CD Reviews

Trife Diesel | Better Late Than Never

Trife da Label (2009)

By CHRIS FARAONE | July 22, 2009

3.0 Stars

For anyone who best understands things in white suburban terms, hip-hop is similar to lacrosse. Much like the way that any able-bodied preppy chump can grab a long stick and play defense, any third-rate street thug with convincing anger can rock microphones. That said, just as it takes tremendous jockitude to make a star midfielder, such extraordinary curb poets as Wu-Tang affiliate Trife Diesel (formerly Trife Da God) pack more than just standard ghetto diction.

Although Better Late is being touted as the diamond-throated Staten Island rapper's long-overdue debut, Trife has scored plenty of highlight goals with guest verses alongside extended teammates, and with Put It on the Line, his 2005 duo effort with Ghostface. Better Late is agile — with didacticism ("Stronger Man"), autobiographical potpourri ("Better Late Than Never"), and even some good old Duke lax misogyny ("What Did I Do Wrong?").

Still, there's a clear difference between legendary buzzer beaters, like the Ghostface-assisted "Live Nigga Night Out," and shots that miss the net, like "Listen Carefully." Trife has an Ironman looming in his future, and given how long he's ridden the bench (besides which, he's far too strong an MC to suffer a sophomore slump), his hat trick might very well come next time he steps into the crease.

Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music, More

| More

Friends' Activity

Popular

Most Viewed

See more deals

view all

[ 02/12 ] 69˚S [The Shackleton Project] @ Paramount Theatre

[ 02/12 ] Boston Lyric Opera conducted by David Angus @ John F. Kennedy Library and Museum

[ 02/12 ] Stephen Petronio Company @ Institute of Contemporary Art

ARTICLES BY CHRIS FARAONE

J THE S | THE LAST DAYS | February 07, 2012
J the S has been promising The Last Days since he went by Jake the Snake.

HE WILL NOT BE MOVED | February 03, 2012
A few months ago, Boston hip-hop vet Marco Antonio Ennis stepped into a home studio in Dorchester to cut a verse for an old friend's teenage son.

WILL GOVERNOR PATRICK STRIKE OUT? | January 25, 2012
Governor Deval Patrick used part of Monday's State of the Commonwealth address to break his public silence on pending law-enforcement legislation.

OCCUPYING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY | January 11, 2012
The nation's first presidential primary isn't new terrain for activists.

KENJI NAKAYAMA TAKES AN AGE-OLD CRAFT TO NEW PLACES | January 11, 2012
This winter, the Butera School of Art in Back Bay commences its last-ever sign-making classes, teaching students how to hand-letter everything from yachts to mom-and-pop shops.

See all articles by: CHRIS FARAONE

Most Viewed

Most Emailed

CAN THE CHARLES RIVER ESPLANADE BE TRANSFORMED INTO THE WORLD'S BEST PARK?
What if — in place of the current three-story Museum of Science parking garage overlooking the Charles River — there loomed a giant Ferris wheel, on the order of the London Eye?

VAN HALEN | A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH
Who would've thought Eddie Van Halen would still be innovative in his late 50s?

AN INTIMATE GUIDE TO DINING IN — AND EATING OUT — THIS VALENTINE'S DAY
Food and sex have long been intimate bedfellows. What's the endgame of a dinner date but the prospect of the coital desserts waiting at home?

REVIEW: 69°S.: THE SHACKLETON PROJECT
“Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success.”

THE BIG HURT: THE MIRACLE OF JAPANESE WIKIPEDIA
In a break from my usual bad-jokes format, I bring you something so strange and wonderful that I just had to share it with the world.