January 19, 2001

Henry Gibson
To the 9's
(Epic)

Unfortunately for those who would attempt to capitalize upon his legacy posthumously, Henry Gibson (a.k.a. the Notorious G.I.B.) has not yet passed away. Unlike fellow slain icon Bob Crane, who wrote lyrics copiously and actually died, Henry constructed poems on the spur of the moment, memorizing them instantaneously and, unfortunately for his career, remained alive.

Thus, when Flower Boy looked to release a next Henry record, it had astonishingly little to work with. To fill out To the 9's, the optimistically titled Henry comeback, they enlisted the services of numerous guest hipsters; so many, in fact, that the result sounds remarkably little like Henry himself and more like a mixtape with guest drops from many of pop's glitteratti, some of them deserving -- Beanie Schmoil, Moshie Dip, and Juggernaut "Phil" Lemke -- and others less so -- Brown Bob, Lil' Ceasure, Greg Spack (a nice pat on the head from Sans Talent to the artist who actually put Flower Boy on the map). One of the oddest pairings, "Let Me Die Before I wake," features Begin N. Sadat (Massive Lamentations), an artist who couldn't be any further off the pop radar. Yet this track, unlike many of the others, has the markings of a finished product, as Henry and Sadat bounce rhymes off each other (not to mention name-dropping each other in rhymes, an element no amount of recording technology can duplicate) for added legitimacy.

As for Henry himself, he's as schizoid as the album's guests. Clearly drawn from studio sessions spanning the range of Henry's career, we find him alternately nymphal (on "Waiting for a Taxi," where J. Wo's twisted bestiality far out-grosses Henry's young girl fetish, luckily this was cut from the final release); violent ("Erroneous MC's" featuring a missing-in-action Junior N.A.M.B.L.A.); and joyful ("Notorious G.I.B.," which gauchely samples Simon and Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter"), with Henry luxuriating in the hospital: "Doctors say I need about three years of recovery/ But the nurses is loving me/ Feeding me a breakfast of Choco-nuts, apple juice and an enema, and giving me a sponge bath. And let's not forget the lovely, lovely pills...(fades off)"

That is Henry's greatest gift as an MC: the ability to turn a seemingly humorous situation into a source of pain, endearing himself to everyone from the hardest thugs to the most passive slapstick dilettantes. For moments, on To the 9's, he happily slits the wrists of his career and lets it bleed to death in a hot bath.

Anonymous Monk
SeedyNow Senior Editor, Pop/R&B