bad times no longer lastin'

so i'm still on planet hiatus but figured hey, it wouldn't be right *not* to post another baltimore rap cut given my recent exposure on Government Names. this time around i'm speaking on B Rich, the man who might have blown up b-more hip-hop.

signed to Atlantic records in 2002 on the strength of his regional radio hit "Whoa Now," B Rich got his chance...and blew it. some say the album ("80 Dimes") wasn't promoted properly, some say the album just plain sucks. i'm probably somewhere in between. true, "Whoa Now" screams gimmick with its Jeffersons television theme jack, but B Rich's delivery is--if nothing else--infectious. whether or not that's a good thing is still up for debate.

me personally: appreciated the lyrics but couldn't follow the production on his album. with a few exceptions, "80 Dimes" is pre-Neptunes/mid-Swizz and suffers accordingly. standout tracks are few and far between, and instead of playing up the regional appeal of b-more club he banished it to the realm of bonus track material. a hilarious sidenote: the album includes a pre-Kanye Twista promo snippet track at the end of the album...which goes to show what a difference a producer (with a Roc chain) makes.

and so it goes. B Rich was quickly dropped by the label, who were presumably more concerned with pushing the dutty sounds of Sean Paul to the masses. i don't know much about his discography since the Atlantic year(no s), but i do know he relased a white label under the name 80 Dimes--go figure. All In Together is the a-side produced by longtime b-more club celebrity Dukeyman. the formula is the same as "Whoa Now" (big-name sample and all) but sounds a lot more, dare i say, heartfelt? when i bought this record it had a "distributed by Fat Beats" sticker on the jacket. i have my doubts. still a good song. features bars from LT, an 80 Dimes affiliate.