Steve 'Flash' Juon“The flyest of the fly y’all, they all know who you are.”
After the success of releasing “The Real Hardcore” for Record Store Day in 2021, a follow-up full length album from Schoolly D was inevitable. Two years later Jesse Weaver returned with “‘Cuz That Nixxers Crazy That’s Why,” and if I have to explain what the third word actually is, I’m going to need you to stop reading this review and go listen to some Richard Pryor stand-up stat. The aforementioned EP song is included and at first I thought Tracy Morrow wasn’t too busy hawking CarShield to do another song when I heard “The Epic Flyest Real Rhymes.” It only took me a minute to realize Ice-T’s verse was recycled from “The Real Hardcore” though. “I spit game like I swallowed the Monopoly board” is an easy punchline to remember (for better or worse).
Recycling is a common theme for this album though. The quote that opened this review is from an uncredited singer praising Schoolly D’s virtues, and you hear it in both of the first two tracks. Both the original “The Real Hardcore” and its accompanying “Epic Mix” are recycled here. On “These Rhymes Are Dedicated to All B-Boys” he’s unapologetically lifting the sound he and Code Money created on “Saturday Night” in 1986 while simultaneously shouting out “Gucci Time.” I’m giving partial credit to D for the sentiments he offers on the song though: “Real hip-hop don’t have to have a gun […] real hip-hop is smart and not dumb/real hip-hop don’t forget where it’s from.”
Even if he’s using a basic rhyme structure and a 40 year old delivery to say it, I appreciate the positivity and respect for rap history. You’ll note the irony of an emcee some have dubbed “the first gangster rapper” saying it at your own leisure. You may further note the irony of him having a song called “82, 83, 84, 85” on the album. As if we didn’t already acknowledge him as a progenitor from the mid 1980’s, he’s now attempting to retroactively claim the years before he gained fame. At least he’s rapping like he stepped out of a time machine from then to now so it makes its own weird sense when you hear it.
As long as we’re recycling the songs, sounds and styles of both Schoolly D and the 1980’s, why don’t we recycle the cultural touchstones like Michael Jordan? While Jordan didn’t win his first NBA title until 1991, his rise to fame began long before that as a North Carolina player at the start of the 80’s and a fan favorite with the Chicago Bulls at the end of said decade. What’s strange about “Jordan’s Dream” though is that the song references him in name only. I would have enjoyed hearing D wax poetic about how influential Jordan was, how much he enjoyed watching him play, or even talking about his fly collection of Nike Air Jordans like a true sneakerhead would. He does NONE of those things.
Like any Jesse Weaver project of the last two decades “‘Cuz That Nixxers Crazy That’s Why” is entirely self-produced. This is a mistake. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again for emphasis — Schoolly D is not a skilled producer. At his worst he’s completely unlistenable, and at his best he’s competent. Thankfully his newest record falls into the latter category, but that still means the sound is incredibly dated. Even though I enjoy hearing Chuck D on “The Epic” and recommend the song for hearing two legends on one song, the music is like somebody hit play on one sampler and hit play on one drum machine before calling it a day. Apparently he realized how simple it was and decided to fuck with his own vocals to add some spice to it, but it’s not enough to keep your brain from drifting into a fog. The Chuck D part could have been its own song and been better. Matter of fact it SOUNDS like two songs spliced together.
I’m still going to give a cautiously positive recommendation to this album for a few reasons, not the least of which is that it’s WAYYYYY better than the regrettable “International Supersport.” I’d even say it’s better than vintage era Schoolly D albums like “Welcome to America” that showed he had become bored with his own fame in the 90’s. Somehow Jesse Weaver is more invested in putting in the effort as an emcee now than he was then. I can’t say that’s not impressive. He’s nowhere near his peak as a lyricist from the 80’s, but he delivers his simplistic bars with sincere intentions, and he did just well enough on production to make it listenable. Sometimes recycling is actually good for the planet, and on the planet of hip-hop, I accept this crazy motherfucker rapping like it’s 1986 all over again.