After two critically acclaimed and commercially unsuccessful albums, The Artifacts split in late ’97 and went for dolo. One half of the New Jerusalem duo kept his name in people’s mouths with numerous 12″s and guest spots, the other half went into exile. It wasn’t until 2001 that Tame popped up on the EC compilation, flipping an ill rendition of Slick Rick’s “The Moment I Feared.” A year and a half later, and the long-awaited long player is here. Chopped full of sucker mc disses, gutter slang, and tales of bombing the iron horse, “When Rappers Attack” is just what Tame fans were waiting for.
Being a part of the Eastern Conference squad comes with some privileges, most notably their top-notch production team. J-Zone holds his spot as hip-hop’s most original producer (not to mention one of the freshest) as he contributes three smoking tracks in “Heat,” “Tame As It Ever Was” and “Slick Talkin.'” Rjd2 comes with the goods on “Up To No Good Again” and Tame rides the drums like a pro. Camu Tao laces Tame with the title track, which sets off the album with some of Tame’s best rhymes. “Act Right” is another banger that has Camu doing a dope Mighty Mi impression. Speaking of which, Milo does some vintage work (as does Cage) on “Leak Smoke,” but misses on “Dreamz.” Wack emcees all around catch a bad one from Tame on “Iz It Me,” which is a recycled Eazy E beat (still dope though).
There really isn’t much not to like about this album, it is nice and short, leaving you wanting more rather than getting bored. Although, two excellent songs (“Slick Talkin'” and “Concerto”) are far too short at under 2 minutes each. Unfortunately, like many EC releases, “When Rappers Attack” features material that has already appeared on other releases. Considering the album’s brevity, that is very noticeable. The Knotty-headed sleaze stack delivers a nice album though, continuing in EC’s trend of stellar material.
7/10
