David Banner raps about car doors, women, and the direction of his community on The Greatest Story Ever Told, an album that sparkles with moments of brilliance and fizzles under moments of weakness.
Perhaps the most uneven rap album of the year, David Banner’s fifth studio album is probably his most popular. It is stacked with guest appearances, including Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, and Akon, and is structured quite well with a good amount of pop-rap radio hits.
But Banner seems less interested in testing his limitations and more interested in covering the same old ground that most other rappers cover. The problem comes in the form of his actual potential, as there are a handful of tracks that betray a broader sensibility. Give David Banner credit for exposing his potential, sure, but overall The Greatest Story Ever Told is more like a shoddy pulp novel than anything momentous.
With “So Long,” Banner is off to a great start. Tightly produced and politically intense, Banner spits lyrics about Iraq, Sean Bell, and anger in the hood with passion and legitimate fury. “Fuck the law, this was somebody’s damn grandmother,” he says, infuriated.
But after starting off so well, the album simply derails. Banner tells us on the “G.S.E.T. Intro” that we’re going to travel through his life. I understand that cars, sex, bragging, and political topics might well be all a part of David Banner’s existence. After all, this is the guy that told congress that hip-hop was “sick because America is sick.”
With “Suicide Doors,” he enlists UGK to flavour the track with nice touches and good verses. The problem isn’t the track itself, as it is as strong as any club banger. Instead, the lead-in from the “G.S.E.T. Intro” seems simply out of place and diminishes the track immeasurably. Banner gets us all wound up with a politically charged introduction and then simply betrays the build. And similar situations occur all over this strangely constructed record.
“9MM” finds Banner hanging with the irritating Akon, the always enjoyable Snoop Dogg, and Lil Wayne. The song’s bounce is pleasing, but Akon’s dim-witted vocals demolish the track beyond recognition and Lil Wayne can’t salvage the pissing contest.
One of the most incommodious components of the album is Banner’s exploration of sexuality.
Not only are the two sex-themed tracks almost identical vocally, but they feature a great big vigorous stench. “A Girl” finds him describing a disquieting situation in which he asks a girl to “sign a waiver” so that if she passes out due to his hands around her throat, she can’t sue. Classy. And “Fly” features Banner retreating into what must be his attempt at a sticky voice again with Jazze Pha making sure the girl “freaks” him for free.
With this packaged misogyny, Banner attempts to raise the proceedings later on with messages about the depth of the African American experience and his mother’s advice (“Syrup Sipping”) and tracks about understanding forgiveness and persistence (“Hold On”). But sadly these songs all sound terribly incoherent given Banner’s obvious duplicity.
Bragging about flashing guns around and talking about God’s plans seems, to me at least, odd bedfellows. I know hypocrisy is common in hip-hop music, as rappers brag about guns and women in between tracks about modeling their lives after Jesus Christ, but David Banner’s “story” seems just too potholed to make for a good yarn.
Musically, the production is respectable and many of the songs make for good club tracks. If you can get past the palpable lyrical inconsistencies and beyond Banner’s craving to choke women, you might get some satisfaction out of The Greatest Story Ever Told. For my money, I’ll stick to Nas or the latest from Ice Cube.
4/10
Video for “9MM” for The Greatest Story Ever Told:
