Review Summary: I Got Next is truly a mess, but it's enjoyable in parts, just enough so to be above mediocrity.
The king of the Boom Bap era of Hip hop, and nowadays a general of absolute nonsense and idiocy in rap, KRS-One seemingly offended a lot of his fans with his release
I Got Next. It was not a bad record, but it did bring KRS-One right back the underground he seemingly belonged to. Was it the Puffy remix of his single “Step Into A World (Rapture’s Delight)”? To him, that was the only possible reason, declaring the album a commercial effort, and stripping himself of anything associated with the mainstream, including good production and common sense. However, I feel the problem areas of
I Got Next are not the incredibly minor commercial feel, but it’s much more the albums generally inconsistency.
KRS-One still sounds as good as ever, kicking aggressive and incredibly inspired rhymes about killing MCs and being way over your head, and the beats certainly back up KRS’s verbal MC murdering with the serious boom bap that he needs. What’s really the problem? The serious lack of songwriting ability from Mr. Parker is what truly faults this album. He does write some songs that have been excellent on the radio for a reason, like the excitable old school keyboards, whispery eerie vocals, and pounding drums on “Step Into A World (Rapture’s Delight)”, KRS-One’s salute to real friends on “Friends”, and the glorious early album climax “The MC”, with KRS practically writing a pamphlet on the requirements of being an MC. But the problems here are completely and utterly destructive, with many of the choices made over the course of
I Got Next being plain dumb. “Blowe” utterly wastes a Redman appearance, relying on his gorilla-like energetic delivery for a mere hook, while KRS does his usual over a bland violin drenched beat. A lot of the record is drenched in utterly confusing songlets and filler that destroy KRS’s attempt at an excellent record, like the uninspired funk of “Come To Da Party”, the conscious rap tedium of “Over Ya Head”, and, at worst, the horrid rap-rock of the worst song in KRS-One’s career “Just To Prove A Point".
These songs would seal hope for most MC’s albums, but luckily for KRS, he knows how to balance out filler with highlights, but here it’s just barely. The songs here that click, boom with the biggest boom that KRS has ever hit his audiences with, especially on the story-telling of “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop” and, of course, “The MC”. What doesn’t work here though, sounds dull at best, and absolutely messy at worst.
I Got Next is truly a mess of an album, but the highlights bring it out of mediocrity, just barely though.
