I'm not at all qualified to say much about hip-hop, but I like what I like, and sometimes this is where my tastes land.
People who know what the hell they're doing in this genre were probably well aware of AZ from his appearance in Nas' "Life's a Bitch" many years prior, but I was not. I happened to encounter AZ's video for the song "Problems" (the only other standout track for me from 9 Lives) around the time of the album's release, and liked it enough to go ahead and buy the CD.
Overall, it's not a great album, but the opening track (ignoring the intro), "What Cha Day About," immediately blew me away. Its amazingly chilled out vibe (owing a decent debt to the soothing string melodies sampled from The Hues Corporation's "Needed") creates a superbly pensive atmosphere—a characteristic that often tends to grab my attention from this niche.
Do I identify with the lyrics? Absolutely not. I've never blown cess in the dark, nor played chess in the park. I don't take trips every week, or spend chips on freaks. I neither get money all night, nor bet houses (or anything else) on the dice. Got your vest and your heat? Hell no, I don't. Get respect in the street? Can't say that I do.
And yet, the tune strikes a nerve in a big way. I don't know. That's the magic of music. It is what it is, and I fuckin' love it.
