Bastard (Genesys album)
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| Released | 23 June 1995 | |||
| Recorded | 1994 – April 1995 | |||
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| Length | 45:53 | |||
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Bastard is the second studio album by Sierran rapper Genesys. It was released on 23 June 1995, by Genesys' newly-founded label, Nuwrld, and Interscope. The album features production provided by H.E.S., MAC-12, Big Dolla, Doc Dre, C-Side, and Genesys himself, and also includes guest appearances from Roc Steady, Zaa, Olu Dara, Morisse, and the hip-hop group The Throne, of which Genesys was a member. The album is expressed as a "raw, underground aesthetic", featuring mafioso rap themes and gritty multi-syllabic internal rhymes about narratives based on Genesys' experiences in the Redwood Projects of San Jose, Santa Clara, the May 1993 drive-by shooting targeting him and his subsequent incarceration, and the pitfalls of capitalism.
Bastard was supported by four singles: "Life's a Bitch" featuring Zaa and Olu Dara, "L.A. State of Mind", "Survival of the Fittest" featuring Roc Steady, and "Triumph" featuring The Throne. The album debuted on number 1 on the Sunset 100 and number 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, selling 322,000 units in its 1st week of release. The album received rave reviews from most music critics, who praised its production and Genesys' lyricism. Since its initial reception, Bastard has been recognized by writers and music critics as a landmark album in Styxie hip hop.
Background and recording
During the recording for Genesys' debut studio album, Progressive Youth (1993), Genesys had already begun work on his second album. However, shortly after the album's release in May 1993, Genesys would be targeted in a drive-by shooting in Porciúncula as he was leaving a restaurant. The shooting would lead to Genesys being shot twice, as well as two civilians being shot, with one of them later recovering. Genesys' would make a full recover a month later, but due to his possession of a firearm at the time of the shooting violating his probation, Genesys would be sentenced to serve 16 months in the Patria Correctional Facility from April 1993 to July 1994. Shortly after being sentenced, East coast rapper Rakeem Wallace would diss Genesys on the single "Who Shot Ya?" as the third single from his debut album, Juicy (1993). During his incarceration, Genesys would reportedly attend the prison's Sunday service and write music. During the January 1994 prisoner uprising at Patria, Genesys was reportedly not involved and had remained in his cell during the incident.
Upon his release from Patria on 2 July 1994, his 22nd birthday, Genesys would return to Porciúncula when the sonic direction of hip hop had shifted towards the G-funk sound of the West Coast, with notables acts such as B Monie, Fivvey, Immortal Keys, and Hovah dominating the hip hop charts. His former group, Armed N' Dangerous, had essentially become defunct with remaining members Godsun, Esoteric, and MC Murdah pursuing solo efforts and embracing elements of G-funk. While pressured by the label to pursue the sound on his new release, Genesys stated in a 1994 interview with Music Box Magazine that he wanted to make music authentic to himself and his experiences, with his stint in prison leading him to focusing more on his artistry. This move would ultimately lead to The Prestige dropping Genesys, whom would go on to found his own label, nuwrld, and signing a distribution contract with Interscope.
Recording for what would later become Bastard predominately took place at Dungeon in Porciúncula, Flashing Lights studios in Bernheim, with the album's mixing and final production occurring at Bomber's Hall in San Francisco City. Genesys would initially record music over a four-day period in the Dungeon in November 1994 with producers Doc Dre and Big Dolla. While they had supposedly recorded over three hours of material, only one song from these sessions would make the final cut, being "Halftime". After performing at the 1994 Bernheim New Year's Eve Concert, Genesys would start recording in Bernheim in January 1995 after being inspired by the neighborhoods him and his entourage would drive by, reminding him of cities in San Jose. Initially scheduled for two-weeks, Genesys would travel to The Cave music venue to witness the nightly activity of rap battles that had become popularized a year prior. After being impressed by the numerous acts present, Genesys would form the rap group The Throne with rappers Zaa, Killer Woo, Roc Steady, and MAC-12, along with producers H.E.S. and C-Side, signing them to Genesys' newly-formed record label under Interscope, nuwrld. With The Throne, Genesys would spend an additional two months recording in Bernheim, working on his solo album and what would later become The Throne's debut album, Truly Humbled Under God (1995), at the same time.
In an April 1995 interview with Music Box Magazine, Genesys would confirm his solo album was being mixed at Bomber's Hall, and revealed the album's title. In 2002, Roc Steady revealed that he had suggested the album's title for him, revealing the album's original title as "Street Dreams" in reference to the album's first track. The album's cover shows a young Genesys and was originally taken in the early 1970s.
