Review Summary: Eminem’s incredible, but did I really have to say this /
For ya’ll to leave my soul at rest and add me to your playlist
Deliverance, the second album from white Georgia rapper Bubba Sparxxx, is an album two decades ahead of its time.
In 1999, the release of
The Slim Shady LP in 1999 revolutionized mainstream rap. Record labels were eager to sign white emcees who a predominantly-white consumer base could identify with. Enter Bubba Sparxxx, a fat country rapper with a soft accent, who lives in the woods. After signing to Interscope, and collaborating with super producer Timbaland, Bubba went gold with his debut album *Dark Days, Bright Nights,* a skillful album that lacked deeper meaning.
What came next was a profound masterpiece: *Deliverance*. The album was largely ignored at the time. Fortunately, classic records have a way of standing the test of time. Although this album had limited commercial and critical success, it is one of the most unique and well crafted hip hop albums of the early 2000s.
As if to prove me wrong, Bubba starts out this album with a stinker called *Jimmy Mathis*. The song samples the kazoo used on Area Code 615’s “Stone Fox Chase.” While the sample works well for setting the country bumpkin atmosphere of this album, the beat quickly becomes repetitive and obnoxious, ruining the track.
Fortunately modern technology includes a “skip” button. And even better, none of the rest of this album is skippable. *Deliverance* makes an instant recovery with the masterpiece “Comin’ Round.” This is one of the greatest songs in the (albeit brief) history of country-rap. The fiddle-based beat is infectious and energetic. The sample on the hook is catchier than any Pop Country song you will hear today. And the way Bubba blends the styles of hip hop emceeing with country singing is masterful.
This country-rap success is continued with Bubba’s magnum opus song: the title track “Deliverance.” This is a bonafide classic that nobody can take away from this now-struggling artist. “Deliverance” has strong country influence and sounds almost like a Johnny Cash song. The popular music video successfully created the O Brother Where Arte Thou atmosphere this track aimed for. In addition to the unbearably catchy folk hook, the lyricism and story telling is top notch in all three verses.
> “I left out from mama's with my thumb in the wind / The leaves on the ground, winter's comin again / Solid on the surface as I crumble within / But legends are made out of vulnerable men.”
Other standout tracks include “Nowhere” and “Overcome.” The former track deals with a topic that is all too familiar to country folk: living in the middle of nowhere, going nowhere, being nobody. However the track optimistically ends with the wisdom “if I’m nowhere, let that nowhere be nowhere near a worry,” and launches into the adrenaline pumping “Overcome.”
> I WILL NEVER / TURN AND RUN / THERES NOTHING I / CANT OVERCOME / LET THESE CATS / KEEP BUMPIN GUMS / I JUST GRIND ON / AND GET IT DONE!
One of the refreshing themes in Bubba’s music is an emphasis on hard work. Whereas so much of hip hop has become dominated by a victim complex, Bubba is the last person to whine. His music provides motivation to anyone who wants to stop making excuses and follow his path.
He continued this theme in the last track “Back in the Mudd” a motivational anthem for anyone trying to ‘pick themselves out of the mud’. This track features a fast paced beat/flow combination that doesn’t sacrifice any lyricism. You will rarely see a fast rap done this well.
A huge part of this album’s success is Bubba’s personality. He is like Lenny from Of Mice and Men, a big likeable doofus who actually holds some real wisdom in his big head. You find yourself wanting to hear what he has to say, like your friend in the room is talking to you, giving you his humble opinion. However, some listeners who find Country culture and white southern culture dorky may be turned off by Bubba’s image.
The best “banger” track on the album is without a doubt “New South.” Drawing heavily from his hometown heroes, OutKast, Bubba crafts a compelling anthem for his home state. The energy of this track is off the charts and something you rarely if ever see in hip hop today. The closest comparison, in terms of energy, is probably someone like Kendrick Lamar, when he performs his most energetic and high speed flows. But Bubba is better at not sacrificing lyricism for flashy showmanship. This is not a track you want to miss, and if you’re skeptical about country-rap in general, start here.
The album only had a few flaws. Timbaland’s production is excellent throughout, and Bubba’s flow and lyricism is stellar. However on tracks like “She Tried” Bubba comes across as a bit of an obnoxious douche, humble-bragging about how he cheated on a woman, begging the Lord for forgiveness. The song is not sonically bad, but it’s subject matter is cringe.
It’s somewhat shocking that this album didn’t go platinum. It had everything you would expect in a platinum album: elite production, brilliant song writing, and a likeable main character. The problem, in a nutshell, was Eminem. His three best albums were all released right around the same time as *Deliverance*. Eminem fans were not looking for a white rapper to bring them *closer to white culture.* The entire reason they loved Eminem was for introducing them to black culture. As such, commercial audiences were not ready for the country rap genre that artists like Yelawolf would popularize. 2003 audiences were watching And One mixtapes, wearing jean shorts down to their ankles. These wannabes tried to fit a Bubba-sized peg into an Eminem-sized square. But Bubba refused to act like something he is not, as he likes to say: “I never told one lie on any of my albums.”
20 years since its release, this album aged like fine wine. It can be better appreciated in light of the South’s increasing relevance in hip hop and US culture. As white people go back to being… white, Deliverance offers a way for them to rediscover their heritage without becoming hostile to hop hop’s progress. They can hold onto their childhood hip hop hobby without throwing the baby out with the bath water (aka Drake, Migos, or whatever trash is passing for mainstream “hip hop” nowadays). *Deliverance* avoids being political while exposing and romanticizing one of America’s most important subcultures: Southern Culture.
Do yourself a favor, give this record a spin and take yourself back to when times were simpler, when rap was about good beats, meaningful lyrics, having fun, and dope punchlines. When race was not the end all be all of every human interaction, and rappers didn’t mumble or spend half their discography whining about pseudo-oppression and first world problems.
