With that being said I`m going to take things back to the year 2000 when Cam`Ron was set to drop his second album "Sex, Drugs & Entertainment" ("S.D.E." for y`all abbreviating mu` fuckas) with the Epic record label. At the time online peer-to-peer file sharing (Napster, Limewire, etc.) was probably at it`s highest, so labels were really pushing 'advance/promo' copies of their releases. Now perhaps I may be giving records labels more credit than they deserve, but I think that one way labels still kept an interest in their releases was to create these 'advanced versions' that were intentionally different than the retail versions, then again that`s my 2021 view on it. I mean that`s what I would have done! Think about it, even if folks get a hold of & download the promo~advance it`s not the retail. Sure, they could just eventually DL the the retail as well but it`s still an extra step they`d need to take & not everyone is computer/online savvy so it`ll lead to sales regardless because people are lazy...
So back to Cam`Ron`s "Sex, Drugs & Entertainment" album.......this isn`t it. Nope what I`ve got to share with y`all is the Advanced version of said album. Yup, it`s nothing like the retail. Sure some songs are the same but honestly like my homie BaZooKa KooPa said to me, "Dogg, this shit is just flowin` fluid like your Rum & Coke in a straw....Ha~HaH, the album`s OK, but this shit right here homie, this shit right here should`ve been the album!" Ya know what? I TOTALLY concur with ol` BaZ` Ko` because honestly it is just that, more connective with the tracks & even the skits/interludes. Someone deserves credit fo` sho` because they did Cam` some justice with this version without question. I dug it so much I decided to give it an HeRBaN DeLuXe VeRSioN touch & that`s what y`all are getting right here...
First off BiG~uP kingsol81 for hookin` me up with the original Advance copy after I searched for it & came up shorter than my patience in the DMV line on a Monday morning, much appreciated homie! After listening to it I had to of course compare it to the retail, you know for research purposes & even tho some of the songs & skits are the same I still feel that the track~sequencing of the Advance Copy is waaaaay better than the retail! So much more fluid like I mentioned before. I`ll definitely take "I Don`t Like You" (the Charli Baltimore collabo`), the "Bitches Ain`t Shit" flip (featuring McGruff, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana & Keema),"When A Nigga`s Fed Up" & "Gimme Some Head" featuring Keema over the Honey collabo` "That`s Me", "Freak", "All The Chickens" & "What Means The World To You" featuring Keema...which is basically just a PG-13 toned down "Gimme Some Head"...
Although I really DiG the Advance Copy of "Sex, Drugs & Entertainment" I did find that it was just a bit low on the volume side of things on a lot of the tracks, so I had to BuMP them uP a bit. While I was editing the volume of some of the tracks I also decided to split the skits into their own tracks, simply for easier listening purposes. Sometimes ya just want to get to the music & skits get in the way. There was also a few tracks that had skips & pops/clicks in them so I did my best to try & edit them out. It started on track 20, 21 & 25. In fact, "Why No" was skipping so much so in the beginning that I had to cut it out & mix in the version from the retail album because I just wasn`t trying to spend the time editing every single one of the skips because there was too many for me to bother dealing with. I wanted to keep things as O.G. as possible so I didn`t just switch up all the tracks that were the same as on the retail album because it would take away from the 'digital griminess' of the Advance. So all I`ve done when puttin` my touch on this HeRBaN DeLuXe VeRSioN was BuMP uP the volume on the tracks, split the skits into their own individual tracks & try to edit out some pops, clicks & skips from a few tracks, as well as add 2 joints to the end that just had to be on here; "Hustler" & "Too Late"...
Standout joints for me are; "Do It Again" somethin` about that hook had me reciting it hours after listening....LoL, "Still High Till We Die (Come Kill Me)" is probably my fav` joint on here, "I Don`t Like You" I dig how Cam` & Charli go back & forth on here they have some solid chemistry on this song, "Let Me Know", "Double Up", "Losin` Weight" is a solid collabo` with Prodigy, "Bitches Ain`t Shit" is a decent Easy Coast flip of Dr. Dre classic tune of the same name, "Gimme Some Head" featuring Keema is a solid joint & should`ve been on the retail version of the album with "What Means The World To You?" being used as it`s radio version instead but hey that`s just me. While I`m speaking about Keema, does anyone have any more info` on her? "S.D.E. (Sports, Drugs & Entertainment)" is great, listeners will dig the Biggie & Jay-Z samples used. Finally we get to "Hustler" & "Too Late" which both should have been on the retail album. So there ya have it, check it out & enjoy...
2. Whatever
3. Do It Again {ft. Jim Jones & Destiny`s Child}
5. Where You At? {ft. Noreaga}
7. Still High Till We Die (Come Kill Me)
8. What I Gotta Live For?
9. Violence {ft. Ol` Dirty Bastard}
10. Phone Call [Skit]
12. Let Me Know
14. My Hood
15. Double Up {ft. Juelz Santana}
17. Losin` Weight {ft. Prodigy}
19. Bitches Ain`t Shit {ft. McGruff, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana & Keema}
21. When A Nigga`s Fed Up
23. Gimme Some Head {ft. Keema}
25. Why No {ft. Jim Jones & Freeky Zeeky}
26. S.D.E. (Sports, Drugs & Entertainment)
27. Where I`m From {ft. Dutch & Spade}
R.i.P. OL DiRTy & PRoDiGy...
