MY EVOLUTION
At first glance, the guy on the cover of
My Evolution looks like he might be poster child for
Bar-Fighters-Anonymous. GRIZ is a scruffy, tattooed, 250 pound bouncer-looking guy from New York, who would look more in place bouncing at
Scores than making a rap/rock CD.
My Evolution was probably very cathartic for this guy; there's a lot of agression and anger in these songs that otherwise may have gone into punching someone's teeth out (if you believe what's written in Griz's bio). Songs like "Hardcore", "Save Me", and "Bang, Bang, Bang" emphasize how much hatred (or depression) is coarsing through his veins. The guitar riffs are basic, but crunchy enough to provide a nice base for Griz's rhymes, which he screams out like his nuts are on fire.
Note to all angry Italian Rappers: Don't stick a cover of "Born to Be Wild" in the middle of your CD. It's been done to death, and nothing kills the momentum of a pissed off, screaming rap/rock collection of songs than a STEPPENWOLF cover that's been done to death. Unless you're going to completely overhaul the song and make it your own, leave it alone. Chubby Italian rappers singing 30 year-old biker anthems isn't helping the cause.
With "Backbone", which is obvioulsy about a woman, Griz tones his delivery down substantially, and his lyrics begin to take on more of an EMINEM quality, especially with the female vocals in the chorus under his rapping. "Anger and Stress" is a good alternate for this disc, because that seems to be what Griz is relieving himself of with every song on
My Evolution.
I'm far more impressed with this disc than I thought I would be, and I'm very curious to see how the general music-consuming public reacts to Griz over the long haul. Generally, Americans focus a great deal on image, and the appearance of a rapping bouncer-looking guy might be a bit much, but you never know...
