Heltah Skeltah: D.I.R.T [Da Incredible Rap Team]

After a stunning debut with Nocturnal, Rock and Ruck put out a rather mediocre sophomore album with Magnum Force. While Rock seemingly disappeared, Ruck aka Sean Price was busy in 2004-2008 becoming one of the premier rappers of the last 4 years. Punchline after punchline and smack after smack pretty much defines a Sean Price verse and it was hard not to find him on a track in that time frame, everyone wanted him as a feature. Rock is back and reunited with Ruck as “Da Incredible Rap Team” to commit verbal murder over some high impact boom bap beats provided from a variety of producers. Hopefully D.I.R.T can save the album from rather inconsistent production.

Lyrically you will get exactly what you expect; wit and comedy combined with verbal slaps to the face of the industry, people in the industry. Granted, the subject matter and content take back seats to the consistent jabs like “when I fucked Rihanna, ain’t wear no umbrella/if the bitch have twins we’re naming ‘em both Ella” or ” you niggaz are Jill Scott, in the way, gun clear the lane like Pro-active cleared Diddy’s face.” The latter line comes from the first single, “Everything is Heltah Skeltah”. Illmind produces a banger, but the same force isn’t delivered on his second track “So Damn Tuff.” Khrysis has a pair of joints that both knock the roof off and allow Rock and Ruck to damage the tracks including the Sean P gem: “Fuck rap riddles, get riddles with shells yo/ I’m a beast, you a bitch like Tickle Me Elmo” on “The Art of Disrespeckinazation.” Khrysis‘ second track, “D.I.R.T,” bangs so much that my lamp actually fell off the table. The flow of P and Rock are masterful over the retarded beat. It’s an eargasm of sound, flavour, and gritty NY lyricism.

It would be nearly impossible for me to write about all the punchlines and memorable quotes throughout the entire album, but I can speak on other highlights like the Smif-N-Wessun featured and M-Phazes produced, “W.M.D.” The piano-backed beat gives all 4 emcees a chance to unleash their own weapons of mass destruction. The beats on “Da Beginning of Da End”, “Insane” (produced by Marco Polo) and “Smack Musiz” carry a demeanor and atmosphere that suits the HS feel. It’s dope production.

The production is hot when it’s hot, but falters when the beats can’t match the intensity of HS. The Evidence produced “Hellz Kitchen” seems to ‘dumb down’ the hunger of Rock, while the Goldust WWF theme song (WTF?!) drives the beat for un-incredible “That’s Incredible.” “Twinz” similar to “Boom Bye Yeah” from “Monkey Barz,” but doesn’t pack the wallop that the similar one had.

Rock is a man possessed on this album, but similar to the Little Brother duo, there is the obvious stand-out. It is certainly nothing to be ashamed of because Rock can certainly stomp it down with BCC’s best. The inconsistent production toys with the artists and forces them to walk a thin line away from their regular forte. This leads to the aforementioned weak tracks. One thing is consistent though, Heltah Skeltah on the microphone. These two are supposed to be seen as the superheroes; however, they verbally murder just about every track when given the chance to.

Overall Score: 74/100

Standout Tracks:

“D.I.R.T.”

“Everything is Heltah Skeltah”

“Smack Musik”