Search - Shabaam Sahdeeq :: Never Say Never

He left Rawkus... but didn't leave his hiphop roots

T. Walsh | New Jeru | 01/07/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"S Double aka Shabaam Sahdeeq finally got his debut LP out after what seemed to take 5 years, but he came still hungry for props. I really got my first taste of Shabaam on the Soundbombing compilations and Lyricist Lounge Volume 1 CD and I was pleased with the man's lyrical ability. I decided to explore into him more and peeped his vinyl singles: "5 Star Generals", "Pendulum", "3-D", "Concrete", "We Gonna Eat This Year", etc... and I just digested it all up and loved it. Now sure it would have been nice if Scandalous had a chance to drop because his old Rawkus material is much better than this, but Never Say Never does have its head nodders...Take for instance the opening track "It's Nothing" S Double shot out some decent lyrics and he had a nice James Bond type of beat to rhyme over -reminiscent of his old Rawkus work-. "Strait Like That" was a harsh diss to Rawkus which came out well and SS left some scars on them. "Can't Be Together" was a smooth love track that I was feeling to death. Some other very good tracks to take a listen at are: "We R", "We Holdin", "Fed Up With The Bull", and "I Still Love Her."Sure there's some elements on this CD for real hiphopers to spit upon. SS raps about girls and hot tubs every now and then, some beats were real trash, and some of the hooks on a couple tracks were painful: especially "Who's At My Door?", "You Need To Give It Up", and "That's How We Do"... but Shabaam's flow really really helped make these tracks tolerable...I hope the man has a rewarding career and I really hope that his bottled up anger doesn't force him to go the wrong direction in rap because talent like SS is tough to find...I'm Out...Mind Power!"

At last...

David Jackson | Sweden | 11/19/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"an album from S double.
The first time I heard Shabaam was back on the first Soundbombing mixtape. That was '97. S double's contribution consisted of only one song, "Arabian Nights" yey this typical Rawkus joint was the real gem of the compilation that sparked the Rawkus reign of underground rap.
Althoug Shabaam failed to release anything to measure up with this early hit, alot of people, me including have been waiting to hear from him. Rawkus ended up screwing him though, and no album was released for years, until finally he signed with Raptivism and released this 2001 album.
Overall this is a good album. Had it been released four years earlier it would have killed. In the 21st century however, the sound that Shabaam brings is old and tired. It's been done. The beats are all well produced and Shabaam's rap is still quite alright (althoug the voice sometimes gets quite monotonous). Yet it lacks that something that would have made it a classic. Songs like Bubblin', Watch Ya' Back (Mambo) and I Still Love Her are all great songs but i can't help feeling that something is missing.
That's why this album, although very good, falls short of its fifth star. Still, if one wants to get into the alternative contemporary hip hop scene it's still a must."

Dissapointment

David Jackson | 03/09/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"After hearing classics such as "Arabian Nights", "Every Rhyme I Write", "5 Star Generals" and other guest appearances with the likes of Pharoahe Monch and The High And Mighty, i couldn't wait for this album to drop. But then i heard that he had been dropped from Rawkus and was dissing them on a track. I thought that would be a problem since at the time a lot of my favourite artists were signed to Rawkus but at the same time i was aware that Rawkus had a tendancy to push back release dates so i respected what he was doing. After picking the cd up i eagerly tore the packaging off and put it in the box. After the first couple tracks i was appauled. Complete GARBAGE. It seems Shabaam is trying to gain some sort of mainstream audience, and it just isn't good for anyone. The two stars are awarded to this album for the rare jewel, "I Still love H.E.R." which spins off of Common's "I Used To Love H.E.R."."