The newest protege of Insane Clown Posse has finally been revealed as the African Voodoo Witch Doctor Big Hoodoo who has an uncanny resemblance to WWE's underutilised wrestler the Boogeyman! Big Hoodoo's debut album Crystal Skull just dropped from the duo's Psychopathic Records label following the departure of the label's horror feature heavy weight's Twiztid. Although that has nothing to do with Crystal Skull's release, it has everything to do with the artist and albums success because fans are going to use Twiztid as the measuring stick of what to expect from the label. Given Twiztid is irreplaceable Big Hoodoo is not going to get a fair shake from ICP's dedicated fan base. That being said I don't give a shit about any of the politics, I'm here to ignore shitty music and enjoy good music and given that logic this is my review of Big Hoodoo's debut Crystal Skull.
Intro - They could have done so very many interesting things to introduce this mysterious new entity to the fans, but they kind of wasted the opportunity. This intro isn't memorable in the least unlike most other Psychopathic intro's I'll probably be deleting this from my itunes. It's just wasted space.
Hexed - I first listened to this track on my iphone when the video was released as a teaser before the album dropped. I really didn't like it. But I gave it another chance while on my computer and actually really got into it enough to buy the album. The moral of the story being don't judge a book by how it sounds through shitty iphone speakers. Hexed serves as a decent intro to Big Hoodoo and his mythos. It's fairly catchy, but you'll notice BH isn't gifted with a great voice for flow, that's not saying he's a bad rapper he just has a more blunt delivery. It's something you have to get past and get used to. Hexed is your introduction to the witch doctor and the magic within the pages of his book of hex. The "throw a Hex" interruption annoyed me at first, but it's grown on me now.
The Raven - What do you know Hoodoo can also fly! The track talks about Hoodoo flying over the streets of the hood with his magic raven wings which sounds much cooler than my description. The first few times much like the "throw a Hex" lyric in Hexed the "gotta black set of wings under this cloak bitch" interrupting the flow was irritating me, but the more I listen the more it blends with the beat . The Raven sports one of the catchiest hooks in the album and I can't help, but want to move when it kicks in. I can't dance though so maybe I'll just start flapping my arms around like a weirdo instead.
Give It Life - One of my favourites of the album, the beat sounds like a mix of Milenko and Dark Lotus. Hoodoo builds his Frankenstein's monster. Not a new concept to psychopathic and it stacks up against all the other songs sharing this theme we've heard before. No complaints with this one, it's pretty fucking awesome.
Mountain Climbing - The token song featuring Violent J about the success of Psychopathic that's on every side projects album. I'm not complaining, J impresses with a sick verse, Hoodoo proves he can rub elbows with the best, and Awesome Dre shows that being Awesome is better than being a Doctor. Great flow, catchy hook, I really like this one.
Blitzed - A decent track about getting fucked up on everything you can shoot, huff, snort, or smoke. It's fairly catchy, fun and enjoyable, not one of my favourites, but not at all bad.
Never Had - Pretty intense depressing song about child abuse. It goes so far and mean you have to question it's validity, but the emotion behind it certainly makes you feel it's probably not far from the truth. It's a great track that gives you a little more of a peek behind the face paint of the fictional character to see the man who dons it.
Dark Side - It's sometimes all about the way an album is built and the order it is put in. Dark Side is nice follow up to Never Had focusing more on the negativity's of the world and how it has effected this character/man. Overall a good tune.
Crystal Skull - Crystal Skull returns us to the party as Hoodoo gets drunk drinking his Crystal Skull (possibly the vodka) and impressing people with his voodoo magic. Great party tune and drinking song!
Spells - Spells is a stupid song featuring Insane Clown Posse about spell casting, and I'm not insulting it, but you can tell the artists are just having fun with the concept to make a dumb fun little song. Sounds like light hearted classic old school 80's - 90's mainstream hip hop. The fun the artists are having rubs off on the listener spell casting a smile. (yea that was cheesy)
Happily Ever After - Another song about falling in love from a distance. Fantasising about the perfect woman who is a complete stranger. Only Hoodoo contemplates casting a spell to catch his trophy wife. A slow plodding catchy track, easy to relate and enjoy.
My Homie - Hoodoo won't let go of his friend even after death. Resurrecting a Zombie turns out to be a bad idea when Hoodoo's dead friend starts trying to eat people. Good times!
The Jinx - Jinxing haters is the theme of the Jinx. The flow of this song is truly fucking awesome. Personally I hate the whole "hater" thing in hip hop, it's just played out, but I do really like this song the writing is great and it's catchy as Hell.
Detroit Murderous - Another song about how awful it must be to visit or live in Detroit. Sounds hard as Hell to survive the very real crime rate and violence it's known for. Probably why so much success springs from the city, desperation helps overcome unbeatable odds in order to escape. Good True Crime style gangsta rap style track. Hard lives produce greatness.
The World is Very Different - A very real look about how shitty and complacent society has gotten to bullshit, every time you see it get better, you learn it's just always been worse than you could ever imagine.
Overall Big Hoodoo has produced a heavyweight album with few weaknesses that unfortunately will be mostly ignored by the masses. It's hard being the new kid and it's even harder to overcome that status to gain acceptance, and I certainly hope Big Hoodoo has it in him to stick it out, I for one would like to hear more of this entity.
Also note, I don't believe Big Hoodoo says juggalo once in the album and that in itself is fucking refreshing.
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