Posted on 08/05/2008
Say this much for Philly indie favorite, Doap Nixon: his debut LP Sour Diesel places him in fine company. Like legends MC Ren, Parrish Smith and Phife Dawg before him, the Army of the Pharaohs alum and Jedi Mind Tricks affiliate struggles to hold down his solo effort with the same command that made him stand out in a group setting. The end result is a disc that, while listenable enough, fails to distinguish itself in the way that AOTP fans probably hoped.

Nixon was clearly thinking on a grand scale for this project. The beats, flush with stirring strings and propulsive synths, aspire toward the epic, which can be a dicey proposition. When Francis Ford Coppola goes epic, you get The Godfather. When Kevin Costner does it, you get The Postman. Too many of the tracks here fall into the Costner category; overwrought in their grandiose presentation, but ultimately self conscious and soulless. “Tis The Season” plays like a Casio re-hash of Mobb Deep’s “G.O.D. Pt. III” sans the poetic nihilism, while the melodramatic keys and wailing guitars on “Gangsta” would be more fitting on the score to an ‘80s slasher flick than as the bed for a lyrical gang bang.

Inspired MCing can elevate average production, but Nixon, while consistently proficient, is rarely transcendent. His rhymes about surviving the streets and the industry are well crafted and delivered, but in 2008, the subject matter has been bled nearly dry. On the album’s pensive standout, “Heaven Is Calling,” Nixon rides the Snowgoons’ haunting track with a palpable tension that pulls the listener in by the throat. Similarly, Dixon paints vivid lyrical pictures over a moody interpolation of Doug E. Fresh’s “Play This Only At Night,” on “Get Dirty.” Unfortunately, those moments of creative synergy are far too fleeting to give the album much staying power in a flooded marketplace.

- Jeff Harvey