Respect 1998 Album

Shaquille O'Neal

I listened to this after giving his previous two albums a listen and being surprised with what I found, but this is a bit of a drop off. Given that this is from '98, it isn't surprising that the production is a bit more poppy than this previous more boom-bap orientated albums, particularly his first two. The opener, 'Fiend '98', samples the much used and recognisable 'School Boy Crush' by Average White Band and Eric B. & Rakim's 'Microphone Fiend'. Sampling classic hip hop and mentioning rappers in bars was a common theme on Shaq's previous albums and it continues here. Next, 'The Way It's Goin' Down' amps up the funk. I can't find a producer list but it sounds like Dj Quik worked his magic here. 'Voices' then opens up with the little man in Shaq's head asking him why he always misses free throws. One of the likable aspects of Shaq's rapping was that he was always willing to poke fun at himself. The following 'Fly Like an Eagle' is another decent track with Trigga and Shaq trading bars, but the beat feels a bit more monotonous than what has come before. From there, the amount of pop rap and R&B hooks increase. 'Go to Let Me Know' is decent. 'River (Interlude)' is just emotional crooning by an R&B singer. 'Heat It Up', featuring Bad Boy's Loon, sticks out like a sore thumb. The production on it is so '98 and Bad Boy. It's the worst song here. 'Pool Jam' features another recognisiable sample and continues the run of weak tracks. It picks up from 'Make This a Night to Remember' that is a decent pop rap track and leads into the best song on here, 'Blaq Supaman', and the best run of tracks the album has. The beat is hard, Shaq comes correct and the chorus is catchy giving off a strong 'Tha Shiznit' feeling from when Snoop raps, "In the back of the limo, no demo, this is the real / Breakin' niggas down like Evander Holyfield." The next three songs follow that, providing hard beats and are among the best songs, and it finishes off decently. The middle of the album hurts this, but most tracks are decent-good. It's a product of its time, with the production not being as strong as what he has on his previous albums, but the producers and featuring artists he worked with on this album isn't quite as strong as what he had before. He had plans to release a follow up, 'Shaquille O'Neal Presents His Superfriends, Vol. 1', but it seems to have been cancelled fairly late into its creation, with promo copies released, so this is the last we got in terms of Shaq's albums. He didn't write with the rhyme schemes of Em, or flow like Rakim, but all of his albums are hated on way too much. He had a good ear for beats, and despite his limitations as a rapper, he was entertaining. Best Tracks: Blaq Supaman, 3 X's Dope, The Bomb Baby