What happens when you swap albums between an indie-rock fan and a hip-hop enthusiast? Two Warpath-ers decided to give one of their favorite albums from their favorite genre to eachother and see the results. Joey Fening was given a rock album, and Luke Glaser was thus given a hip-hop one.

DR. DOG REVIEW: BY JOEY FENING

            I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I sat down to listen to music that wasn’t hip-hop. It probably was around four years ago, the time before I fell in love with the beats and rhythm of rap. Needless to say, sitting down and listening to an indie rock album was definitely an event. When my fellow Warpath-er Luke Glaser gave me the album “Fate” by Dr. Dog, I really wasn’t sure what to expect.

            First off, when I saw the name of the band I was to be reviewing, I asked myself, “I thought Luke was getting the rap album to review?” After seeing “Dr. Dog” I thought Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg finally became one human being.

     As I did a little research, I found out that the band originated from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and that the five main band members have endearingly given each other nicknames.

            A big difference I noticed between the indie rock genre and hip-hop was song titles. In the hip-hop world, you’ll pretty much know what you are about to listen to judging by the song title. For example, “Slam” by Onyx is about slammin’ on their haters. “In Da Club” by 50 Cent is about escapades in a night club. “Keep Ya Head Up” by Tupac is a pick-me-upper about staying positive. Not so in the rock world.

            I started to wonder why the band would dedicate their first song to their weather, entitled “The Breeze.” After this first song, I was immediately started to wonder why I barely explore out of the hip-hop genre. Perhaps it was just fantastic selection by Luke, because Dr. Dog seems like a good enough representation of indie rock to me.

            As I got further into the album, I began to recognize bass beats and prominent drums that I have been so familiarized with through hip-hop. Partner this with a harmony of other instruments, and I was digging Dr. Dog’s sound. I specifically enjoyed “Army and Ancients,” the fourth track of the album.

     Overall, I wouldn’t consider this a conversion experience, but it was refreshing to listen to something different.

NAUGHTY BY NATURE REVIEW: BY LUKE GLASER

     When fellow Journalism student Joey Fening suggested we review CDs that we pick out for each other, I was a little worried about what I was getting into. I have great amounts of respect for a wide range of music, but I prefer to listen to only a small amount of that. One of the areas I have respect for is hip-hop. I love this genre but mostly only smooth hip-hop and where the subject matter isn’t only women, drugs, guns, or how much they hate the police.

     Joey gave me a Hip-hop CD to review: Naughty By Nature’s self-titled album released back in 1991. The opening track didn’t seem too promising. The first song starts with a sample with guns and police then goes into the five-minute song, which the backtrack is pretty repetitive.

     I was a little worried where this album was going, but the second track brought me a little hope. Though the backtrack was also repetitive–maybe more so than the first track–it had a smooth reggae-Jamaican feel not the dark feel of the last one, which promised some variety in the album.

     Then the third track came on: “O.P.P.”  This is where the album turned for me. At first I was skeptical about why this was this was their hit song.  Then the chorus came in.  I then understood. I found myself tempted to chant back the words in privacy of my own room.

     I resisted.  I swear. One thing that bugs me in a lot of hip-hop is terribly placed samples, but I give Naughty By Nature some credit for skillful use of samples, especially in this song and as well as the next track “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright.”

     From that point on I enjoyed this album except for 2 tracks: “Let The Ho’s Go” and “Pin The Tail on the Donkey” which both showed to be pretty repetitive for me. My favorite track on the album next to “O.P.P.” was probably “Thankx for Sleepwalking,” though five minutes might have been a little long for a track,  but it was still very enjoyable.

     Overall this album was pretty entertaining.

     The main problems with this album are its many unchanging tracks, lazy subject matter, and lazy language. I feel I am more impressed by hip-hop that isn’t about typically subject matter and that doesn’t curse that often.

     All said I have found two or three golden tracks on here that I will probably find myself listening to in the future.