Charizma & Peanut Butter Wolf – Big Shots

November 18, 2003 • Stones Throw Records

For some bizarre reason, Big Shots has seem to flown over the heads of a lot of casual hip hop fans, and it baffles me as to why. After just one listen, I knew this album would become one of my all-time favorites, and I was right (it's in my top 5 hip hop albums for sure). It just does everything right on every level, and is a party to listen to every time.

It's easy to point out what makes this album so goddamn good—everything about the album is made perfectly and combined just right. Peanut Butter Wolf's beats are fantastic; despite sounding like standard early '90s west coast stuff at first, they're really upbeat and contain some great samples (including a lot of now-classic hip hop artists, which are fun to pick up on) and scratching (I love some good scratching; most albums I've heard so far have little if none). Sometimes they're a bit jazzy, Tribe-style, which is nice too (Tribe is an obvious overall influence, which I'm not going to complain about). The drums are sometimes excruciatingly heavy but the samples and melodies that go along with them create a really nice aloof atmosphere out of nowhere. It doesn't make sense how it works, but it clicks perfectly, especially when listening in the car. I don't think any album has made me want to dance as much as this one, the grooves are so good.

Charizma is a great MC, too; it's a fitting moniker as he clearly has a lot of it. His delivery is completely confident and on-point. Unlike all the typical hardcore rappers of the time, he doesn't need to say he's the best MC around; he shows it in his style instead. Sometimes it seems like he's channeling Big L (he sounds a bit like him, too), but in a more mature way. I'm not sure what all the lyrics are about (from what I can tell, mostly girls and apple juice), but they sound more intelligent and clever than the average west coast swag, which is always a plus.

In short, there isn't a single filler track on here; it's just hit after hit that shows an incredible amount of talent from both members. Even the lone skit is not only listenable, but decent (I hate skits). They throw in a lot of really cool bits with effects and beat switching to keep it interesting, and there isn't a low point on the album. Required listening for any and all hip hop fans.

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