Though paling in comparison to Jay-Z's transformation from Brooklyn's finest to the multimedia equivalent of modern lobby design, Swizzy's move from Casio bungler to minimalist visionary stands as one of the more impressive PR turnarounds of the era. Maybe it was just displaced New York nostalgia in the age of Atlantan overthrow, but around '05 Swizz finally started getting respect from snobs who derided his tinkering style for being more "Chopsticks" than Rachmaninoff. Of everything on Confessions of Fire, "Glory" is the earliest hint of the artist Cam was on his way to becoming; even better, you got N.O.R.E. what what!-ing on the hook.
Not for nothing, but the cover for Confessions of Fire look like something you would find behind saloon doors at a Chelsea video shop ca. '98. You got Cam shirtless in leather overalls, lookin all pouty and airbrushed, holding a sledgehammer on top of a vat pouring out a money shot of smelted iron. Add a few yellow guys in jean hotpants, and it's an average bacchanal at The Anvil. Was the art director having a laugh at Cam's expense? Whatever the truth may be, it's beginning to look like "no homo" was invented to make up for delicious past indiscretions.
Back in the early noughties I went to a Gang Starr show where they brought out Freddie Foxx. Dude came onstage wearing dungarees wielding a sledgehammer, which probably woulda been scary as fuck if I hadn't had major Confessions Of Fire cover.flashbacks.
ReplyDeleteIf there's one rapper I wouldn't trust with a sledgehammer, it's Freddie Foxxx.
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