With Djimon's (pronounced Jah-Man) "Real Shit" the Bordeaux-born producer put his smack down for both the French and American scene alike. While one would expect French rappers on this site, we also shed our lights on related French products, like Djimon's producers album.
After working with several American artists Djimon decided to run with the format he was working on and invite a handfull of Statesside rappers. The result is a well produced album blessed with rhymes by some of America's up and coming MC's. With so many French artists trying to hook up with
A-List rappers from the US of A, most of these collaborations are nothing less than dissapointing.
Wether it is Mobb Deep failing to come through time after time or Royce delivering one of his usual uninspired rhymes, Djimon chose to work with the rather hungry artists.
These choices resulted in "Real Shit", a very good effort by Djimon, who simultaneously created a little buzz for himself at the other side of the Atlantic. From "I Live My Life Now" by Free Speech and Willmatic to L.E.G.A.C.Y.'s "American Werewolf in Paris" Djimon creates intruiging soundscapes which should have Pete Rock fans salivating, although Djimon doesn't rely as heavy on the hornsection. Although we might sound quite overboard right here with the Pete Rock namedrop, we can't help to feel the same vibe listening to Djimon's album.
Still we wouldn't be 'critics' if we hadn't found a few flaws; then again we wouldn't come to expect any album to be perfect. As statet before, most MC's on this album are up and coming and lesser-known fans. For a producer like Djimon it would certanly help to get some bigger names on his album to get noticed by a broader audience. He did actually invite Blaq Poet6 (Screwball/45 Scientific), but quite surprisingly he manages to deliver one of the weakest performances on the whole project.
All in all, Djimon manages to carry an impressive debut which knows highlights like "2:08 AM" with 208 Dragons, on which the producer bangs out three beats for one track, and most notably Soulstice and Doomsday's "Terra Firma".
Every now and then a track suffers from a below average hook, or an uninspiring performance, in the case of Poet. But the album is suposed to be a producer's album and in this the album should be welcome addition to any artist looking for that 'next big thing' when it comes to producers.
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