PRODUCTION RATING:
OVERALL RATING:Phat Kat, one of Detroit's finest emcees to emerge these past few years, recently dropped his sophomore album 'Carte Blanche'. So naturally illRoots had to let its viewers know exactly what we thought of the album.So, the first voice we hear on the first track is that of the late great J Dilla (R.I.P). That right there pretty much grabs your attention for the whole first half of the album, whether thats a good thing or not, you will later know. The first thing I notice about 'Nasty Ain't It' is the beat is banging for real. Thats pretty much the only thing I got to say thats really positive about the track though, Phat Kat's end didn't meet with the high level of quality the beat was providing. Next up is 'Get it Started' is basically a brag track, beat is kind of dark an the sampling is alittle annoying, but never the less its still a dope beat. If your keeping track thats 2 for 2 good beat-wise. 'My Old Label' is a track were Phat Kat shits on his Old label (who didn't see that coming?) his flow is extremely annoying on this one I am tempted to hit the next button, the beat is ok (2.5 out of 3 Beat-wise at this point). Now, the moment none who listened expected...Cold Steel, easily the best song on the album and quite possibly best this year, Elzhi provides us with one of his best verses in year(s). This might also be my new favorite J Dilla beat aswell. Even Phat Kat can't come whack on this perfect production.
[Phat Kat - Cold Steel (Feat. Elzhi)]
I almost knew nothing else was topping Cold Steel, but I continued to listen, for the very dope beats and often decent flow work from Phat Kat. Are next banger is Danger. This has been around for quite awhile, so this one I pretty much don't need to spend to much time on, so lets keep it moving. 'Vessels' provides us with another bickering/bragging track on the album, with some good vocal work by Truth Hurst and you guessed it, another dope beat. At this point all six beats have been great, this will probably go down as one of the most wasted production of this century. Anyway, 'Lovely' apparently slowed down the album with yet another set of great vocals this time from Melanie Rutherford. This song is pretty much about Phat's previous relationships, how creative. Next, 'Cash Em Out' first things first, this is probably the second best beat on the album, mad dope stuff. Phat Kat and Loe Louis (who?) provide good flow work, thats about it. On 'Game Time' Phat Kat promises to take it to the strip club, finally! anyway, the song is pretty much just a fun song, the beat is probably the worst on the album, but its still pretty decent. Now, we have reached 'Survival Kit' its pretty much a spin off of every other song on the album, again with a dope beat and good flow work, pretty much the only two things we can count on Phat Kat to provide us with at this point. Next we have 'Nightmare' which is a pretty dope song, probably the best the second album as to offer, again mostly because of the production and flow, but Guilty Simpson is on it and you know that helped the shit out big time in my eyes.
So now we're damn near through this journey of dope beats, ill flows, and decent hook work with alittle bit of mediocre lyric work (the formula for this centuries albums) we have three tracks left, the only one that grabbed my attention enough to actually acknowledge is 'True Story Pt. 2', the beat is great, its kind of like a J Dilla tribute and I give him my respect for doing this, because I almost thought it wasn't going to happen.
All an all, Carte Blanche is an album that you put in the ride an turn the bass all the way up an you just appreciate the beats. You can't hate on Phat Kat for having a great ear for production. Would I recommend you to listen to this for the lyrics? probably not, but its an entertaining assortment of songs thats for sure.
