ART REVIEW NUMBER 1

ONLY BUILT FOR CUBAN LINX II VS. MR. SCARFACE IS BACK
(a scientific evaluation)






1. STORY LINE

MSIB: Much has been made of this cover photo and it seems that there is a slight disagreement as to the identity of the man in the Hawaiian shirt. The only two theories worth discussing are the most obvious, either he is the supplier, or he is an undercover cop acting as a supplier. Either way, the stage is set for a drug deal gone horribly array. For the purposes of this review, the story behind the photo is as follows: a drug deal went bad. Everyone pulled out their shotguns, and for some reason, only shotguns were brought to the scene. (We'll discuss this later.) During the chaos and confusion a homeless guy sneaks down to the ground and tries to shovel as much coke up his nose as humanly possible.

OBFCL2: The beauty of this one lies in its simplicity. The audience need not know what the fuck happened only moments before the photo is snapped, the past is prologue, and we can bet some shit went down of Eddie Nash proportions. And now here they are, on the floor, with guns pointed at each other, either about to blast or try and calm the shit down. It is unclear how both parties in this wound up on the floor in the position they are in. It stands to reason one would pull the other one down, thus making the distance between them seem unlikely. I'm guessing they fought, fell, and rolled away John Woo style to draw the guns.

Winner: OBFCL2
MSIB is just to confusing, there's a million different things that might be happening that have lead us up to this event. While OBFCL2 is slightly guilty of the same critique, I feel that it doesn't matter as much. What is important to the storyline is what you see, it's two guys about to blow each other away. That's all the story you need.


2. THE MOMENT AKA THE HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON AWARD

So, what if the basic principles of photography "is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms that give that event its proper expression?" What if?

MSIB: Not really the moment here. The standoff here is exactly that, a standoff, it could last all day, shit it could already be all day. Now the guy with the Hawaiian shirt does grab the gun, which logically would lead one to believe that the guns just came out and this is his immediate, instinctual reaction to the situation. But, what is troublesome is the prescence of the coke-doer. It seems that if this just happened an instant ago, this guy would wait a minute till he got down on his knees. Because of these inconsistencies, the time line is more or less fucked, and the decisive moment cannot be properly evaluated.

OBFCL2: All it is a moment! You know these dudes just got on the floor and just pulled out their guns. And I'm guessing, one's about to blast. I don't think cooler heads will prevail.

Winner: OBFCL2 (not even close)


2. GUNS
MSIB: Shotguns, only shotguns.
OBFCL2: Pistols.
As far as the "if everyone's going to have a gun they are going to have the same gun thing," I think pistols are a far more realistic choice. That being said, the fantasy of everyone having shotguns is worth a lot more than grounding your photo shoot in what-a-man-going-to-a-drug-deal-can-conceal-reality.

Winner: MSIB

3. NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO STAND TO BE KILLED
MSIB: 7, and the mysterious seventh hand helps us believe more might be involved.
OBFCL2: 2

Winner: MSIB

4. NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT MIGHT LIVE
MSIB: 3 to 5. This is based on the assumption that there are indeed seven people involved. Shooting will start, and either all of one party will perish, or after a few deaths the situation will cool down.

OBFCL2: 0 The angle of the gun, the distance between them, all these things point out these guys are for real, they ain't backing down, and shooting first is nothing more than shooting before the other guy whose two feet away from you shoots you. There's no way out of this one, and there certainly are no winners.

WINNER: OBFCL2 (not even a contest)

5. Bustedness/Realism

MSIB: This just looks crazy. And not in the since that a while ago it was harder to take a more realistic shot and have it look real without being fake. But this is outta control. The coke on dude's hand looks painted on, it doesn't seem like all the people posed at the same time, the dude that might be Bushwick Bill (and if he isn't, he's just some other midget) looks like he's actually floating in the air. There's a lot here that doesn't add up.

OBFCL2: This just looks like they didn't want to put something glossy out there. Granted it's sloppy, there's some weird fluorescent light being reflected on the floor, the amount of cocaine on Raekwon isn't just beyond being realistic, it's beyond surrealism to the point where it doesn't look like a drug deal gone bad, but that he went to town on a powdered doughnuts. Either way, and granted, it could be a let's spend a shitload of money to make some dope looking shit(literally) I don't think they did. I also don't think they got whoever took photos for Shabazz the Disciple, Sunz of Man, or some other third string Wu-Affiliate. I think they had a great fucking idea and went with it and it turned out to be a great.

WINNER: OBFCL2

So, to sum it up, OBFCL2 wins 4-2. Nicely done. Let's hope the album is half as good. I didn't spend all this time writing this shit over three days at work to hear some The Lex Diamond Story type shit.