The B.Coming

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EXPLICIT // EDITOR'S PICK

Total Tracks: 15   Total Length: 65:44

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Jayson Greene

International Editor

Jayson Greene writes about music for Pitchfork, the Village Voice and other publications. From 2004-07, he was associate editor for SYMPHONY Magazine, where he ...more »

11.16.10
Tapping into righteous grief, anger, and tortured honesty
2005 | Label: Roc-a-fella Records / Shawn Carter

In between The Reason and The B. Coming, Beanie Sigel was convicted of federal guns charges; he had already "done a stretch in a triflin' cell," as he once put it, and now was headed back in for another year. Possibly much longer, if the ensuing second-degree murder charges stuck. The B. Coming was recorded in the brief period between his sentencing and the beginning of his jail bid. For Sigel, prison was an obsession, a state of mind — in every single one of his first three album covers, he is posing inside, or in front of, a jail cell. "Even my brain's in handcuffs," Nas once memorably rapped. Sigel's The B. Coming could be seen as taking this line as a jumping-off point for an entire worldview.

Another cornerstone line for Beanie Sigel: "I sit alone in my four-cornered room/ starin at candles." This bleak, evocative couplet is the opening line for "Mind Playin' Tricks on Me," by the Houston legend Scarface's group Geto Boys. (Not coincidentally, Beanie Sigel and Scarface are close friends who have many times batted back and forth the prospect of recording an album together.) On The B. Coming's soulful opening track,… read more »

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B.Coming

I wasn't that into the whole Roc-a-fella thing when I first heard this album, but it really grabbed me. You can tell he was locked up right before and was taking his lyrics seriously. Plus the production is great. Feel It In The Air (Produced by Heavy D!) and Tales of a Hustler Pt. 2 are my favorites.

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They Say All Music Guide

Facing incarceration on a federal gun charge, rapper Beanie Sigel got to work big time and quickly finished the album he had promised for years, The B.Coming. Rather than rushed, the album feels tense, like all these songs were attacking Beans and he was trying his damnedest to let them all through. It’s a hectic, exhaustive listen, and on first encounter, cluttered. The mastering of the album sounds like a mixtape: dense, tight, and maxed at times. It takes some getting used to since Beanie’s lyrics are better and expectedly bleaker than ever, and could benefit from something more crisp — so make sure you’ve got the headphones ready and told all your friends to beat it. You wouldn’t listen to an audiobook with everybody hanging around, and with The B.Coming being a journal set to beats, you’re best off going this one alone. One thing to know is that it’s not a linear journal. Instead, it consists of fragments from here and there that deal very little with situations and more with mindsets. The Neptunes-produced “Don’t Stop” spits bitter venom at those “softer than a Reebok classic,” with Snoop playing a simple, supportive role, something Beanie’s other guests — and there are plenty — could learn from. Twista and Peedi Peedi take the twitching party of “Gotta Have It” to a new level and Bun B is a good hangout buddy for the spliff-puffing, sizzurp-sipping “Purple Rain,” but when Beanie gets serious, you’ll want Redman or whoever else out of the way. Course, everybody wants to hear Beans and Jay-Z trade lines, since Sigel and Jay go way back, and as “It’s On” displays, the powerful chemistry is still there. The spiteful “Bread & Butter” (“So blind/I didn’t see the Robin Givens in you”), the humble one minute, vicious the next “Lord Have Mercy,” and the pensive “Look at Me Now” add to the pile of highlights. Those looking for a direct story of how Beanie earned three years in the clink will be somewhat disappointed, but these chunks of insight into the man’s turmoil — and the couple party tunes that go with them — add up to one hell of an album. – David Jeffries

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