Easy Mo Bee: Now Or Never: Odyssey 2000 : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Easy Mo Bee is the most influential hip-hop producer you've never heard of. His signature style -- wide-bottomed bass with crashing sheets of sound -- created instant classics for the likes of the Notorious B.I.G., Busta Rhymes, Craig Mack and the Lost Boyz. Stepping into the captain's chair for his solo debut, Easy invites more people to his project than Puffy does to his parties: Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Goodie Mob, Gang Starr, Rah Digga, Cocoa Brovaz and Angie Martinez all make appearances. If it sounds like an uneven mix, it is. Kurupt roars, Snoop bores; Angie Martinez's rhymes bounce like a yo-yo, Rah Digga comes with some so-so. Easy Mo Bee's new group, Da Nation, delivers the goods with a metaphoric madness that captures the project's scheme: "We focus on the ways to keep the whole crew paid/And won't stop until we ship half a mil like slaves." Still, if you jump on Easy Mo Bee's Odyssey, strap yourself in -- it's a bumpy ride. (RS 849)

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