As Lil Wayne became a household name, an adventure that culminated in a bowling match with Katie Couric, Gucci Mane built organic street buzz by flooding the market with quality rap music. A judge didn't consider this work to be "community service"-- Gucci was on probation for assaulting a man with a pool cue, a detail memorably documented in 2007's "I Move Chickens"-- so it was off to the Fulton County jail for 2008's most important mixtape rapper. Once news of Gucci's impending incarceration hit the wire, protégé OJ Da Juiceman's promotions game kicked into high gear; a guest verse on a Project Pat single, successive mixtapes with cartoonish artwork riffing off his nom de plume, and a video single for tense earworm "I'm Gettin' Money". And now 2009 dawns with a debut release, a compilation of already-released material with few new tracks, an enjoyable but ultimately confusing consolation prize.
It's true that OJ's personality seems slight when compared to Gucci's manic creativity, humor, and range-- compared to Gucci's palette of adlib effects, even OJ's distinctive "AYE! AYE! AYE!" can feel one-note. But he does share Gucci's ability to ingratiate himself to the listener. Lyrically, he slots in as a rougher-edges version of Young Dro, sharing his impressionistic embrace of trapper status as signified by colored jewelry, seafood, white boy tags, and his own "fruity-crazy-stupid-swag." Unlike Dro, Da Juiceman's raps have a halting quality, and his strained-voice approach feels undistinguished next to Gucci's stuffed-nose ignorant flow. Although OJ's vocals are far from sonorous, trapped in one tone-deaf timbre, that limited range becomes its own aesthetic. The effect is unsettling; when relaxed, his nonchalant calm suggests he hides a murderous instinct; over up-tempo tracks his vocals have a frenzied yelp. But this isn't like Freeway's emotive enthusiasm; for OJ it is a stylistic affect, unconcerned with sincerity, purely conveying visceral style. He embraces the tension between exuberance and nonchalance, as if he's constantly restraining the volume of his voice.
The previously unreleased material, what little there is, is promising. "Batman" is a breakneck-tempo trapper's version of T.I.'s "Whatever You Like" with sizzling synths from beatmaker Fatboi and a classic rapid-fire chorus. It should put doubts about OJ's rapping abilities to rest; fast raps give his shambolic flow a stilted grace. The beats, provided primarily by Gucci's usual crew, including Zaytoven, DJ Speedy, and Fatboi, embrace a crafted "cheapness"; listen to the horns on DJ Speedy's "Good Night", which harmonically aim for uplift, intentionally undercut by the raw rapping and the "cheap" synthesized horns, like a southern version of the Lox's "Wild Out". Everything is high on treble and heavy on keyboards, absent "soulful" signifiers and midrange, with heavy trunk-rattling bass thump.
That said, purely on a conceptual level, this record feels unnecessary; much of it had been previously released on mixtapes, and it's not a particularly comprehensive document of those. The unofficial word has been that this is the "album-before-the-album," a chance for his label to test whether OJ's buzz can translate into sales. While it is nice to have these tracks without DJ drops, it's hard to imagine major-label records doing all that much artistically for street rappers these days anyway. Lil Wayne's records were more fun before Tha Carter III dropped. Check OJ's Culinary Art School mixtape now, catch Da Juiceman chopping it up on Rachael Ray's show later.
