Happy 20th Anniversary Salute: Life Story

What's good kind people?!  This next twentieth anniversary salute is for a Brooklyn emcee that caught the eyes and ears of the one and only Puff Daddy and Bad Boy Records.  When Biggie died, there was a massive hole in Bad Boy over who would be the next star.  After debuting on Puff Daddy's incredible debut album, No Way out, eyes were starting to get on him from the fans and critics as well.  Before too long, he was on other efforts from the likes of Faith, 112, Tony Touch, Mase, and the much shamefully forgotten about group, Cru.  In 2000, he finally dropped his anthemic single, "Whoa", to massive praise.  Eventually selling over a million units of his debut album.  The gruffled-voiced emcee had arrived and we were all on notice.  This salute goes to Black Rob and his debut album, Life Story.

While "Whoa" definitely got the club and streets ready, this was far from his only banger on here.  He did have his share of radio-accessible cuts such as "Espacio", "Spanish Fly" with J-Lo and "PD World Tour", but he also had smokers that the streets would deeply appreciate, such as the previously heard cuts of "I Dare You", the cinematic "I Love You Baby", and "You Don't Know Me", as well as the Lox-assisted "Can I Live" and the reworking of Slick Rick's "Children's Story", "Thug Story".  Rob's nasal-yet-gruff voiced delivery is standout on the entire album, as well as his pen game with his more vivid cuts like the aforementioned "I Love You baby" and the intriguing "Jasmine". On "I Love You Baby", he details a conniving woman who shows her hand as a double crosser, while he switches it up on "Spanish Fly" and professes his love for a Hispanic woman.  His narratives may not be ground-breaking or incredibly complex, but they also fit him comfortably, and that's just fine.

This is a Bad Boy release, which means this will have several cuts on here at least for almost immediate accessibility, unlike the momentous landmark that was Ready To Die.  Rob showed potential all through this album and made himself a star here.  It wasn't an overtly commercial release like albums under Bad Boy at that time such as No Way Out, Harlem World or The Lox's debut, Money, Power, & Respect.  This was more street than any of  them, but he still knew the importance of gaining big audiences in order to achieve stardom.  This definitely sounded authentic, and for the Bad Boy narrative.  While his sophomore album, The Black Rob Report, was almost as much of a hard hitter, even without proper marketing which led to it being very highly slept on,, along with later albums Game Tested, Streets Approved and Genuine Article, this remains his best work and a definite showing of his talent.  At a time where they needed the next big breakout star that was street authenticated, Black Rob came along at the right time.  With Life Story, Robert Ross became somebody we needed to keep our eyes on, and the album was a reflection of that.  We toast to Black Rob and Life Story.  Until next time!