Braintax My Last And Best Album LP
Nowadays retirement in hip-hop is taken as seriously as a Big Brother contestant’s celebrity career, but there are exceptions; the sudden farewell/emigration of Low Life Records pioneer Joe Christie (aka Braintax) is definitely one of them.
Whether covering the injustices of war (“Syriana Style”) or the want over need mentality adopted within our culture (“All I Need”), Braintax has consistently expressed a good level of distain towards the greedy and selfish nature of 21st century youth, with this in mind it was never a question of if Christie would put down the mic and leave the country, more a question of when and that when is now.
“Magnum On Crack” and “Fix Up Come Up” start up the album and both tracks are quick to suggest a more chilled out playful and at peace approach from Joey Brains, which probably has something to do with Christie knowing he’d be putting his feet up on a Australian beach soon after.
Production wise the album is done entirely by C-Swing aka Colin Emmanuel, a man who has worked with everyone from Wyclef to Rodney P, the two styles mesh ridiculously well on most of the albums tracks, bar the mediocre “Munchies” and the abysmal “Invisible Media” which has hands down the worst chorus to ever surface in a Braintax song.
Despite the minor faults most of the album should more than satisfy the average hip hop head, as Brains brings fresh themes to the table with tracks focusing on worthless shopping purchases (“Retail”) and Friday night post work exhaustion (“Duvet”), whilst keeping things familiar with “Goldfish Bowl” and “The Beast Is Us”, the latter being notably special, challenging you to reconsider who the actual victims are in modern day war, as well as feeling like a final finger salute to the powers of the developed world.
Old gimmicks are revisited in the form of “Riviera Hustle 3”, this time with an added Michael Caine intro, it’s an average track overall, and cant help but crumble when stood next to the superior calibre of tracks elsewhere on this album, the outstanding “Real People” for one, a nostalgic nod to Christie’s country roots that blends folk music and hip hop perfectly.
Last track “Last One Out Turn Off The Lights” is the final farewell and features what sounds like the backing of a school choir, add the first-rate lyricism in lines like "beaches and palm trees dunes of sand, I throw paranoia out and make paradise plans”, and you have an album that more than exceeds today’s standards, and more importantly doesn’t dent the legacy Braintax has built.
The title suggests that this is Braintax’s Last and Best album, whether or not this is his best work is extremely debateable, most purists would no doubt say it fails to top “Biro Funk” but on a personal level I was more than satisfied here. The lyrical acumen of Braintax has never been in question, and the production has vastly improved, so I consider this an overall success in those terms.
Despite the albums under whelming promotional efforts (especially in comparison to Panorama) and the sombre reviews from others, I still would strongly recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Braintax’s other two efforts, after all, Joe Christie never held punches with his frustration at our countries political and social issues, not to mention his dislike for the often extremely claustrophobic big city life, with all this in mind he has walked off deep into the sun set, and that’s about as fitting of an ending your ever going to get.
You have an album that more than exceeds today’s standards, and more importantly doesn’t dent the legacy Braintax has built
- Dean Cast
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