How’d I Get Stuck in this Dead End Job when I Can Rap?

It seems like anyone who sells over a million records these days gets their own record company. Seriously, do we really need to hear music hand picked by the dude from Fall Out Boy? Despite some high profile failures, the Beastie Boy’s Grand Royal comes to mind, record companies still hand out imprints to young artists but every once in a while an artist led label can be a success, most recently Kanye West whose G.O.O.D. Music (Getting Out Our Dreams) label going three for three with two releases by John Legend and Common, whose breakout album Be was released on the label.

The latest Kanye endorsed artist is Consequence who was featured on both of West’s album. But long before hooking up with the current carrier of the backpack rapper torch, Consequence hung out with the originators of that scene, A Tribe Called Quest (Q-Tip and Consequence are cousins), showing up on over half of the tracks of Beats, Rhymes, and Life. What he did in the eight years during the interim? I’m not entirely sure, but if his debut album is any indication he was struggling with getting a day job and following his dream of becoming a rapper.

In fact Don’t Quit Your Day Job sounds like Spaceship from The College Dropout expanded into a concept album. The album starts out with a jobless Consequence and his nagging mother, who was voiced by a horrible voice actress and really takes away from a skit whenever she appears, not that I’m a fan of rap skits in the first place. In the middle, Consequence deviates from struggling rapper theme to a trio of songs about girls, including the unfortunate first single Callin’ Me, that just fall flat.

Near the end of the album is the completely out of place Grammy Family, a failed single from last summer that was originally featured on the DJ Khaled mixtape and with Kanye West and John Legend, Consequence is ironically the only one on the track sans Grammy. Those two show up elsewhere on the album, West on The Good, the Bad, the Ugly which could have been the best song on the album if it weren’t for the weak hook. While Legend shows up Feel This Way and features the pianist so much they might have gave him top billing on the song. But with such a high pedigree and some help from some heavy hitters, the album just doesn’t live up to its potential.

Song to Download - Job Song

Don’t Quit Your Day Job gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.