Steve 'Flash' JuonI’m not going to pull any punches about this — “Memorial Day” was a flop as an album and Gary Williams b/k/a Full Blooded was a flop as an artist. That’s not to be confused with him being a bad rapper or this being a bad release. We’re going to get into the WHY everything flopped in just a minute, but I’d like to start out by introducing you to Full Blooded’s single biggest claim to fame. Back when Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus was signed to No Limit Records, F.B. wanted a guest appearance on his debut album and got the “Snoop Dogg and Hound Dawg” collab’ he was hoping for on “Gangsta Shit.”
Honestly as his lone shot at memorability it’s not that great. Most of the best tracks for No Limit in this era were courtesy of Beats by the Pound (later known as the Medicine Men), but producer Mark in the Dark is some random schmoe not in their crew who landed this plum assignment. Getting shouted out by Snoop in the intro has to be the highlight of HIS career too. So how did we even get here? Through Full Blooded’s friendship with Percy Miller’s brother C-Murder, which led to him getting two guest appearances on C’s debut album “Life or Death.” Not surprisingly one of the best tracks on Full Blooded’s solo album is “I’m Gonna Hustle” featuring Big Ed and C-Murder
Now Full Blooded may not have had the star potential No Limit hoped for (his album stalled at No. 112 on the Billboard Top 200), he’s a perfectly serviceable rapper. Tracks like the Carlos Stephens produced “Give ‘Em Some” give him the room to breathe. The bottom end of the piano meets with solid percussive claps, allowing the raspy F.B. to growl lines like “I don’t stop shooting even if you screaming/I’m a lover, and a fighter, and an executioner.” He’s almost a proto-DMX here, although the Hound Dawg doesn’t quite have the bark of the late Earl Simmons. Still there’s a charm here that extends even to the Pen & Pixel album cover, where he looks like a gigantic camouflaged Method Man pulling up graves with his bare hands.
What went wrong then? Everything. No Limit had one of the most ridiculous release schedules of any label in the late 1990’s. Saying they put out an album a week is an exaggeration but not much of one. As popular as Master P and his cohorts were, they couldn’t possibly put No Limit’s full marketing muscle behind every single one, and Beats by the Pound were quickly being stretched thin trying to make bangers for each one. Whether accidentally or intentionally the result was a two tiered system where the Miller brothers and their top stars (Mystikal, Fiend, Mia X and the aforementioned Snoop) got the push and the other “album of the week” rappers had to figure shit out for themselves.
West Oakland emcees Steady Mobb’n barely fared better than Full Blooded as a result, although they make a strong and memorable appearance on “Count Down.” While “Memorial Day” may have had its day in the sun and faded quickly, this is quietly one of the better No Limit releases of the era. F.B.’s biggest mistake may have been that he was dangerously close to being a star in a label that needed tax write offs more than they needed additional rappers to promote. The aggressive delivery and funky beats found throughout this album show that had he been signed to any other imprint, Full Blooded would have had a decent chance to succeed commercially. Oh well.