Review: Shwayze – Let It Beat

Oswald Hobbes — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:11:20 +0000

Let It Beat, the second album from Malibu-bred rapper Shwayze, begins with a track that features, in no particular order: a bouncy, rubbery beat, a gang of sprightly horns, a guest appearance by Snoop Dogg, and a lyrical shout-out to Shwayze’s past gig “serving lattes all day in [his] Chucks.” If that sounds like something you’d like, you should probably give Let It Beat a few spins.

Following last year’s sleeper of a self-titled debut, Let It Beat offers a pleasant melange of familiar sounds that works more often than it does not, although my endorsement comes with a big caveat lector: there is very little new to be discovered here. Let It Beat will work as background music for your next rager, but spending serious time with it one-on-one might elevate certain flaws in the record’s sound from “slightly irritating” to “intolerable.” (And when I say “certain flaws,” I’m referring mainly to producer/sidekick Cisco Adler’s annoying tendency to ruin otherwise passable party jams by singing exactly like deceased Sublime frontman Bradley Nowell.)

But: Shwayze’s sophomore effort has many fine qualities, not the least of which is the rapper’s causal flow and propensity for gently amusing one-liners. The guy’s not exactly gonna knock Jay-Z from his throne, but for a disc that you could file, ostensibly, under “rap-rock,” the rap portion is actually pretty savory. Shwayze comfortably rides the line between, say, Nelly and Common – this is a party

record with some backpacker inflections, most notably the closing cut “Heart & Soul,” which spends five whole minutes chastising LA girls for lacking moral turpitude over twinkling piano from none other than the E Street’s own Roy Bittan. (No, seriously. Roy Bittan is on this record. So is Ric Ocasek.)

With the exception of that one song, however, most of these tunes encourage exactly that type of behavior – Shwayze wants you to meet him in the bathroom, he makes clear throughout the record, when he isn’t whimsically lamenting the vagaries of romantic relationships. “Get U Home” is the first single, and it’s a high-energy funk jam with a beat that almost sounds like PlaySkool Neptunes (and that’s not a complaint); “Wait All Night” is skeletal and super cool, until a stray guitar line wanders in and kinda kills the vibe. That’s a consistent problem throughout, you might find – anytime the rap side of the equation wins out, the result is frisky and fun, a welcome change of pace from the majority of urban music clogging up radio playlists. But on tracks like “Crazy For You,” “Daze Like This,” and “Perfect For Me,” all the coked up blips and bleeps are replaced with generic guitar-strumming and bland melodies purloined straight from 1996′s worst fake-reggae songs.

Which is not necessarily a dis, because Let It Beat isn’t aimed at rock fans. Adler has just mixed in surface rock elements that hip-hop fans can easily recognize and digest. So my opinion here shouldn’t necessarily sway you if rock isn’t your cup of tea – there’s just enough organic instrumentation here to officially set Shwayze’s sound apart, but not enough to distract from the real reason you came in the first place. In other words, you won’t confuse this with anything from Anticon or Definitive Jux – this is major label rap rock, and most of the time that means sounding like Sugar Ray (or, as on the horrific “Maneatrr,” some unholy alliance of Linkin Park and Lady Gaga.)

But, hey, a lot of people like Sugar Ray. And a lot of people will probably enjoy this. I did, and I don’t mean to sound like I didn’t. At least half the tracks here will get regular rotation on my Scrabble playlists because they’re the kind of easy, non-threatening music that’s conducive to focusing almost entirely on something else. Let It Beat is fun and melodic and oftentimes pretty cool; I wouldn’t turn down an opportunity to hang out with these guys. But is it going to change your life or challenge you in any way? Probably not.

Want to win a signed copy of the new Shwayze CD?

We’ve been lucky enough to hijack a signed Shwayze CD and poster that we’ve decided to give away to one of our Twitter followers!

When: Starting Monday, November 2 until November 13th at Midnight
Where: Twitter!

To enter:

Follow us on Twitter @assault
Tweet the message “Signed @Shwayze CD and poster giveaway! http://bit.ly/16wA3Q RT and Follow @assault To Enter!“
That’s it!

Already a follower? Just click the button below to have the Twitter message posted to your twitter account.

Signed Shwayze CD and poster giveaway just for following @assault!

tim — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:45:14 +0000

We’ve been lucky enough to hijack a signed Shwayze CD and poster that we’ve decided to give away to one of our Twitter followers!

When: Starting Monday, November 2 until November 13th at Midnight
Where: Twitter!

To enter:

Follow us on Twitter @assault
Tweet the message “Signed @Shwayze CD and poster giveaway! http://bit.ly/16wA3Q RT and Follow @assault To Enter!“
That’s it!

Already a follower? Just click the button below to have the Twitter message posted to your twitter account.

Want to read our review of Shwayze’s new album first? Click here to check it out!

The Fine Print

On Friday (11/13/09), 1 winner will be chosen at random to receive the signed CD and poster! Winners will be notified via Twitter, so keep checking your accounts to see if you’ve won! In order to be a winner you must be following us, and tweet the above message exactly as is.

Shwayze and Cisco

Shwayze have just unveiled the track list for their upcoming album Let It beat. The album features the hit single “Get U Home” and guest appearances from hip-hop heavyweight’s Snoop Dogg, The Knux and Tabi Bonney. Let It Beat is the second studio album from the Malibu based hip-hop duo and will be available for purchase and download on Novemeber 3.

Shwayze and Cisco also had the chance to sit down with MTV recently and talk about their biggest fears, favorite scary movie, and some of their best Halloween memories. Check out the video here to get amped for Halloween and make sure to pre-order your copy of Let It Beat now. Visit www.shwayze.com for more information and a list of upcoming tour dates with LMFAO.

Let It Beat Track List: