loosie: words: Album Review: Boot Camp's <i>The Chosen Ones</i>

Album Review: Boot Camp's The Chosen Ones

BCC's latest is a step in the right direction.

by Douglas Passion | 2002.10.19

Few things are more difficult in hiphop than rekindling past glory. Windows of opportunity close swiftly and once-popular artists find themselves with their noses unceremoniously pressed to the glass. After garnering popularity and critical acclaim in the mid-Nineties, The Boot Camp Clik has toiled in relative obscurity over the past six summers, (damn, where’s the love?). With independently released The Chosen Few , the collective attempts to reclaim their status as East Coast heavyweights.

Consisting of Blackmoon’s Buckshot, Smif ‘N’ Wesson’s Tek and Steele, Heltah Skeltah’s Ruck, and O.G.C.’s Starang, Louieville and Top Dog, the Boot Camp Clik boasts a portfolio that includes three or four classic LP’s. Although none of those Elysian albums were created during Jay and Puff’s half-decade of blingery, the crew certainly possesses a talent pool with a proven track record. The 12 tracks on their new record fall short of their creative high watermark, but prove that Boot Camp still has the ability to make good music.

To orchestrate a successful comeback, a group like Boot Camp is placed in the predicament of recapturing old fans while attracting new listeners unfamiliar with their vintage material. On The Chosen Few , the unit balances the past and the present by splitting production duties between the tried-and-true sounds of the Beatminerz and current boardsmiths such as The Alchemist and Hi-Tek. Although their latest effort does not establish the remarkable cohesion of such albums as Enta Da Stage or Da Shinin’, the album – despite the varied production -- succeeds in maintaining a relatively congruent feeling. Boot Camp’s sound is still dark, street-oriented and refreshingly disinterested in pop sensibilities.

Truth be told, the more retro sounding tracks are the most easily embraced. Buckshot and the rest of the gang just sound natural over murky and bass-heavy production. “And So”, the first song on the album, gives the Boot Camp the perfect chance to address their critics. Over a mellow-yet-driving guitar furnished by Curt Cazal, Buckshot implores the listener to “Fuck everything you’ve been told/ shit like Buck ain’t never went gold/ he’ll never have a platinum hit – he’s on that underground backpack shit.”

“Welcome to Bucktown USA” is another song reminiscent of the squad’s best material. As any longtime Boot Camp listener would predict from the title, the track utilizes Buckshot’s “Welcome to Bucktown USA, where the weak get dissed every day” from Enta Da Stage’s “Buck’em Down”. Backed by a hypnotic bassline and mellow piano sprinkles, The Root’s Scratch adds his unique blend of mouthpiece turntablism to Boot Camp’s ode to their hometown.

“Daddy Wanna”, one of three Beatminerz offerings, addresses baby mama drama, a topic in which the crew is well versed (each member of the Boot Camp has children). Over a hollow minimalist track, Ruck describes the tribulations of balancing a rap career with being a father. “Daddy wanna leave now,” he rhymes as if addressing his child. “Your mom’s playing games/ and I feel deceived now, I gotta go/ When I do a show or leave for tours she hating/ sniffing my drawers, asking if I’m fornicating/ I’m like ‘bitch please’ – gone are the days/ of me tricking with chickens on the ave that striptease/ and I don’t like your moms/ getting to the point I want to strike your moms.”

In an effort to adapt to the current climate of keyboard-heavy club songs, Boot Camp resorts several times to the same electronic sounds that ultimately wounded the crew’s first coalition album, For the People. While the emcees sound comfortable over newer style production, it’s not necessarily the way longtime fans will enjoy hearing them. In particular, Starang and Sean Price seems to have adapted the best to the modern technique of accentuated multiple-syllable rapping. On “That’s Tough (Little Bit)”, a murky club track produced by Dru Ha and Dan The Man, the fellas from O.G.C. try to appeal to the Speeed audience by making references to V.I.P. at Club NV, Club Cheetah, throwback jerseys, Gray Goose and Roc-a-Wear. Still, even when changing up their sound for the Hot97 disciples, Boot Camp has enough talent and personality to overcome the initial awkwardness of hearing them over somewhat incongruous production.

The Chosen Few makes a few too many concessions to hiphop’s current trends to be a groundbreaking effort, but it contains enough gems to make it a solid release. Even with the departure of baritone-voice Rock, it is refreshing to hear the seven emcees side-by-side and spitting with hunger. If the album fails to completely restore Boot Camp’s place among the elite, it is certainly a step in the right direction.