Biz Markie Weekend Warrior CD

Biz Markie opens Weekend Warrior, his first LP in a decade, with a 30-second freestyle (over acoustic guitar) that's as disarming and hilarious as the ones he batted out of the park when allowed a bit of space on Beastie Boys records of the '90s. Unfortunately, it's one of the few bright spots on a record that illustrates the fact that although the Biz may be surprisingly talented with an off-the-cuff rhyme, he doesn't improve when given more time to think. The rhymes on Weekend Warrior are, simply put, inane. No other rapper with a name as celebrated as Markie's has ever put out a record with so many wack rhymes and arhythmic flow; to quote just one -- and not the worst, at that -- "I flip so many styles, my name should be Flipper /On Three's Company, I wish I was Jack Tripper." His rhymes are usually slow, painfully slow; at least a half-step too slow, and far slower than those heard on any of his Juice Crew classics -- several of which were actually written by Big Daddy Kane. Biz does produce a few of the best tracks here, giving "Tear S**t Up" and "Do Your Thang" (featuring P. Diddy) the raw energy of ...