Happy 25th Anniversary to Casual’s third studio album He Think He Raw, originally released September 11, 2001.
Rarely has an album been so perfectly titled as Casual’s He Think He Raw. Released 25 years ago, it perfectly fits the personality and demeanor of John “Casual” Owens, who carried a distinctive swagger on record years before the term got popularized. He was bold, brash, and didn’t give a fuck. And he had the skills to back it up.
Casual is a member of the venerable Hieroglyphics crew, an Oakland-based collective of fierce emcees and producers, many of whom (including Casual) put out great albums through major labels before becoming trailblazers on the independent hip-hop scene. As I’ve written in earlier tributes to Casual’s other albums, he was the most adversely affected by the crew’s loss of major label distribution. He is one of the best emcees around, one of the proverbial “your favorite rapper’s favorite rappers,” and he really should have become a household name as the 21st century began. Instead, he was releasing only his third full-length, seven years after his acclaimed debut Fear Itself (1994).
The creation of the Hieroglyphics Imperium imprint in the mid-to-late 1990s was essential to the members of the crew continuing their music careers, but it took a few years before the group began regularly releasing originally recorded material. Those early years saw the label releasing compilations of demos from the crew, or shelved projects that were originally intended for wider release. This included Casual’s Meanwhile (1998), a cassette comprised of material intended for his second Jive album, along with various other songs and freestyles.
He Think He Raw was the fifth album of newly recorded material released on Hieroglyphics Imperium. It came after 3rd Eye Vision (1997), the Hiero crew project, and new albums by Del the Funky Homosapien, Souls of Mischief, and Pep Love. It was decidedly different than anything the label, or Casual, had put out previously.
Casual’s Fear Itself was a dark, meditative body of work, featuring lyrical-heavy exhibitions and jazzy beats. He Think He Raw is a different animal. He Think He Raw draws much of its sound from the regional slap-heavy music that the East Oakland native grew up listening to. And while Casual’s lyricism and delivery are impeccable, he didn’t limit his subject to just crushing wack emcees. Throughout the project he regales his fans with tales of pursuing female attention and descriptions of the strength of his mack game.
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Hence, He Think He Raw was seen as a bit of curveball for Casual and Hiero’s core audience. The album received decidedly mixed views at the time of its release. I’ve always enjoyed it. As I wrote earlier, Casual’s music should be appreciated by a broader audience, so it made sense that he recorded a project for which he sought broader appeal. On He Think He Raw he continues to establish himself as one of best emcees working, while recording and releasing some really good rider music.
Prior to the album’s official release, Casual put out two 12-inch singles through Stimulated Records, Dante Ross’ sadly short-lived imprint that was distributed through Loud/SRC. Three of the five songs made it onto He Think He Raw, including “Same O.G.,” the project’s first single and lead-off track. Over a menacing track by the Ghetto Professionals (V.I.C. and Mike Heron), he exudes confidence as he effortlessly fires off complex flows and hard-hitting punchlines. He boasts to “write rap manuals off Jack Daniels in black sandals” and professes to “stay in the cut like witch hazel.”
Ross’ SD50s production crew crafts the aggressive “Turf Dirt,” freaking a sample from a film score and supplying some of the hardest hitting drums I’ve heard on a Hiero track. Casual uses the song to describe the nefarious double lives that some “good girls” lead while stringing along unsuspecting benefactors. “With you, the broad will be on her best, n***a,” he snarls. “With me? She’s taking 40s to the chest, n***a.”
Casual himself carries a good share of the production load on He Think He Raw, putting together nearly half of the tracks on his own. His beats on the project are amongst the most “accessible” ones, and he often centers the subject matter on these jams towards his efforts to achieve greater fame and wealth. He plots his ascension on the string-heavy “Mine In A Bad Way,” and reflects on an early false start on “Love Dat.” “They got me in this league feeling like Jermaine O'Neal,” he raps. “Came out too early and signed the wrong deal.”
Casual records some incredibly entertaining entries that some might consider “out of place” on a Hiero album. A.G. (the Bay Area based producer, not the Bronx-born D.I.T.C. rapper) in particular hooks up a pair of dope tracks that center on Casual’s player lifestyle. On “Windows” he raps to a creeping track as he traverses the streets of Oakland “in a seven deuce Cutty with knock,” pursuing some sexual gratification and then “I ride away to the hide away, bumping Isaac Hayes.” On the twangy yet funky “Snaggle Puss,” Casual pledges to “be the first pimp to put a bitch on the moon” while bragging that he’ll “bump your main bitch and leave my number on her dresser.”
Casual finds his comfort zone working with established Hiero producers. He fires off a series of verses on the Domino-produced “Studio D,” boasting about his dominance to a grand string sample. On the Toure-produced “Talk Boss,” Casual explains his grind to achieve further fame over a keyboard heavy, ‘80s soul-inspired track.
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Casual does engage in a good share of lyric-centered displays on He Think He Raw, often enlisting on-the-rise producers to supply him with some heat. Evidence does his best behind the boards on “The Shakedown,” manipulating a horn sample as Casual nonchalantly obliterates the competition. “What's your mission?” he warns. “Boy, listen. Do too much more dissing, you’re meeting the mortician / Stepped on and trampled for trying to gamble / I’m a prime example of a rhyming cannibal.”
A still young and hungry Alchemist offers one of his better produced tracks from this era on “I Gotta (Get Down),” expertly chopping a jazzy synth sample and blending it with pulsing strings. Casual gives perhaps his strongest overall performance on the album throughout the track, both in terms of his impressive verbal display and delivery. “Peep that at any lecture that I speak at,” he raps. “I’m pitifully ridiculing weak cats.”
Casual gets introspective on the smooth “It’ll Come Around,” ruminating on the adversity that he’s faced in his career, both past and present. Faced with pressures to pay the rent, dealing with potentially crippling gambling losses, and navigating strained relationships with the mother of his children, he looks for outlets to release tension, while working to maintain a positive outlook and charting a path to success.
Even though Casual didn’t give his fans quite what they were anticipating on He Think He Raw, he still delivered an album worth celebrating. Casual crafted a pure and unfiltered view of himself as an emcee, showing an underappreciated range that many listeners were not expecting. And he was fittingly raw as hell while doing so.
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