Brooklyn and Yonkers based emcees Fabolous and Jadakiss have showcased a respectable history of chemistry on tracks, including Fab's famed underground Soul Tape mixtape series as well as other guest appearances dating back to 2002 (on the Blade II soundtrack, oddly enough). Seeing the two on a track always meant you were in for a lyrical onslaught of double entendre's and straight bars, and their latest offering is no exception to their collaborative efforts. Here, I'll be discussing a couple of the highlights of their album, Friday on Elm Street.
Gritty, Back And Forth Cypher-Like Verses
Just like what happens on seemingly every Fabolous and Jadakiss track, Friday On Elm Street is another example of them murdering tracks, and by no means does it get repetitive. With Fab as Freddy and Jada playing Jason, whether it a smooth soul sample ("Theme Music") or a thunderous banging anthem for the "real niggas" ("Stand Up"), Jada and Fab bring more bars and less bullshit throughout the album. "Theme Music" is a fun standout from the album, a fast-paced jazz influenced cut that shows Fab and Jada feeding off of each other's energy from verse to verse. No track is used as filler, and it's almost safe to say that no single LINE that each rapper spits is used as filler. Each line, and every bar is basically a lesson for the new school, in lyrical ability and in mindset, and the lyrics cut hard like a knife with a sledgehammer attached, whether they be to provoke emotion or just to hype you up in the club or in the car.
Sampling Done Right
(*I do not own these songs, or the rights to them*)
If there's one thing that makes me bob my head listening to a masterfully crafted instrumental such as the ones on Friday On Elm Street, it's a perfectly looped sample. The "Soul Food" instrumental is practically food for the soul mixed with a nice POUND cake that the drums and 808s top off like whipped cream. "Theme Music" is like Fab and Jada taking the Delorean back to the funky era in the 70s (imagine Fab and Jada with full on fro's and printed jumpsuits), "Talk About It" with the wonderful Teyana Taylor on the hook begins with a wavy enough sound to put you in a trance (could be a sample or a synthesizer of some sort), as well as "All About It" with French Montana on the hook. Yes Friday On Elm Street shows almost every facet musically that makes a Fabolous and Jadakiss collaboration great, from the gritty bars all the way down to the grown up samples.
All around, Friday On Elm Street has a little bit of everything for the average, party listener, to the gritty hip hop heads who tune in for bars. Fab and Jada's old school values and brand of "teaching the new school the ways" shines through in a way that teaches, but never preaches. Their back and forth throughout the album makes for loads of entertainment and "did you catch it?" types of double entendres and metaphors, and their lessons imparted on the listeners some may view as "old-headedness", but other may view as great for having some old souls that can teach the young some lessons that they need to learn. Friday On Elm Street is scary not in it's samples or it's subject matter, but more in it's viewpoints on life compared to that of younger rappers/hip hop listeners... a refreshing difference.
