Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this CD is loaded with four-letter words, violent imagery, and exploitive sexuality. Still, the album contains some interesting social commentary and imaginative musical arrangements.
Families listening together can talk about the visceral power of certain words, and whether or not the same point could be made in a different way. Challenge your teens to write songs about their own lives, neighborhoods, and fears –- with cleaner language.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Kathi Kamen Goldmark
Racist and sexist language, violent imagery, drug references, explicit sexuality, and -- great poetry with a generous helping of social consciousness, darn it. It's hard to dismiss THE BIG BANG as merely "inappropriate for teens" despite the content and language, because his music is terrific in spite of the parts that make a whole lot of people uncomfortable.
Check out "Been Through the Storm," for example -- turning a melodic corner from hip-hop beats to soul crooning with string-section sweetening, and lyrics like "You see, my poppa was broke/my momma was young/tryin' to blend in with them city folk/every day landlord knockin' down my door/wonderin' where my next blessing is coming from."
A cameo by Stevie Wonder doesn't hurt, nor does Rick James' participation on the next track, "In the Ghetto" ("Sure we be takin' them chances/while we search for the answers we be smokin' them cancer sticks/police provoking...we dancin'/and we be dodging them bullets they be popping off at us").
Despite an amazing array of celebrity cameos (Missy Elliott, Q-Tip, LaToya Jackson, and Nas, to name a few), Busta Rhymes owns every track, stealing his own show with visceral, emotional vocals and instrumental arrangements that sneak up on the listener with one melodic surprise after another.
An edited version is available, but it's not worth the trouble –- there are so many edited words that it ends up sounding like nonsense. Take this one (with a lot of discussion with your teens) or leave it, as it is.
Fans of Busta might also like Pharrell and Ice Cube.
Rate It!
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual ContentVery explicit references to sex. |
 |
 |
||
ViolenceLots of violent imagery. |
|
|
||
LanguageNon-stop profanity -- nothing you would want your kid to repeat. |
|
|
||
Message |
|
|
||
Social BehaviorSexist and racist language, yet there's a strong sense of social consciousness too. |
 |
|
||
CommercialismSome brand names mentioned. |
|
|
||
Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoLots of references to drugs. |
 |
|
||
