It’s strange how hip-hop works. Once a new star is found, that star begins to bring his friends to the forefront, whether deserving or not.
DMX and the Ruff Ryders are a perfect example. DMX went triple platinum and claimed the title of rawest, most lyricist. Shortly thereafter all those associated with him were in the national spotlight. Swizz Beatz was the hottest producer.
Eve was vying for tightest female rapper and the Lox quickly ran away from dying Bad Boy to join with their longtime friends, the Ruff Ryders. Now with the release of Opposite of H2O, Drag-On, unfortunately, has come into the forefront.
After an impressive appearance on Ryde or Die Vol. 1, Drag-On does not live up to the hype. He is repeatedly upstaged by his fellow Ruff Ryders and suffers from Swizz disease; he allows Swizz Beatz to produce more than one track.
With most of the tracks inducing the listener’s fingers to head for the fast-forward button, Drag-On is exactly what this album does-drag on and on and on.
DMX shows up on two tracks. The first is the new hit single, “Die 4 Me.” Unfortunately X only provides the chorus to this bouncy, club-crunching track.
Drag-On tries to step up but only provides such corny lines like, “Drag-On speaks with a stutter/but I rhyme well/ so like a dead snitch it’s hard to tell.” He also spits, “Girls I love it when I meet’em/ but when they act up it’s like/ Turner/ Tina.” With the bouncy beat and catchy chorus, it’s no surprise that “Die 4 Me” is a hit.
Who wants to listen to a deep, thought provoking track while in the club trying to get freaky? “Die 4 Me” accomplishes its mission as a pop hit, but DMX makes sure to add some depth as he actually spits 16 bars on “Get It Right.”
Drag-On starts “Get It Right” off on the right foot, by letting DMX have first crack at the mic. X goes off on the mic as he discusses the mental problems that continually plague him,”built for war like an armadillo/ smother you with two feather pillows/ manic depressive and my head hurts/ but wait a minute it gets worse/ don’t know the half/ didn’t know the math/ understand the wrath of a man split in half.”
After DMX finished showing up Drag-On, Eve takes her turn playing spoiler. On “Here We Go” Eve explodes in a rage as she raps, “Shorty flip this game/ women ain’t the same/ surface Ryde or Die and you never hear their name cause/ E-V-E got it locked down tight/ women ball watch them fall make them mine for life.”
The only part of “Here We Go” that should receive airplay is Eve’s verse.
The chorus is whack and slows down the rapid-fire lyrics that Eve brings to the track. Drag-On’s lyrics are, as usual, pointless and delivered in a manner unappealing to the ear.
The rest of the album is less than the hip-hop community has come to expect from the Ruff Ryder camp. On “The Way Life Is,” featuring Case, an organ backs the beat.
“Ready For War” is another crummy track. The Lox makes a guest appearance on this fast-forward victim of a song.
The beat is absolutely terrible as a submarine dive horn sounds in the background repeatedly. Denzel Washington didn’t have to hear so many sirens on Crimson Tide.
Overall, Drag-On is by far the most disappointing album to come from the usually dependable Ruff Ryders.
They didn’t; now we can only hope they drop another DMX or Eve record, since that seems to be the only thing that would restore my faith in these Yonkers based lyric and beat creators.
