The pop culture allusions are just window dressing for a surprisingly personal album.
Review by David Feltman
MC Chris fans have come to expect certain elements from a new album: nerdy songs about Star Wars, junk food and weed, danceable hip hop rhythms and goofy, interconnected skits brimming with coarse humor. And to that end, fans won’t be disappointed with the newest release. MC Chris dutifully checks off every line item. However, while the content of Foreverrr stays the course, the tack and depth of the album is all new.
Foreverrr is a concept album, presenting a haunted house motif that mines books, movies and board games for references. MC Chris draws on everything from “The Shining” to “Super Mario Brothers” to “The Addams Family” for his lyrical content, making the album one of his most cohesive efforts. But the pop culture allusions are just window dressing for a surprisingly personal album.
In between tracks about “Ghostbusters,” Foreverrr tackles topics about growing up, putting aside drugs and the compromises that come with adult relationships. “Where the Ghosts At?” may overtly be about Peter Venkman busting ghosts, but MC Chris subtly critiques the character’s wild womanizing while “Help Wanted” uplifts Winston Zeddemore’s move toward stability. Songs like “Give Up the Ghost” make his point more explicit by chronicling the time he wasted getting high in his youth. Sure the album also contains skits about an elderly, amorous robot called “pimple tits,” but this is undoubtedly his most mature work to date. Foreverrr avoids being preachy, instead offering an intimate view of the artist and where he is in his life.
On the surface, the album is a beefy, double-disc slice of indulgent geek humor. The songs are ultra catchy and are reminiscent of some of MF Doom’s best work. Its only weakness is an overindulgence that betrays its message of maturity. Foreverrr could have easily been trimmed into an explosive single disc, but suffers from an unwillingness to give up any of its ideas. Latter tracks about eating french fries and “My Little Pony,” though equally enjoyable, feel out of place on a haunted house themed album and may have been better relegated to a b-sides collection. Likewise, the skits are consistently funny, but are often padded out to 10 minutes or more. What’s more is that MC Chris is aware of the issue and mocks himself for it…in a 12-minute skit. But complaining about too much MC Chris is like complaining about having too many Reese’s Pieces. Sometimes you can’t have too much of a good thing.
You can buy the album and find out more about MC Chris at the official website.
