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From Kingdom Come (Def Jam; 2006)
Just Blaze, apparently, has always wanted to use the “Darkest Light” horns. Well, rightfully so, and good for Blaze. That brass is sumptuous, right. But let’s just ignore “Rump Shaker” for a moment and consider: Kid Sister’s “Let Me Bang” uses these horns less slickly yet more aptly. Blaze lets the sample breathe in the opening loop, but then Jay-Z asks, “What you want me to do? I’m sorry!” and the live band jams their shit out, cheerfully fritzing towards their Def Jam presidential paychecks even though the horns are soft and dark. A bottled Flava waits for some call-and-response on the lackluster hook. This is a Just Blaze production at 50% good taste, 50% solid execution, and 0% inspiration. Hov raps to match.
“Let Me Bang” takes that same opening loop and lets it stand above hand drums and juke house programming; Kid Sister churns a cadence somewhere between Chi-Town drawl and UK grime. The final result is terribly sexy. The final result of “Show Me What You Got” is hell if I know. It’s not much of a banger or a display of Hov’s talent; it’s not hot or chill or hard or, really, any firm descriptor, except for maybe loudly innocuous. Hey, though, at least it continues The Black Album’s legacy: a ton of the right pieces, just not enough actual adding up. Meanwhile, Kid Sister’s way, way cuter than Jay-Z.