Reception
| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Divergent Beats | 
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| Music Box Magazine | 8.7/10 |
| The Huntington Beach Post | 
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| La Brea Times | A |
| Newstar |
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| The Porciúncula Times | 9.7/10 |
| Sunset 40 | 10/10 |
| Sierra Media | 9.3/10 |
| The Unionist |
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Bastard received widespread critical acclaim from music critics. Since the album's release, Bastard has been met with continued acclaim retrospectively as a classic underground rap album.
Initial reaction
Elliott Wilson from Newstar was highly positive in his appraisal of the album: "Each song is a different chapter in the hard street life Genesys experienced in the Redwood neighborhood, describing his life with brutal realism and raw imagery." Newstar's Kai Knox stated, "Genesys earn's credibility, winning the crucial battle between style and substance, who's real and who's a move-faker. Genesys and The Throne simply report what they know." Writing for The Porciúncula Times, Lucas Marsh called it "a darkly nihilistic masterpiece". The Unionist journalist Chuck Norris highlighted the bleak lyrical content of the album, which he described as "state-of-the-art Styxie reportage: drug-selling, police-fleeing, and homie-dying vignettes, all told with vivid detail and a deadpan thousand-yard flow".
The album spent 18 weeks on the Sunset 100, debuting at 1, and it also spent 34 weeks on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, also debuting at number 1. Bastard was certified gold, with shipments of 500,000 copies in Sierra by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) two months after release. All four singles, "Life's a Bitch", "L.A. State of Mind", "Survival of the Fittest", and "Triumph", debuted in the top 10 of the Sunset Hot 100 and the Hot Rap Singles chart respectively. The album would later be certified platinum by December, and by 1998, had been certified 3x Platinum.
Retrospective praise
Since its initial release, Bastard has earned additional critical praise and has been widely regarded as a cornerstone album of Styxie hardcore rap. Writing for Music Box Magazine, Skylar Hayes wrote that it stands as "Genesys' masterpiece, a relentlessly bleak song cycle that's been hailed by hardcore rap fans as one of the most realistic gangsta albums ever recorded." Writing for Sierra Media following the album's 20th anniversary re-issue, Conner Roth wrote that "Bastard has all the foreboding atmosphere and thematic sweep of an epic crime drama, a tribute to how well the raw, grimy production evokes the world that Genesys is depicting." According to Divergent Beats's Mason Serrano, it has become "the blueprint for the traditional Styxie hardcore sound".
In 2002, La Brea Times reappraised the album and gave it a perfect rating, stating: "Genesys' thugged-out entertainment and The Throne's sonic production on cuts like the bone-chilling 'L.A. State of Mind' ... proved to be timeless street joints in the same vein as 'Straight Outta Styxie'. The album was a staple for all hardheaded delinquents comin' up in the game." In 2004, Sierra Media critic Chris Ryan called it "one of the greatest rap albums of the [1990s]". La Brea Times gave it a classic rating in its retrospective December 2012 issue. In 2019, hip-hop journalist Carl Savage hailed Bastard as "an iconic Styxie record".
Controversy
Numerous tracks on Bastard feature subliminal disses aimed at Rakeem Wallace. The ninth track, "Soul Food", is the most forward with these disses, and has been lauded by critics as "the most hard-core Genesys has ever been." The ferocity of Genesys' raging vocals, as said by long-time collaborator and producer MAC-12, was entirely authentic. He later explained that Genesys was initially fueled by his anger against Wallace and Common Boy Records for the belief that they had a role in the May 1993 shooting targeting the rapper. He claimed that Wallace and his crew knew of his shooting and wanted him dead after a tense recording session and Wallace collaborating with Genesys' former group, A.N.D.. In response, Genesys used this fury, which long-time collaborator H.E.S. described as "superhuman", to attack Wallace and his former group, as well as proclaiming himself as the "King of New York". MAC-12 also stated that he had never seen Genesys so angry and that the words he rapped were in no way an act.
Genesys was also enraged by Wallace's release of "Who Shot Ya?" provocatively only months after the shooting incident, and although it did not directly involve Genesys' name, he believed it was directed towards him. In a 1996 Sierra Media interview, Genesys called out Shawn "Puffy" Bombs and Wallace and accused both of them of setting him up, or of having knowledge of the shooting and not warning him. Roc Steady would later reveal in 2003 that tracks eight and nine, "Respect Yourself" and "Soul Food" respectively, were a response to "Who Shot Ya?", but stated that "it was on [Genesys'] mind the entire time we spent recording together".
