Analyse This - Taz

'Analyse This' is the 2004 from Jamaican born but UK raised London rapper Taz, who moved to the UK at the age of 12. He is currently signed to Def Jam UK, a branch of the US Hip-Hop Heavyweight label Def Jam. From his beginnings as a DJ to his rapping career Taz managed to achieve a lot in a short amount of time, including producing 'Jus a Rascal' for Dizzee Rascal. He has an electric stage presence and a solid rhyme style which in my opinion may ...
...top UK mc's Sway and Dizzee.

The Album

1 - Only God Can Judge Me

A great song to start the album with, love the production on this one, love the base line, Taz shows off his rapping ability throughout, reflecting on life and the music business, he's a very talented mc, love the following lines which pretty much sum up the UK rap scene -

These British A&R's wouldn't know talent if it slapped ... more

'Analyse This' is the 2004 from Jamaican born but UK raised London rapper Taz, who moved to the UK at the age of 12. He is currently signed to Def Jam UK, a branch of the US Hip-Hop Heavyweight label Def Jam. From his beginnings as a DJ to his rapping career Taz managed to achieve a lot in a short amount of time, including producing 'Jus a Rascal' for Dizzee Rascal. He has an electric stage presence and a solid rhyme style which in my opinion may lead to him breaking through in America along side other top UK mc's Sway and Dizzee.

The Album

1 - Only God Can Judge Me

A great song to start the album with, love the production on this one, love the base line, Taz shows off his rapping ability throughout, reflecting on life and the music business, he's a very talented mc, love the following lines which pretty much sum up the UK rap scene -

These British A&R's wouldn't know talent if it slapped them in the face,
Telling me to sound like Mase,
I'm thinking of emigrating to the United States,
Because over here spitting real don't give you no breaks.

8/10

2 - Fast Talk ft Skorpian

Like the name the raps are delivered in double time, Taz does this effortlessly, you can understand everything he says despite the speed of his delivery, Skorpian's heavy Rastafarian accent is a bit more of a struggle to understand but you can do it, also he features almost more heavily than Taz on this song, love Taz's last verse, the production is very polished.

8/10

3 - Wish Me Luck

Taz reflects on the struggles of growing up in a poor, single parent household, he looks at how he overcame this and talks about how he will never forget where he came from, some very deep lyrics from the British mc, I do like the music, especially the violins and the piano.

8/10

4 - Cowboy Film ft Kardinal Official

The main single from the album and it's easy to see why, the production is some of the best on the album, mixing traditional rap beats with some double time beats and Spanish guitar, its basically a rap love song, with the chorus -

Girl you're beautiful,
Come spend the night with me,
We'll watch a cowboy film,
We'll play a cowboy scene,
Your boyfriend won't mind if you spend the night away,
Coz tonight's our night and tomorrow is his day.

Kardinal delivers some tight raps, there pretty sexually explicit, love it, he flips in and out of an almost Jamaican accent throughout his raps, Taz really shows of on here though, slowing his raps down and speeding them up at will, just a great British hip-hop song, the remix although sounding very different its even better and features my favourite rap from a UK mc ever from Sway, although its not on the album.

10/10

5 - Flow Pro

Taz continues his momentum on this track, more slick production with great use of a violin, the chorus is ok but nothing special, but like most rap songs this one is made on the verses, Taz uses a pretty stop start flow during much of this but surprisingly it works, love the lines -

It makes me laugh when I hear some of these mixtapes,
You think your yankee blood you need to get your mind straight,
And you accent mate,
It's all nonsense,
You know it to yourself you can hear it in your conscience.

8/10

6 - Left Leg In

Now I can never make up my mind on this one, the beats are almost grime, almost garage, almost hip-hop but just don't seem to settle down for me, I like the raps but that's not quite enough to really pull this one up for me, really don't like the chorus.

6/10

7 - Can't Contain Me

Originally the beats for this were supposed to be for Busta Rhymes but when Def Jam UK heard it they told Taz it had to be for him, and Can't Contain Me was born.

This ones pretty much Taz's anthem, when I saw him the place erupted when he was performing this, love the production on this, very polished, the beat is just wicked, Taz really sounds like he's having fun rapping, some nice lyrics, the guests all come strong.

10/10

8 - Only If You Try

Quite a soulful song, Taz raps about working hard in life to achieve things and how we should all be doing this, he actually sings the chorus, some intelligent lyrics throughout the song, its not often you'll hear such a thoughtful track in UK hip-hop.

8/10

9 - Lonely

An up-tempo song, another love song in the style only hip-hop makes, Taz raps about meeting a women who's going through problems with her man, and the process of seducing her and how much he likes her, a very clever song lyrically, this is my kind of modern love song, the production again is quality, love the guitar.

9/10

10 - Imagine

Arguably the best song on here, for me its definitely the song that provokes the biggest emotional reaction, this songs hits right through me, from the soulful singing, the laidback production and just top quality music, to the thoughtfulness of Taz's lyrics, for me songs like this effect me more than something like REM's 'Everybody Hurts'.

10/10

11 - Live And Learn

From one of the stronger tracks to one of the more average ones, Taz continues with his thoughtful lyrics, reflecting on mistakes he's made in life, how he's learnt from them and how he will continue to be strong in the face of life's problems, very clever lyrics but the music doesn't do too much for me.

7/10

12 - Change The Game ft Sprakett

Double time beats, double time raps, I love it, Taz's message through the song is how he's entered the rap world to change things and hit another level to other UK mc's, Sprakett comes with some very aggressive and menacing raps, talking about life on the streets as a drug dealer, quite a dark and threatening song all-round, Taz eclipses Sprakett on the song.

8/10

13 - Just Walk ft Marga Man

One of the funniest UK hip-hop songs I've ever heard, I love Marga Man, his voice is unlike any other person I can think of, very nasal tone but in a different way to say B-Real from Cypress Hill, the UK accent takes it to another place completely, very bouncy production sounding unlike anything else on here, the songs about how neither mc will help a women get home after sleeping with them, very light hearted lyrics, this one always makes me laugh, love the lines -

(Taz) I know what you think,
You think I'm rude,
Guess what I ain't in the mood,
I know when you go home you'll probably cuss me,
You'll be alright in the morning trust me.
(Marga Man imitating a female voice) 'Fine I'll just walk along the street!'
(Taz)Yeah you do that, I'm going to sleep!

10/10

Overall a 9/10 from me, this is a very strong album with very few weak points, I feel this is a gem that went by on its release without the acclaim it deserved although it certainly helped Tax gain a firm foothold in the UK rap scene, and also helped him get noticed across the sea in America, I have a mixtape somewhere I bought at the Sway, Taz, and Dizzee Rascal show I went to which has 50Cent giving shout outs to Taz and Marga Man so people in the US rap world are definitely aware of Taz's huge talent. Recommended to all rap fans.

If you wish to read more about the man I suggest you check out this interview which also gives us a bit of history about Taz -

http://www.thesituation.co.uk/ukartists/taz/taz.h tml  

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