The Longest If Not the Greatest Story Banner Has Ever Toldby Stan_Starygin

Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings

November 08, 2008: David Banner represents a new breed of overtly racist Southern gangstah rap. Think of Malcolm X's most vitriolic and inciting speech and you will get somewhere in the ballpark of what's to be expected from Banner's garden variety statement on race relations in the US. Banner, who is not satisfied with the path blazed and pace set by the likes of Malcolm X, had to go far back in US history to find a person he is comfortable associating with, a slave rebellion leader, Nat Turner, who is best known for spurring on his followers with a "kill all whites" exhortation.

This is so much as goes for Banner's political statement. The rest is the run-of-the-mill lyrical content of gangstah rap which covers ghetto life, being poor, coming up in the world of gangstah rap, bragging about being rich, explicitly describing sexual acts between a subservient female and an alpha male.

This might not sound like anything anyone should encourage by buying this type of products, and yet it is more or less standard gangstah rap and it is selling like eggnog on Christmas morning.

Banner's beat and lyrical content display what seems to be an inexhaustible reservoir of pent-up anger which is highly addictive and most appropriate for those days when it creates a safe harbor of anger for those of us who feel like getting out on the street and clobbering someone in frustration.

This particular album isn't Banner's best product by any stretch of imagination. It is perhaps one of his least noteworthy efforts. First, in creating this record, Banner seemed to have been motivated by the principle that no song is bad enough to be left out. This has resulted in a 22-track record which feels like a never-ending story (this naturally fits the title of the album quite well, provided by "greatest" Banner meant "largest" or "longest"). Some of these tracks have beats that are so ill-conceived that it is impossible to tell whether it is the background noise coming into Banner's recording studio from the street or an actual beat written to that particular lyric. In this category the particularly painful tracks are Cadillac on 22's Part Two, F*** You Hoes, Marz, and K.O.

Perhaps, the biggest redeemer of this album is a track called 9 MM which features Snoop Dogg and Akon. In many ways this track is a cut-and-paste from Dogg's Convict Music which appeared on the Blue Carpet Treatment and other lines Dogg which have defined Dogg in the last decade or so. Great as this song is one might catch oneself thinking while enjoying it if this is Banner's contribution to this song he or she is particularly appreciating. A Girl is an incredibly dynamic track with, perhaps, some of the most explicit and descriptive sex lyrics rap music has ever produced. Fly and Faith toward the end of the album are not bad either. Faith provides a great introspective look into the life of a rural Southern drug dealer-turn-rapper as it displays the insecurities of a small town youngster going into a big city.

The expectation of a great social commentary projected in the Editorial to this album has definitely not transpired. Banner is far angrier and far more explicit about his surroundings and race relations in this country than most other rappers, but if you are looking for a lengthy and in-depth treatise on race relations, buy a book on the subject. Banner's views of the social issues of choice are although highly entertaining remain the views of