Rapper Big Pooh: Delightful Bars

I’ll be honest right off the bat, picking which one of Big Pooh‘s Delightful Bars to review was extremely difficult. I simply can’t wrap my head around the promotion of this “street LP” that Pooh states is the perfect bridge between his debut, Sleepers and his upcoming solo sophomore album, Dirty Pretty Things. So this isn’t an album? I’m confused as to what it is, let alone what I’m reviewing, because the press package of the album had the tracks out of order and the name titles messed up. There, there’s my rant. Here’s a short review of this “street LP.”

This isn’t getting my traditional treatment of a review because we here are strongly against reviewing mixtapes, but, I’m still not sure what this is. There are plenty of features on it, ranging from the usual Justus League suspects (minus Phonte) to a plethora of producers like (Khrysis, Illmind, Jake One, and 9th Wonder). However, the blend is kind of a stinker.

Pooh‘s ear for beats is normally his strongest asset as a soloist, but here it falters, as he’s seemingly given C grade beats from producers more than capable of consistent heat rocks. “Something Like Stars” produced by Jake One stands out as the best song to describe a majority of the album: watered down subject matter, lackluster production, and, to put it bluntly, shitty everything-else. If that track doesn’t prove the point, maybe the ultra boring produced and delivered “Roll Call” will. The features over-saturate perfectly capable emcees, including Pooh, all throughout the album. Looking back at Jada’s latest and Luda’s latest, it’s evident that the more features you have, the more the album will suffer.

Fortunately, there are a few tracks worthy of a listen. “The Comeback” shows potential of what Dirty Pretty Things really should be; Pooh over a banging Khrysis beat (but oh, what a terrible chorus). “It’s a Go,” which features Torae, is another joint that sticks out of the crop, but I can’t help but feel on any Little Brother album, or even on Sleepers, this is an easy skip. “C.O.D” has a pretty catchy beat provided by Mickey Free, and no, it’s not the Shalamar Micki Free, but it is a dope beat that Pooh rides well enough to maintain a listener’s attention for 4 minutes.

“Rearview Mirror” has Pooh re-linking with 9th, and the outcome is harmonious and beautiful. Really and truly, this is what Pooh can do. The most frustrating part of Delightful Bars is the fact that it has no direction and truly shows mixtape potential because the songs hardly link in theme or sound. There is gold in Pooh (ha), no doubt, but this certainly wastes 3 great tracks and essentially gives more ammunition to the Pooh naysayers. There’s no doubt in my mind that Dirty Pretty Things has tremendous potential, but after listening to this, one has to wonder if the polishing of the final product will be a lot more thorough and a less watered down than this project.

62/100

Standout Tracks:

“Rearview Mirror”

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“The Comeback”

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“The Life”

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