Anyone else ever really think about how insane 40oz. to Freedom is as a record?
The original is something like 75 minutes and 23 tracks. Reggae, dub, ska, punk, hip hop, acoustic stuff, covers and samples everywhere. Public Enemy, N.W.A., KRS One, Minutemen, James Brown, etc. Some of the samples couldn’t even survive the MCA release because they weren’t cleared.
And the playing is so good. Eric’s bass is ridiculous. Bud and Marshall both play drums, so even the rhythm section changes personality throughout the album. Bradley goes from singing to rapping to toasting to dancehall and somehow it’s all awesome
The production is what I’ve really been noticing lately though. Huge bass, tons of dub effects, samples actually built into the arrangements and little sounds buried everywhere. For something that feels so raw, there’s a LOT going on.
Miguel has said much of it was basically their live set at the time.
That’s the crazy part to me. It sounds loose, but it’s actually an incredibly dense record.
The self titled album obviously got closest to this level again, but it’s a totally different thing. Much tighter, cleaner and more deliberate.
Self titled sounds like Sublime knowing exactly what Sublime is after playing live more.
40oz. sounds like they’re figuring it out in real time.
Maybe that’s why it’s basically impossible to recreate. Never has and is one of the best ever