Redman
Muddy Waters Too
Gilla House/Riveting Music
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Some rappers work on albums so long that you abandon all hope that you’ll ever hear it. For example, Dr. Dre apparently worked on the planned album Detox from 2001 to the 2010s before scrapping the project and releasing Compton (2014) instead. I don’t think anyone still believes RZA’s long promised The Cure will ever become a reality. Up until days ago, I would have guessed that Reggie “Redman” Noble’s Muddy Waters Too would suffer the same fate, but in an awesome twist, the Funk Doc finally released it last week on Christmas Eve.
Redman has been talking about this album since at least 2009. Since then, he released Reggie (2011) and three separate projects that were to serve as a prelude to Muddy Waters 2: a “Preload” EP/mixtape in 2013, the pretty dope Mudface in late 2015, and the 3 Joints EP in 2020. As a huge fan of the Newark, NJ legend, I must admit I lost interest in what had become a “Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown”-esque exercise.
Now, Muddy Waters Too is finally out, and…it’s pretty damn good. Redman is able to capture the overall feel of the O.G. Muddy Waters (1996) much better than I ever could have anticipated. It’s structured like a late 1990s Redman album and features many of the similar trappings: the skits, the humor, and the general “I don’t give a fuck” attitude. The album is definitely long, boasting 32 tracks and an 80-minute run time. But it’s safely Redman’s fifth best album and his best album in over a quarter of a century. It’s also another strong offering this year from an emcee on the other side of 50 years old.
Redman brings back many of his characters, running jokes, and overall framing devices for Muddy Waters Too. Like many of his albums from the late 1990s/early 00s, it’s structured as a broadcast on WKYA (“Kicking Your Ass radio!”). Uncle Quilly and DJ Say What make appearances. There’s another installment of the Soopaman Luva saga. The whole thing is sponsored by IKSRTFO (“I’m Knocking Someone Right the Fuck Out”). Redman is as wild, irreverent, and high as ever, his spirit as an emcee undampened.
It is apparent that the album was recorded over many years. There are unironic references to Snapchat and lines about the anticipation of the release of a new A Tribe Called Quest album. The aforementioned next installment of Soopaman Luva seems like it was recorded sometime early during the first Trump administration. None of this hurts Muddy Waters Too as a whole, but it does call attention to how long Redman has been working on this project.
Furthermore, the runtime is a bit much. These days, it bugs me that so many albums fall well short of 40 minutes in length, but 80 minutes was a lot even during the late 1990s, much less halfway through the 2020s. That said, I must admit that there’s not a lot of excess weight to be shed.
Listen to the Album:
The first 19 or so minutes of Muddy Waters Too are pretty flawless. Redman opens with a raw one-two punch of “Da Fuck Goin On” and “What’s Hot?” He reunites with Erick Sermon on “Don’t You Miss,” who samples portions of Menahan Street Band’s “The Traitor” while Redman yearns for a return to 1990s nostalgia. Some nostalgia-based tracks are tedious, but Redman sounds inspired as he reminisces about an era where “it was sorta cool to be broke.”
“Ignant,” produced by Theory Hazit, features a fittingly and ridiculously ignorant sample flip of Wendy Rene’s “After the Laughter Comes Tears.” “Aye,” produced by Tall Black Guy, is an upbeat track, with Redman celebrating his elder statesman status over a funky guitar line and horns. “My dreams: I’m living it,” he boasts. “I developed a militant discipline / Now the n*****s around me, they learned how to eat / Fucking with food bro, we gonna take it to the streets.”
Later, Redman plays with different types of unorthodox deliveries and call-and-response hooks on tracks like “I’m On Dat Bullshit” and “Gheddo Motivation.” “Pop Da Trunk” is probably the truest track to the spirit of the original Muddy Waters, with Redman kicking rugged rhymes to a thick and muddy Rockwilder track. Redman teams with Theory Hazit again on the deliciously grimy “Booyaka Shot,” rhyming with determination to a gritty guitar track. “They say I'm a little old to be doing rap,” he notes. ”I said, ‘That crap y'all doing? I ain’t doing that.’ / When the fans misguided, I rely on they medulla oblongata / Then I crack they piñata.”
Some guest emcees also add to Muddy Waters Too’s dopeness. “Lalala,” Red’s latest team-up with blunted brother-in-arms Method Man, would sound at home on a 2020s installment of Blackout! (1999), as the pair trade three sets of eight-bar verses atop some dusted funk. Red and The Lox’s Sheek Louch wild out to a disco soul sample on “Dynomite.” The album’s most ambitious undertaking is “Looka Here,” a massive New Jersey-based posse cut.
Redman enlists many Garden State emcees who made their names throughout the 1990s to rhyme over a sample of “Rapper’s Delight.” The assembled ensemble includes Naughty By Nature, Queen Latifah, Lords of the Underground, Rah Digga, Heather B, Nikki D, Lady Luck, and members of Artifacts and Channel Live. Shaquille O’Neal also contributes but sounds like he could have used a lozenge before recording his verse.
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There are some occasional bumps, coming when Redman attempts to make club bangers or tracks tailored for radio hits. Nothing is offensively bad, just unremarkable. “Hoodstar,” featuring Faith Evans and Kid Capri, is a pretty bland entry, as is “1 O’Clock,” an unnecessary sequel/update to “Time 4 Sum Aksion.” “Soopaman Luva 7” is a three-part, seven-and-a-half-minute long epic that doesn’t do much to justify its length.
Regardless, Muddy Waters Too is an impressive accomplishment overall. After all the build-up and seemingly false starts, Redman is able to execute on a pretty high level and stick the landing. Hopefully, he’ll now be able to move on to more dope musical endeavors. Until then, I guess we’re all going to be waiting to see if Ghostface Killah’s Supreme Clientele 2 finally drops.
Notable Tracks: “Aye” | “Booyaka Shot” | “Don’t You Miss” | “Ignant” | “Lalala”
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