Bossman - Law & Order (Double Down Entertainment/1Up Productions)

Look at the cover, Jimmy H. standing in white shirt with "Charm City King" stenciled on it, for some reason looking way more lightskinned than he does in person or in other photos, superimposed over pictures of the Baltimore harbor, the projects, and the city courthouse across the street from where my girlfriend's mom works.

Openin' Arguments
"it's the Charm City's king...from the land of the oh...you know? got the highest murder rate...AIDS rate...the most underrated rappers...'cept for me, let's get into this shit, hey yo the Bossman's here, Neize's here, NEK, 1Up, this is our year, came from the rear, now I'm front tier, stick shift flow let's get this shit in gear". Neize from 1Up, who does most of Bossman's beats, gave me props for noting in my review of the last NEK mixtape how on "I Did It" he put a 6/8 sample over a 4/4 beat in a real creative way, and he does it again on this track, with "Here I Am" by The Three Degrees, the same sample used on Twista's "Get Me", but flipped in a completely different way and it still sounds cold as fuck. "this is Law & Order, this is for my daughter, for that dude who gave my pops a quarter, gave my mom a nickel, this for all I been through, this the appetizer, let's get into the menu"

"Law & Order" f/ DJ 5Star
Produced by Niige & Lansky for A.R.S. Productions, scratched hook of Lil Scrappy saying "nigga I been down by law" and Jay-Z saying "I'm a boss I said" from that part on "Big Chips" right before he crosses his legs and compares himself to old ladies in the park.

"Hey U" f/ Nicole Leach
Kind of a fake Timbaland beat with loping rhythm and needley guitar line, best verse is an awesome doubletime flow with rhymes recycled from the NEK track "95 South".

"Interrogations"
Weird storytelling track with Bossman getting grilled by the cops and him telling him this convoluted plot using all names of famous rappers, I think it might be some kind of nod to Usual Suspects with the guy using all fake names in the interrogation room, anyway it's a goofy "meta-rap" concept like people keep making a big deal about The Game album doing even though people have been doing songs like that forever.

"Off The Record"
I put up the lyrics and a yousendit link a while ago, but I got a request for another link after it expired so here that is.

"Oh" (B-More Anthem)
This is the only other blog that has ever talked about Bossman, and they put up an mp3 of "Oh" that you can still DL there. Dude describes it pretty well, and makes the same point I made when I first wrote about it about the slowed down "Think"/"It Takes Two" break.

"yeah, it's the Bossman here, chillin' with the homey Rod Lee, you know? bout to take y'all through a place, where we call home, Bmore, stand up, let's go, uh

hook: this is the land and the home of the OH!
this the city where they rock them OH's!
if you're reppin' your city scream eastside OH! westside OH!
this is the land and the home of the OH!
this the city where they rock them OH's!
if you're reppin' your city scream northside OH! southside OH!

welcome to Bmore, it's the home of the Wire
motherfuck the roof, bitches' pussies on fire
man the block's on fire
tinted Crown Vic's with the hundred spoke tires
woop woop! I hear the cops got him wired
I thought he was a thug, now he singin' like a choir
woop woop! now here come them riders
whose guns don't work 'cause they keep gettin' fired
always ya hustlers, ya pitchers, suppliers
keep a money grip like a fresh pair of pliers
think it's contagious the way they catch bodies
killers all ages, from OG's to shawties
stay with a razor, ain't safe at the party
saw Ray Lewis at the Super Bowl party
I don't mean to brag but them boys got body
the B-O-S-S and it ends wit what they call me

hook

well we known as the town of no ill rap artists
R&B singers, club bangers and ballers
all that's gon' change since y'all heard of the Bossman
who flow change like dimes and quarters
when it come to lickin' shots we some fuckin' alcoholics
we'll lick a shot at ya sons and ya daughters
this not San Diego but everybody got charges
pits and rottweilers, the Bossman scorchin'
brawlin', hot with a flow boilin'
the city I was born in
known for raisin' they guns not they children
so many dead beat dads, we be runnin' out of coffins often
with moms and pops locked, nearly felt like an orphan
people killin' they kids, I ain't talkin' abortions
kidnappin', ransom, extortion
it costs to be the boss, y'all rappers can't afford it

hook

what we did, bring shit like Carmelo and Dixon
Sisqo paved the way and got the game's attention
homey did his thing with that "hey now, woah now"
it's all good, Bossman in control now
rappers think they hot, and my flow finna hose down
number one murder rate, call us the ghost town
move that heavy weight like ? in the first round
we get that fast cash, we ain't tryin' to slow down
hustlers, strip clubs, get ripped, drink dubs
down with those spinners, can't get with them spinnin' hubs
y'all say "dog" and we say "dug"
but the truth of the matter we don't really give a fuck
in the land of the OH and the home of the Ravens
bodies in Dru Hill ain't got nothin' to do with sangin'
AIDS is gettin' dangerous
didn't think I would see the day when sex turn niggas angels
but still I'm claimin' Bmore

hook

uh huh, shouts out, y'know what I'm sayin', Greenmount, old York, whole Northeast, take it all the way down to Biddle Street, you know the whole down the hill click, man, let's get it poppin', slide it all over west, Park Heights, Emerson Ave., y'know what I'm sayin', even y'all County can feel us, yo, y'know what I'm sayin', do it for the whole city, stand up, Bossman, baby"

"Give Em Sum"
"you want it with the Bossman? please don't say that/the boss don't play like a broken tape deck"

"I Did It"
I've already talked about this song a few times, but also: it always reminds me of "December 4th", in terms of the bright, nostalgic, sensitive, wintery vibe, plus because he talks about his parents and his birth date and says "more sicker".

"Dat Night"
Easily my favorite song on the album. I'm not even gonna talk about it much, I'll just give you an mp3. It's pretty much the only song where Bossman kinda-sings, but it's awesome how the hook changes every time as the story progresses.

"Crazy" f/ Tony Manson & Dollars
Another nervous violin beat courtesy of Spit 1, who also does beats for C. Miller and Comp, the token NEK posse cut but surprisingly it's all about how much each of them loves their kids and how fatherhood makes them crazy but turned their lives around.

"Pressure" f/ Dollars
Pretty much the only non-single on here that already appeared on a mixtape, it's ok, terse piano beat and Bossman sounding really intense and angry, "somebody need to fire me, label need to hire me", sounds better in the context of the album than on the mixtape for some reason, maybe because there were more tracks like this on the mixtape.

"Blam Blam" f/ Hots
Nice beat with a couple bars of hyper hi-hats alternating with a couple bars of minimal hi-hats, featuring Hots, Bmore MC who had a hit called "2 Step" maybe a year and a half ago, you can watch the video for it here, Neize said he's working with Hots and he apparently has some kind of deal with Interscope.

"Last Dance Part II" f/ H. Gold, Dollars & Ameisha
Produced by Samir, who's been responsible for some of the illest Baltimore club tracks in recent years, but this disappointingly is just a generic goth piano hip hop beat that doesn't stand out at all in the context of the album.

"Closin' Arguments" f/ Cash
Another collabo with estranged NEK member Cash, cool song.

This is a hot album, probably one of the hottest to ever come out of Baltimore. Go to Bossman's official site to get more audio, watch a trailer for the album, order it, watch live footage, etc.

Labels: Bossman, Hots, mixtape/album review, One Up Entertainment, Rod Lee