Steve 'Flash' JuonI think every couple of decades I’ll have to explain the joke behind The Madd Rapper again. The last time I visited this topic was 2008 so we’re due for a refresher. Deric “D-Dot” Angelettie got his first break in rap in the early 1990’s as one half of the rap group Two Kings in a Cipher alongside Ron “Amen Ra” Lawrence. They were conscious duo at the peak of the Afrocentric movement, and that vibe is reflected in videos like “Movin On Em” and songs like “Daffy Was a Black Man.” I remember digging their vibe at the time while also thinking it might be a hard sell. Rap was moving rapidly away from what was perceived as cornball rap music that wanted to teach and preach, and the much harder and more commercially viable gangster rappers were taking their place.
I don’t have any sales data to say either way but I suspect Two Kings flopped and got dropped. Far from ruining their rap ambitions though this may have been exactly the break Angelettie and Lawrence needed. They shifted gears from being rap stars to rap producers and linked up with rising mogul Sean “Puffy” Combs. As part of the in house Bad Boy Records squad of “Hitmen” they’d help usher in another age of rap, shifting focus from the gangsters to pop friendly “shiny suit” rap, as Bad Boy went from the home of Craig Mack and Notorious B.I.G. to the house of hits. It can be fairly argued that without these “Kings” that Bad Boy would never have become a household name. In the process Angelettie got to debut a new persona as “The Madd Rapper” — an obnoxious loudmouth who was jealous of every person who passed over him to become a bigger star. “My shit is more John Blaze than that!”
Accidentally or not Angelettie had created a character more memorable to the public than his Afrocentric raps as D-Dot, and after continued appearances playing the role throughout Bad Boy’s catalogue, it was finally time for The Madd Rapper to step into the spotlight on his own with “Tell Em Why U Madd.” In the process we had yet another happy accident — Angelettie helped introduce the world to Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson on the humorous album closer “How to Rob.” The song was originally slated for 50’s “Power of the Dollar” album, but Columbia Records dropped Jackson after he was shot nine times. This also results in Jackson’s appearance not having the signature slur his delivery was known for after the shooting. He almost sounds like a completely different man, but you can still tell that’s 50 on the track.
At this point the irony shouldn’t be lost on anybody that The Madd Rapper’s persona wasn’t that far from his real life. Time and again Angelettie was turning other people into huge rap stars behind the boards, watching their careers take off while he had to be the man behind the curtain. “Tell Em Why U Madd” might have been born out of a joke, but one quickly gets the sense there’s some real truth behind it, given Angelettie and Lawrence were perfectly capable rappers who had bad timing and what was likely a poor record deal to go along with it. While I’m all for Angelettie venting all of his pent up frustration, some parts of this are just fucking weird, like “How We Do” with Puff Daddy.
Angelettie can’t keep up the screaming gimmick for the whole album without destroying his vocal chords, but hearing a calm version of The Madd Rapper do a track with the lethargic flow of Combs just isn’t funny. On the other hand it probably helps Angelettie that Combs couldn’t steal his spotlight on the track. Other guest stars shine more than he does even when he turns up the Madd-ness a notch. “Ghetto” featuring Raekwon the Chef and Carl Thomas feels like a Wu track on a Bad Boy album. (I told you this shit is weird.) I’m not the biggest advocate of Lil’ Cease but he’s absolutely the best part of “Too Many Ho’s.” And here’s the most painful truth — “Stir Crazy” belongs on an Eminem album. He’s a madder rapper than Angelettie no matter how hard he tries.
The production is as solid as you would expect from Angelettie though, who did a large percentage of the work and handed off another big chunk to a pre-“Call Me Yeezus” Kanye West. “That’s What’s Happenin'” shows that West knack for making bouncy hits before he lost his shit, and it’s also one of Angelettie’s better performances as his alter ego to boot. Add Ma$e and Tracey Lee to this shit and it could have been a radio hit, but I don’t think anybody involved had those ambitions.
“Tell Em Why U Madd” is an incredibly mixed bag and it didn’t have to be. 24 tracks are stretched out over 71 minutes including interludes and skits, and trimming off a third of the fat would have made for much tastier cuts. Instead the joke’s on you for buying an album for something that was originally meant as an inside joke poking fun at Angelettie’s failed rap career, despite the fact he had achieved far beyond that as a successful producer. Even with the bloat it’s still fun to listen to, but it’s a shame that it could have much closer to a classic had they reigned it in a little bit.