Whutcha Want, Nine? For hardcore rap music in '95, this was the buzzword on everyone's lips. With a catchy video, a swinging bassline, and a gruff voice that sounded like he just smoked a whole box of Phillies, the rapper whose abbreviated name was once synonymous with a popular pistol bumrushed the rap scene. To many people, the hardcore hip-hop appeal of "Whutcha Want?" may have seemed like a flash in the pan, but Nine had been wrecking the underground for years and doing joints with Funkmaster Flex strictly for the DJ's. With that much unbridled talent, Nine was not about to go away with one single. The debut album "Nine Livez" is all of that pent-up energy released, and it spills out of every track. Rob Lewis and Tony Stoute split the production duties on this album. Unlike some albums that only have one hot beat that you have to know who did, the tracks here are consistently crispy throughout. Picking standouts on an album this well executed is no easy task. The snappy drums and bass of "Peel" are set off by a nice horn stab in the chorus with all of the elements showing a near perfect balance. "The Cypha" uses a clever MC Shan sample in construction of the chorus, but wins even more for the hi-hats and pianos that construct Nine's rapping backdrop. Speaking of piano, the ominous chords of "Everybody Won Heaven (Redrum Remix)" make the original version earlier on the CD seem positively giddy by comparison. Mood makes the man, and the man sounds menacing on this cut - just as he does on the braggadocios "Who U Won Test" where he dismisses half-assed rappers in English and Spanish. Even these examples scarcely do justice to the impeccable music found throughout this LP - from the Rakim laced "Any Emcee" to the stomping attack of "Da Fundamentalz" the music is as Nine would say "like spandex, mad tight (right right)." And the beats wouldn't work unless Nine was not such an intriguing rapper. You continually get the feeling he'll hock up a loogie at any minute, but yet he just keeps on flowing. This gimmick wouldn't work if Nine's rhymes weren't well constructed, but every song here is a manifesto of the kind of hip-hop skills that 9 out of 10 crossover rappers wish they had... Clearly this album was one of the best releases of 1995. - Rap Reviews. Revisit Nine's cult-classic, Nine Livez, below...
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