:: Ghetto Brothers Records
At first glance Sphinx 045's album "Antidisestablishment" seems like it could be interesting. The cover gets your attention as it says the album features Texas heavyweights Lil Flip, Archie Lee, and Big Pokey. Sphinx's own name and the name of his album hint at the fact that maybe this guy is about more than the usual street tales and braggadocio found in today's rap scene. That is until you read the name "Antidisestablishment" and realize that Sphinx is saying absolutely nothing with the title. To disestablish would generally mean to take away status from someone or something, a concept that could be interpreted as an attempt to go against the grain. But by adding "anti" as a prefix to the word, Sphinx 045 ends up completely nullifying that idea and saying "establishment." Maybe Sphinx 045 is on another level that normal people can't understand, but it seems more likely that he just thinks that's the case. Much like the title, the album is filled with moments when you almost think he's dope, and then you take a second listen and realize maybe Sphinx 045 should spend more time studying the English language before he drops another album.
Before expanding on the gems Sphinx 045 drops throughout this CD a few things should be pointed out. For one, the guest appearances listed on the album cover are very deceiving. Take "Unitz Ta' Move" which supposedly features Lil Flip. First, is "Ta' " somehow a more concise way to spell "to" and if it is where does the apostrophe come in? Maybe this is being too picky, but it doesn't help Sphinx's reputation. Lil Flip's guest verse on this track has nothing at all to do with moving units, matter fact it sounds like Lil Flip from a few years back when he was a teenage freestyle rapper. Most likely it is one of Flip's old freestyle verses that Ghetto Brothers Records' managed to secure the rights to and copy and pasted onto Sphinx's song. The same thing happens on "Sound Scannin' "with Big Pokey and Archie Lee supposedly dropping verses. But the odd thing is that when Big Pokey and Archie Lee do drop their verses, they mention each other but fail to even acknowledge Sphinx 045. Looks like Sphinx is once again pasting his verse over a previously recorded track in an attempt to appeal to fans of these artists.
Musically, the CD is nothing too special. One exceptional aspect is the DJs featured on a few of the tracks. DJ's Short Dog and Nasty come through on "Simple Minded," "How I Feel," and "Can You Feel This" and add some scratching to the hooks that is pretty ill and refreshing. The beat on "Simple Minded" is actually pretty good as an intro track, setting a dark mellow mood with an SPM sample scratched throughout the track and in the hook. There are a few other decent tracks but overall the production sounds like it was done on an amateur level. "Knuckelz Up" sounds like a bad Lil Jon imitation with little to no bass. "Unitz Ta' Move" does its best job of trying to imitate 3-6 Mafia's "Ridin' Spinners" and also fails miserably. Nothing else really stands out too much.
Lyrically is where the larger problem lies. Sphinx's voice and flow are actually on point. He has a deeper voice than usual and can flip a fast flow with unusual dexterity. So while there is no question Sphinx could flow if he wanted to his lyrical content is what brings him down. For one he seems to think that just because you can rhyme more than one syllable then that makes you ill. On top of this he carries the same rhyme scheme for almost a whole verse, by this I mean he rhymes the same syllables over and over again. For example on "Knuckelz Up" he spits this gem:
"Girl, go ahead and bop with it
Now bunny-hop with it
Then pop with it
Now don't stop with it
Just drop with it
Now act like you on top with it"
And the verse goes on like this in its entirety, Sphinx seems to have taken a page out of the Dr. Suess book of rhymes here. The sad thing is this is one of the best verses on the album because it actually makes sense. Much like his title "Antidisestablishment" Sphinx makes no sense at other times on his album. On one song he says "white breeded" instead of using the term "white bred" which is the proper word. Other times he uses words completely out of context in an attempt to sound clever or intelligent. I am not the English police, but someone needs to tell Sphinx that he sounds stupid using words in that way, not ill. This adds to the humor when he says "Half of you drop a verse and don't even proof-read it." On the same song "Can You Feel This" Sphinx does a very distasteful thing when he adds and scratches in the phrase "Nigga, Can You feel This" on the hook. Everyone can hold their own opinion on the subject, but if I was a White MC doing a SOLO track I would avoid a certain word overall.
I could keep pointing out problems on the CD, but by now you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Some of his lines are actually semi-clever but this is far overshadowed by the moments Sphinx sounds confused. On the intro "Simple Minded" Sphinx tried to establish himself as straying from what everyone else does, but his album doesn't follow the trend. "4 Da Block Now" is Sphinx's rep your hood song. "Knuckelz Up" is an attempt at a crunk club song. Every other track is the same old thing. "Lik A Shot" has a hook that seems to imply the song is a tribute to those who have passed away, but his verses have absolutely nothing to do with the hook. Sphinx 045 could be a dope MC if he could stick to a topic/theme and if he realized that simple multi-syllabic rhymes and using words out of context only make him sound wack. But until Sphinx revisits his dictionary this album isn't recommended at all unless you're really hard up for a laugh.
Music Vibes: 3 of 10 Lyric Vibes: 2 of 10 TOTAL Vibes: 2.5 of 10
Originally posted: November 9, 2004
source: www.RapReviews.com