Toe taggin' and swaggin'.
Between the Mayans' alleged predictions of humanity's annihilation and the upcoming presidential election, 2012's shaping up to be one hell of a year. Colton-bred emcee 40 Glocc's planned his own day of reckoning - and we're only still in January! Tweaking the acronym that's damn-near synonymous with the city of Compton, G-Unit affiliate 40 Glocc has been prepping his 2003 solo debut album The Jakal since, well, I can only assume 2003. That's a long time. I wish I could say it was worth the wait. New World Agenda is an ambitious album that offers more than just your garden variety gangsta rap. 40 plays around with synths and pop aesthetics here and there, most notably on the Cee Lo Green-assisted "Electric Lady", which would have fit perfectly onto any of the two Gnarls Barkley albums (The Odd Couple, most likely). It's a bold experimental approach for a rapper with such a hard-line street pedigree and, surprisingly, it works.
However, New World Agenda is marred by its attempts at covering all the bases. Even the purportedly anti-Illuminati thesis behind N.W.A. is swept aside as quickly as the album's intro fades into track two and beyond. Snoop Dogg does a better job of pulling off this multi-tasking pop/gangsta schtick on his 20+ track-long albums. 40 Glocc? Not so much. Maybe it's because I/we cut Snoop some slack because of his fun(ky) persona. I don't know enough about 40 Glocc to give him that leeway. Nonetheless, there's a handful of great contributions to reap from New World Agenda's hefty tracklisting that are worth pointing out. "Can't See Me" is an upper lip-scrunching head bopper quickly followed by the equally-murderous "21 Gun Salute", with a guest spot provided by Prodigy of Mobb Deep. Capping things off, the West Coast family comes together late in the album on "Welcome to California" (featuring E-40, Too $hort, Snoop Dogg and Xzibit) and "America" (with Pomona legend Kokane). Clocking in at just under the maximum of eighty minutes in length though, New World Agenda is not the earth-shattering Mayan prophecy of an album it ought to be.
LISTEN: 40 Glocc - "Electric Lady" (feat. Cee Lo Green)
PURCHASE: 40 Glocc - New World Agenda
However, New World Agenda is marred by its attempts at covering all the bases. Even the purportedly anti-Illuminati thesis behind N.W.A. is swept aside as quickly as the album's intro fades into track two and beyond. Snoop Dogg does a better job of pulling off this multi-tasking pop/gangsta schtick on his 20+ track-long albums. 40 Glocc? Not so much. Maybe it's because I/we cut Snoop some slack because of his fun(ky) persona. I don't know enough about 40 Glocc to give him that leeway. Nonetheless, there's a handful of great contributions to reap from New World Agenda's hefty tracklisting that are worth pointing out. "Can't See Me" is an upper lip-scrunching head bopper quickly followed by the equally-murderous "21 Gun Salute", with a guest spot provided by Prodigy of Mobb Deep. Capping things off, the West Coast family comes together late in the album on "Welcome to California" (featuring E-40, Too $hort, Snoop Dogg and Xzibit) and "America" (with Pomona legend Kokane). Clocking in at just under the maximum of eighty minutes in length though, New World Agenda is not the earth-shattering Mayan prophecy of an album it ought to be.
LISTEN: 40 Glocc - "Electric Lady" (feat. Cee Lo Green)
PURCHASE: 40 Glocc - New World Agenda