Additional subliminal disses on the record were noted to be against Godsun along with A.N.D., the Disciplez, Rakki, and B Monie.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Street Dreams" | Isaiah Garner · Hakim Simons | H.E.S. | 4:54 |
| 2. | "It Ain't Hard to Tell" | Garner · Simons | H.E.S. | 3:40 |
| 3. | "Survival of the Fittest" (featuring Roc Steady) | Garner · Talib Keyante · Simons | Genesys · H.E.S. | 4:49 |
| 4. | "L.A. State of Mind" | Garner · Yousef Matthews | MAC-12 | 5:06 |
| 5. | "Life's a Bitch" (featuring Zaa and Olu Dara) | Garner · Zachery Narra · Olu Dara · Simons | H.E.S. | 4:02 |
| 6. | "Walk On By" | Garner · Simons | H.E.S. | 4:45 |
| 7. | "Halftime" | Garner · Andre Blackwell II · Sévon Dane | Doc Dre · Big Dolla | 4:40 |
| 8. | "Respect Yourself" (featuring Morisse) | Garner · Jeffery Morisse · Matthews · Simons | MAC-12 · H.E.S. | 4:19 |
| 9. | "Soul Food" | Garner · Matthews | MAC-12 | 4:22 |
| 10. | "Triumph" (featuring The Throne) | Garner · Narra · Ibrahim Warren · Keyante · Matthews · Aris Russel · Patric Denutit | C-Side | 5:16 |
| Total length: | 45:53 | |||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
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| 1. | "Park Lane" | Garner · Darren Moss | DJ Phonke | 4:16 |
| 2. | "The Game" (featuring Zaa and MAC-12) | Isaiah Garner · Narra · Matthews · Denutit | Genesys · C-Side | 4:02 |
| 3. | "In the Long Run" (featuring Doc Dre and Immortal Keys) | Isaiah Garner · Blackwell II · Jamal Ericson | Doc Dre | 3:32 |
| 4. | "I Gave You Power" | Garner · Denutit | C-Side | 4:12 |
| 5. | "Every Day Gun Play" | Isaiah Garner · Simons | H.E.S. | 4:42 |
| 6. | "Hell on Earth" (featuring Roc Steady) | Isaiah Garner · Keyante · Denutit | C-Side | 3:55 |
| 7. | "L.A. State of Mind – Remix" (with The Throne) | Garner · Narra · Warren · Keyante · Matthews · Russel | MAC-12 | 9:12 |
| 8. | "Survival of the Fittest" (Instrumental) | Genesys · H.E.S. | 5:09 | |
| 9. | "L.A. State of Mind" (Instrumental) | MAC-12 | 5:11 | |
| 10. | "Life's a Bitch" (Instrumental) | H.E.S. | 4:36 | |
| 11. | "Triumph" (Instrumental) | C-Side | 5:16 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Street Dreams" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) | |
| 2. | "It Ain't Hard to Tell" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) | |
| 3. | "Shook Ones" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) | |
| 4. | "Like Dat" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) | |
| 5. | "Survival of the Fittest" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) | |
| 6. | "Bitches Ain't Shit" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) | |
| 7. | "Walk On By" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) | |
| 8. | "Halftime" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) | |
| 9. | "I Gave You Power" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) | |
| 10. | "Life's a Bitch" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) | |
| 11. | "L.A. State of Mind" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) | |
| 12. | "Hail Mary" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) | |
| 13. | "Wanted Dead or Alive" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) | |
| 14. | "Respect Yourself" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) | |
| 15. | "Triumph" (live at Nimbus Park, Bernheim) |
Notes
- The Throne consists of Genesys, Zaa, Killer Woo, Roc Steady, and MAC-12.
Sample credits
- "Street Dreams" contains an interpolation from the Eurythmics' song "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and a sample from Malinda Difford's "Never Gonna Stop".
- "It Ain't Hard to Tell" contains a sample from Lord St. Pierre-Chah's 1983 hit single "Human Nature", "N.T." by Koolio & the Hooligans, "Long Red" by Living Still Lives and "Slow Dance" by Cristopher Clarke.
- "Survival of the Fittest" contains a sample from "Skylark" performed by The Barry Harris Trio and Bilal Cohn.
- "L.A. State of Mind" contains a sample from "Mind Rain" by Joe Chambers, "N.T." by Koolio & the Hooligans, "Flight Time" by Donald Byrd, "Mahogany" by Eric C. & Nakim, and "Live at the Barbeque" by Main Source.
- "Life's a Bitch" contains a sample of "Yearning for Your Love" by The Gap Band.
- "Walk On By" contains a sample of "Walk On By" by Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach.
- "Halftime" contains a sample of Dead End" by Japanese Hair Cast, "School Boy Crush" by Average White Band, and "Soul Travelin' Pt. 1" by Gary Byrd.
- "Respect Yourself" contains a sample of "I Love You" by East of Underground and an interpolation of "Express Yourself" by Doc Dre.
- "Soul Food" contains a sample of "The Champ", performed by The Mohawks.