Review Summary: "The ****ing Scarecrow ain’t no hoe."
In 1963, the Walt Disney corporation devised a theme song for their movie
Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. Included in the song were twenty words that exemplify who Ricky Dunigan is –"Scarecrow, Scarecrow, the soldiers of the King fear his name! Scarecrow, Scarecrow, but the people love him just the same.” Keyser Soze a.k.a. Scarecrow a.k.a. Lord Infamous was an immensely villainous horrorcore MC during the 90’s. After silently being contractually exiled from his half-brother DJ Paul’s group, Lord fell off. But during his peak, he was brutal, insanely skilled in the vocals department, and backed by epic beats. His 1994 debut
Lord of Terror showcases this perfectly.
In my humble opinion, Lord Infamous is one of, if not, the best vocalist(s) in hip-hop history. Armed to the teeth with a vocal arsenal filled with heavy artillery, Lord Infamous is a mic conquistador. With his high, yet cold and devilish, voice and flow that can achieve (comprehensible) warp speed or wrap tightly around a beat, Keyser Soze’s most valuable asset his own voicebox.
Luckily, Beauregard is just as skilled on the boards as Dunigan is on the mic. On
Mystic Stylez, Triple Six Mafia’s definitive 1995 classic, DJ Paul joined forces with Juicy J to create blunted beats to blaze bowls to and dark, dreary soundscapes. But on
Lord of Terror, DJ Paul is on his own, and he fuses the two together on singular tracks. The bouncy, looping xylophones and dark, brooding synths of “Beatdown” are a great example of this. Highly percussive, minimalistic, and lo-fi, the production is amazingly atmospheric.
The musical aspect of
Lord of Terror isn’t the problem, it’s rather the lyrics. Despite being unapologetically violent, suggestive of occult messages, and generally brutal, they do have their flaws. Unpolished and raw, the lyrics can sometimes come off as half-baked, and at worst, comically terrible (“Lick my nuts, lick my nuts, suck my butt, suck my butt.”) But, Infamous still has lots to offer lyrically. His tribute to slasher-flick character Michael Myers on “Scarecrow” and the spooky “Drag ‘Em From the River” show that at his best, Keyser Soze can be a lyrical demon.
Musically epic, lyrically inconsistent (but good overall),
Lord of Terror is one of the best Three 6 Mafia solo albums. Possibly the best pure rapper from Three 6 Mafia, competing with Koopsta Knicca, Lord Infamous wrecks the booth big time. Words cannot explain my profound love for his rapping style. Regardless, the Scarecrow ain’t no hoe.
