Posted on 08/27/2008
On “Still Don't Give a F---,” Eminem described himself as a cross between Manson, Esham and Ozzy. Probably because Esham was shocking Detroit's soccer moms long before Marshall Mathers gave birth to the Slim Shady persona. The Acid Rap and Horrorcore pioneer creeps from the darkness with two decades of experience and over a dozen albums on the shelf, both solo and as a member of Natas. Much of his catalog would make the most sick and depraved artist look like Speech from Arrested Development. With Sacrificial Lambz, the liner notes state that all songs were written, composed, produced, mixed and engineered by Esham A. Smith. Talk about a one man show.

One thing is for sure, Esham is prolific. The LP's tracklisting forgoes the usual numbering in favor of A to Z lettering. “Substance Abuse,” the 27th and final song, is simply listed as “??.” Either that's code for bonus track or the English alphabet wasn't quite large enough. Sacrificial Lambz' Acid Rap overtones are abundant as Esham glides from subject to subject and style to style. The result is a melting pot overflowing with trippy, death metal boom bap. Topics include thick lips (“DSL”), poverty in Detroit (“Levies Broke”) and of course violence, violence and more violence. A few odd, bipolar moments surface as tracks like the self explanatory “F--- U” give way to the borderline inspirational “Don't Give Up.” It's hard to summarize the production of such a hefty offering, but Rock-fused and sample driven are adequate descriptions. Esham the producer pulls the occasional switcharoo, flipping a sinister Christmas carol (“Unholy Knights”) and employing synths for a joint you might catch spinning midday at the strip club (“Waterhose”).

With a grand total of 27 songs in the books, none of which are skits or beat interludes, Sacrificial Lambz teeters awfully close to double album territory. That's not exactly uncharted waters for Esham who lays claim to the first double album in Hip-Hop. The Motor City innovator's primary folly was cruising through segments of the album in autopilot and periodically dropping dated flows. Fortunately, the album offers enough variety that the hits outnumber the misses, even though these slip-ups support the argument for a condensed tracklist. Although Horrocore and Acid Rap carry the stigma of being niche subgenres, Sacrificial Lambz demonstrates that it's all part of the Hip-Hop community. If anything, Esham is just the neighbor that you spot digging up his yard late at night.

- Andrew Jones