Damn, he really sounds like Wu Tang. One of them anyway. While I hate to critique music by throwing together a myriad of rappers and painting the artist in question as a hybrid of the known, the resemblance is inevitable. Rugged N Raw sounds a little like Ghostface Killah.
Take that with a grain of salt because while Ghostface spent his tenure as an emcee rhyming amongst many and created introspective heavy tracks, Rugged's style is more hubris, more attention-demanding and whimsical. How hubris? As much so as the "I'm Better Than You" t-shirt available for sale on his Myspace page. How whimsical? His strength is his lyrical jovialness. He's playful, as exemplified by lyrics such as "the only way that I'm riding dirty, is if the pissy cars on the train goin' take me" on "Broke n Proud", the reverse anthem for those few who take pride in a meager existence.
The album doesn't have a cohesive message, but it doesn't need one either. I can't critique an artist for what he is not attempting to do. Perhaps this is purposely done to emulate someone with a dose of Truth Serum -Unconsciously spilling the beans…without a care…without control. Truth Serum plays like one freestyle. You may not know more about him by the close of the album, but the truth is, he may not want you to.
Great tracks on this album are:
- That's What It Is ft HiCoup
- Broke N Proud ft. Hasan Salaam
- I'll Stay
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