What’s wrong with Bill? A lot it would seem. Naysayers are quick to pass off Ill Bill as another violent, mindless, gangsta rapper. And while his rhymes contain enough references to guns, drugs and women to support that; that label couldn’t be more incorrect. Bill’s rhymes aren’t laced with violence, they are laced with the world we live in. Combine society’s ills with Bill’s gripping paranoia and insight, and you’ve got a pre-apocalyptic war zone that the media and government exploit, glorify, support, chastise, punish and denounce all at the same time. Ill Bill is one of those emcees who not only says the things that people would rather ignore, but he presents them in their most explicit form; stripped down, raw, explicit and with no apologies.
“Anatomy of a School Shooting” is probably the best example of Bill’s approach. In the vein of the infamous Columbine shooting, he raps from the perspective of the kid on the killing spree. Without sugar coating anything, Bill delves deep into the mentality of these troubled kids, going through the range of their thought process; “I been wanting to murder people/suicide is played out/if you’re gonna die take people with you,” to “two nerdy kids is that a crime?/why do I have to be one of the cool kids just to walk by?/without being tripped/thrown down on the ground and kicked/insulted me for no reason, I was treated like shit,” and finally “I wasn’t crazy it was y’all that’s sick/I was the nicest person in the world, y’all were dicks/don’t even try and analyze me now, you had your chance back then/maybe you could’ve been my friend.”
Of course, Bill isn’t the only one holding down this LP. His brother Necro laces the album with wall to wall production, and probably his best yet. As demonstrated on tracks like “Overkill” and “Carnasie Artie’s Brigade,” Necro continues to craft his ultra-rugged brand of beats; but on numerous occasions he flips the script and comes with some really funky shit. Opening with a classic Uncle Howie snippet, “Glenwood Projects” sees Bill, Necro and Goretex ride a funky bass guitar loop as the drums kick down the door. “Unstoppable” is just as funky and Necro just bodies it with the pipe organ sample. Other tracks such as the clever “Peace Sells” show can bring some finesse too.
A title such as “Death Smiles At Murder” will illicit the kind of reaction that I mentioned above, but how you can you argue with this? “Our society loves murders, love war, love bloodshed/love the scene of an accident when someone’s dead/we love violence, we can’t turn away the coliseum/throw’em in the arena and watch the lions eat’em/movies and music are the mirrors of this madness.” Riding yet another Necro banger, Bill saves perhaps his best performance to date for “American History X.” The scathing social critique is made even more believable because of the ferocity of Bill’s delivery. Of course, lines like this don’t hurt; “these greedy motherfuckers trade blood for oil/an American graveyard on another man’s soil/makes no sense/a Roman empire in the present tense/murder for corporations that they represent/whether democrat or republican, the same scumbag government/with scumbag ways of running shit.”
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If there were any doubts that the members of Non Phixion needed solo albums, this should erase it. With a fury and intensity rarely seen anymore, Ill Bill unloads his mind over 14 songs. Go ahead and point out his ignorance to counter his wisdom, but Bill is the first to point out he is a walking contradiction. Listen to the picture of the world that he paints and try and convince yourself that hypocrisy is avoidable. Something tells me the cult leader is going to get a bigger following with this gem.
8.5/10
