Travis Barker - Give the Drummer Some ['Quality Control' Review]

 I quite often see great tracks overlooked and slept on because they're apart of mediocre albums that people don't bother to listen to. On the other hand I see people slugging their way through mediocre albums to find a couple of gems. With these 'Quality Control' reviews i'm going to be separating the sub-par from the great so you don't have to waste your time listening to garbage.

First off, Travis Barkers drumming is, as expected, fantastic. If that was the albums main attraction for you then i'd recommend listening to the whole LP.

Recommended Listens:

If You Want To ft. Pharrel & Lupe Fiasco:  8/10
As expected, Pharrel is this tracks biggest let down. His weak excuse for a chorus was completely unnecessary. Luckily Lupe puts together a couple of great verses (for the most part; WTF was he thinking half-way through his 2nd verse?) and Pharrel (together with Chad Hugo) redeems himself somewhat with the production. If you enjoyed Lupe & Travis' previous collaboration 'Joaquin Phoenix' then you'll dig this.

Devil's Got A Hold Of Me ft. Slaughterhouse:  8/10
More great production, this time with a real eerie vibe that sets the track's tone perfectly. Joell, Royce & Crooked (yes, even Crooked) all put out decent verses. Joe, however, steals the show with his stand-out, in your face aggression. If self analysis is called for in the track Budden is always going to outshine his compatriots. This is might be the best Slaughterhouse track to come out since 'Warriors'.

I belong in prison, crazy by my own admission
On a mission to grab a podium
Let me tell the public that I’m self-destructive
I aint looking for no help, f-ck it
Look for a way to get high
I’m still alive, 6 million ways to die and still a few more left to try

City Of Dreams ft. Clipse & Kobe:  7.5/10
Not a lot to say about this one. Productions impressive, Kobe contributes a nice hook and both brothers are on point.

Jump Down ft. The Cool Kids:  7/10
Your typical Cool Kids track. One of their better recent efforts.

If your money did talk, it'd probably be a mumbler

Unfortunately there isn't a freely available mp3 of these tracks at the moment.


The Rest:
Nothing else on this album really stands out. The Kid Cudi track isn't bad; if you're a cudder fan i'd recommend giving it a listen but otherwise I wouldn't bother. RZA wrecked Carry It with his awful off-beat flow and I wouldn't recommend Let's Go unless generic boring verses somehow become bearable just because they're rapped twice as fast as normal.

For the most part, what you expect from this album is what you get. There's no surprises here, every MC (except maybe RZA & Raekwon) is going in on the type of production you'd normally hear them over and for the most part if a track's a let down it's due to the MC's, not Travis' drumming or production.