Blaze Ya Dead Homie

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Reviews > Album Reviews > Blaze Ya Dead Homie – “Gang Rags: Reborn”

Gang Rags: Reborn

Sunday 16th November, 2014 by Scottie D | 0 Comments

Our Rating

User Rating

(6 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)

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Chris Rouleau, better known as Blaze Ya Dead Homie, is a rapper from Romeo, Michigan. He began rapping in 1996 on Gotham Records, now signed to Majik Ninja Entertainment. Blaze’s music is a lyrical mix of gangsta rap and horrorcore, a 1980s West Coast hip hop style and sometimes hard rock. Blaze’s discography includes 10 albums released, and one soon to be released in 2015, and also has appeared in 3 films.

On the low of Blaze’s career, he was contemplating quitting the rap game, but was encouraged to join Psychopathic Records. He was initially a member of Insane Clown Posse‘s road crew, and appeared on Twiztid‘s Mostasteless album, occasionally acting as a hype man in live concerts. Performing in Dark Lotus and the Psychopathic Rydas under the name “Cell Block”, Blaze released his solo EP Blaze Ya Dead Homie, establishing himself as a gang member killed in the late 80s. In 2013 after a long lustrious career with the label, Blaze departed from Psychopathic Records, and signed with Majik Ninja Entertainment. He released his first album under Majik Ninja Entertainment called Gang Rags: Reborn, the serial number is MNE001. The album hit 106 on the billboard top 200, starting Majik Ninja Entertainment off with a bang.

Track List:

Ghost Bars
Shit’s Fucked Up
Napalm
Give Em What They Want (ft. The R.O.C.)
Dead Gangsta
Flavor of the Week
Rock It Out
Just Another Fish
Ten 40oz
Zombie King
Lost & Found
Bout Dat Life
Fuck Shit Up
Who Is It
Dead Like Me

Track Reviews:

Ghost Bars – Immediately starting off with a solid heavy beat, the first track makes you start moving with the music. Blaze hits hard right off the bat with a sick verse leading into a solid hook with adlibs by a female singer. The track sets to the end with a more harmonious tone in place of the third verse. A quality track most would like to have batting first in their track lineup. 4/5
Shit’s Fucked Up – A news soundbite intro starts this track, dialogue including murder. A decent beat with electronic tones accompanies Blaze’s classic vocals in this track. In my opinion a better quality beat would have made this track an instant classic. 3.5/5
Napalm – A hard hitting hard rock guitar based beat shreds this insane track all the way through. Definitely a track to mosh to, a real headbanger. Blaze provides awesome verses and a hard-hitting hook for this track. A live performance of this track will leave you holding your brains in your hand. 5/5
Give Em What They Want ft. The R.O.C. – An eerie toned beat sets this track off nicely leading into a well done first verse by Blaze. The hook to this track is set for a dark feel with an eerie singing chorus. The R.O.C. provides a solid second verse. As usual Blaze finishes off the track with a solid hard verse. The overall track is great, but a very long drawn out ending leaves you itching for the next button after a full minute of the title of the track. This does not hurt my rating of this track. 4/5
Dead Gangsta – The track starts off with the hook, a simple word spelling hook. This insane beat accompanies Blaze’s insane lyrical abilities as he shreds his one and only verse. For the amount of intensity in Blaze’s verses, you would expect the hook to be a bit more hard-hitting and entertaining. But the point gets across and it works nicely. I would have enjoyed at least a second verse, and a more intense hook, but overall a good track. 3.5/5
Flavor of the Week – This track immediately goes into a fast paced shorter hook with a solid piano based beat. For the shortest track of this album it was done very nicely. Three short verses work out well in this track. 4/5
Rock It Out – The track starts with the first few bars resembling that of music from a pornography with soundbites of police dispatch and sirens. As the intro ends a solid hook leads into another insane hard rock beat, the beat slows down to a slower rock guitar beat for the verses where Blaze does what he does and kills verses. Every time the hook starts you can’t help but move with the music. The hook here is without a doubt a headbanger in the longest track of the album. 4.5/5
Just Another Fish – A piano-based beat begins the track with a short dialogue intro by a British man referring to smelling fish. A lighter beat is brought to a dark world as the Dead Man kills a hard-hitting verse. A nicely done singing chorus holds this track together nicely and leads into the second verse seamlessly. Blaze finishes this track off with a dialogue verse leading to a final hook. 4/5
Ten 40oz – Harmonious singing about drinking alchohol begins this smooth track leading into a hard verse by Blaze on a track laiden with saxophone. Blaze does an impressive job of making a softer beat sound like it belongs on old school album of the gangsta rap genre. A female singer finishes off this track with an awesome short verse. 4.5/5
Zombie King – Another hard rock beat begins this track leading into a hard hitting first verse showing off Blaze’s lyrical intensity. A dark, evil, short hook plays it’s part in leading into the second verse where Blaze continues to impress with his intensity. The track ends with a constant flow of the hook that you can’t help but listen to until the finish. 5/5
Lost & Found – Blaze starts off this eerie beat with a slower calmer first verse, leading into a female singing the chorus. Blaze continues this eerier track with another 2 calmer ghost-like verses. 3.5/5
Bout Dat Life – Blaze immediately begins this track with a solid verse leading to a higher intensity hook featuring Jamie Madrox who adds nicely to the track. The beat really gets entertaining in the second verse flowing with Blaze’s flow well. Working together in the bridge near the end Blaze & Jamie Madrox blend adlibs well leading into the final hook. 4.5/5
Fuck Shit Up – This track starts with an immediate hard hitting verse by Blaze, flowing nicely with the clap of the beat Blaze gives that smart ass feel we love. A more harmonious hook works nicely with this track holding it’s own leading into Blaze’s next verse. The track finishes out with the hook that I’m sure fans will be memorizing and repeating constantly. 4.5/5
Who Is It? – A high intensity hook by Twiztid & Blaze showcasing the Dead Homie’s name sets the tone for this solid track. A classic track telling the listener all about the title artist’s history and biography. Blaze provides each verse with his classic style in this track. 4.5/5
Dead Like Me – A short dialogue intro to this track starts off queitly exploding into a hardcore verse by Blaze and a hard-hitting beat. An awesome hook with a mix of Blaze and Jamie Madrox blends into this track amazingly. Each verse hits as hard if not harder than the last. An insane beat accompanies this insane artist in one of the best tracks of the album ending it nicely. 5/5

Overall Review: Blaze does a great job in this album showcasing his classic lyrical abilities that we all know and love. The album has a nice mixture of classic gangsta rap, slower calmer tracks, and hard rock based beats. This is an album for any die hard Blaze Ya Dead Homie fan, looking for a variety of tones from the artist.