mr. Walt gets a few more beats on here, but it's still mainly Evil Dee's show. They also bring in other Beatminer associates Baby Paul and Rich Black. So after turning in a great set of beats on Enta Da Stage two years ago, do the Beatminers want to tear up the blueprints and *** with the formula? Well... not yet, no. Later they would, but for Dah Shining I guess they thought 'why mess with perfection too much' and did like they knew how to do. All of the beats form a very cohesive sound of hard drums, heavy basslines and brilliantly-placed distant jazz samples. It's creepy, it's atmospheric and it sounds incredibly menacing, in a very stoned 3am way. If you dug Enta Da Stage, you'll probably like these beats even more.
Now on to the rapping. Tek & Steele play off each other excellently... they flow together so smoothly that I honestly can't tell them apart. Of course, the positive way of looking at that is that there's no weak link in the chain; if you like one, you'll like the other. Lyrically these guys pick up where Buckshot Shorty left off, but they're more explicitly 'crimey': they tote guns, puff crazy weed, don't give a *** about you, run with wild-ass niggaz who also don't give a *** about you, and generally don't trust their fellow man. If you so much as look at them, you may as well have their dick in your mouth... you homo. You won't find many lines like 'get on my skateboard and do a mother***in' drive-by' on this album.
This leads to my one problem with this album: after 67 minutes of standin' firm, blasting down any punks who gwaan test, and smoking crazy amounts of lye, once in a while you'll hit a track that doesn't really engage you as it's just *** you've heard before. However, this doesn't happen that often really; Tek and Steele deserve credit for managing to make their admittedly monotonous and played out (even in 1995) subject matter interesting for the most part. What doesn't hurt is an extremely strong first half of the album. You've got 'Timz-N-Hood-Chek' with its great bassline, 'Wrektime', 'Wontime' and 'Wreckonize' with their awesome hooks, the frantic 'K.I.M.' and of course the definitive Smif-N-Wessun track, 'Bucktown'. Even 'Sound Bwoy Burreil', which seems to be the weak pick of the bunch, makes me like it with its charming slackness and casual malevolence.
The handful of weak tracks that do pop up after these songs sadly includes the first BCC posse cut, 'Cession At Tha Doghillee'. Sure, it's a historical rap summit and all, but half of the rappers sound very awkward (including Ruck, which I thought was IMPOSSIBLE). Rock tore it up, but the hook was some of the weakest *** I've ever heard. It sounds like they flipped a coin to see who had to 'sing' the hook and the dude who lost was so embarrassed he just mumbled it.
Well, that's the only real problem I have. With the lack of skits breaking up its flow, the monochrome production and the way the subject matter/rapping just runs into each other, the strengths of Dah Shinin' are its weaknesses. Sure, you might find it boring, but you also the perfect album to sit back and relax to (or plan evil schemes to with your eyes looking from side to side in a shifteee manner). When I inevitably fall off the wagon and start smoking a pound of weed a day, I'm sure this album will be in constant rotation.
