This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
In the beginning, there was Rudy Ray Moore.
So it only seems fitting that the original big, bad, bellowing rapper — in character as Dolemite — pays testament to rhyme kingpin Busta Rhymes on the latter’s fifth album Genesis. Rhymes’ stylistic debt to Rudy Ray is once again in full evidence as he boldly brags, barks and bulldogs his way through this 20-track effort. Apparently picking up where his last few Armageddon-themed discs (When Disaster Strikes, Extinction Level Event, Anarchy) left off, Rhymes presents another typically idiosyncratic affair, with dark, vaguely futuristic melodies and gritty, distorted beats forming an unsettling foundation for his guttural grunting and off-the-hook mood swings. There are the usual guest shots from the likes P. Diddy, Mary J. Blige and Kokane, but they can’t steal the charismatic Rhymes’ thunder. With Genesis, he stakes his claim as lord of the rap ring. And it is good.
