Cena and Trademarc educate Hip-Hop with their 'Basic Thuganomics' on "You Can't See Me"

As much as I love both worlds, Hip-Hop and pro wrestling do not mix. Oh sure, don’t get me wrong, it has succeeded in some points, such as the WWE's (formally WWF) rap compilation album "WWF Aggression", an album containing rap versions of wrestlers theme songs. But in many situations, it has fallen flat on its face, such as 1994's Mabel and Mo, otherwise known as Men On a Mission (or M.O.M.), and the tag team of K-Kwik and Road Dogg (also interestingly enough, these two would go to NWA-TNA, use new aliases, and team up with another wrestler/rapper from WCW named Konan to form another rap group called 3 Live Kru). And don’t make me have to mention Macho Man Randy Savage’s album, that’s an experience that I DON’T want to bring back up (Savage makes Chingy look like Rakim). But there’s one recent crossover that has gone both ways at times, and that of course would be pro wrestler John Cena.

When he made his debut in the WWE, he was just another one of those chipper wrestlers. When it was realized that he wasn’t getting over with the fans, they changed his gimmick to a white rapper. This gimmick at first got him a lot of heel heat from the fans, but he was later being cheered by them due to the freestyles he’d cut on his opponents before each of his matches. But to Cena, this was a second career instead of a gimmick; citing Canibus as a major influence, Cena talked about how he used to freestyle as a child, supposedly growing up with successful underground emcee/DJ group, 7l and Esoteric. Later on he formed a group with his cousin Trademarc, who he said helped him get into Hip-Hop, and recorded his Cena’s fifth theme song, “Basic Thuganomics” was recorded by Cena himself and put on “WWE Originals”, where WWE superstars recorded their own songs. To some surprise, Cena started getting props by some of the emcees from the underground: on “H-U-S-T-L-E (Remix)”, west coast underground emcee Murs called him “the best thing to happen to Thursday nights since ‘Different World’ and ‘the Cosby Show’”. Now to the delight of fans (and the chagrin of Cena haters), Cena and Trademarc release their debut album together “You Can’t See Me”.

1. The Time Is Now (4 Stars)
2. Don't Fuck With Us (2 Stars)
3. Flow Easy feat. Freddie Foxx (1 Star)
4. Right Now (4 1/2 Stars)
5. Make It Loud (5 Stars)
6. Just Another Day (5 Stars)
7. Summer Flings (5 Stars)
8. Keep Frontin' feat. Freddie Foxx (1 Star)
9. We Didn't Want You To Know (4 Stars)
10. Bad, Bad Man feat. Freddie Foxx (4 Stars)
11. Running Game (5 Stars)
12. Beantown feat. Esoteric (5 Stars)
13. This Is How We Roll (5 Stars)
14. What Now (3 1/2 Stars)
15. Know The Rep feat. Freddie Foxx (3 Stars)
16. Chain Gang Is The Click (1 1/2 Stars)
17. If It All Ended Tomorrow (5 Stars)

The album opens with “The Time Is Now”, which has been used as Cena’s theme song most recently. The production, handled by Jake One, isn’t really intricate but it’s still pretty good, with a triumphant “Rocky”-style trumpet loop. When Cena gets on the mic, he doesn’t lyrically embarrass himself, but he isn’t his idol, Canibus, either. He spits a few somewhat played out punchlines like “I’m storming on you chumps like I’m thunder and lightning” and “I keep it on lock like a part of the jail”. But he does show that he has elevated since he first did “Basic Thuganomics”. The real star on this track is Trademarc, as he spits a pretty nice verse, targeting commercial rappers: “See what happens when the ice ages melts? / and see, monetary status is not what matters but it helps / I rock a timepiece by Benny if any / the same reason y'all could love me is the same reason y'all condemn me / a man's measured by the way that he thinks / not clothing lines, ice links, leather and minks / I spent 20 plus years seekin knowledge of self / so for now Marc Predka's livin live for wealth”. Overall, it’s a pretty good song to start the album off with. Unfortunately, things start going the wrong way with the next track “Don’t Fuck With Us”. First of all, the beat is anything but tight, with various annoying synthesizers all over the damn place. It sounds completely unorganized. As for Cena and Marc, they aren’t that good. They both brag about how they’re taking over and how they’re running shit, which is fine, if they would come up with more original punches. Instead we get played out shit like “Running the playground like it was a track meet / shoes on the foot that be bigger than Shaq’s feet” and “You sound tired buddy, that’s why I’m sleeping on you”. There were a few nice lines, but the wack lines outweighed them.

As for guest appearances, you don’t see many, two different emcees appear on the album and one of them is on here four times. That emcee would be Freddie Foxx, credited by his alias Bumpy Knuckles. The first of the four tracks he appears on is “Flow Easy”, which is easily the worst of the four, backed by a boring beat and simplistic weak rhymes from Foxx, Marc, and Cena. The second of the four is “Keep Frontin”, which is just around the same level, with more simplistic rhymes and a boring beat laced with a Big L sample. The third track Foxx is featured on is the album’s first single, “Bad, Bad Man”, which is the best of the four, MUCH better than its predecessors. Backed by some decent production for once, Foxx and Marc give us two dope verses while Cena comes off average, but still better than the previous tracks. The last of the four is “Know the Rep” is alright, as Cena, Marc, and Foxx spit dope rhymes over a flat out CRAPPY beat. The only other collab on this album is “Beantown”, which has Cena, Marc, and Esoteric paying homage to their hometown of Boston, MA. Over the guitar-laced beat, all three emcees come with heat but Esoteric is the one who steals the show: “Yo, I rep the Bean, y'all see the way it be / home of Source magazine, the Pats and Edo. G / Steadily poetically I'm Bill Russell in command / peace to Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan / pack a man down quick like Neanderthals / standin tall after brawlin up in Faneuil Hall / as a young buck moms said I disobey / all she heard was no-ma/Nomar like fans in Fenway”. Besides these three songs, Cena and Trademarc handle the rest of the CD. But is that a good thing?

Yes it is. While I mentioned quite a few wack tracks in this review (and there are a few more), that doesn’t mean Cena and Marc can’t come with heat at all. “This Is How We Roll” is practically a tribute to West Coast Hip-Hop, as Cena gives us his best Dr. Dre impression over a dope G-Funk beat, laced with low piano keys. Of course, its still his style of rhyming he uses and not Dres:“glass of Chardonnay doesn't whine like you / I'm an Altered Beast with Einstein's IQ / plus I shine bright too and I ride right through / in a leaned out, old school, skylight blue / I don't think there's a player nicer / keep your Cristal, I'm shootin Jagermeister / foot to the floor and you ain't you keep the pace / throw me a whore and call me Kobe cause you know that I'mma beat the case / I buy some land, and never even see the place / vegetarian chicks, go on givin meat a taste / Throw away money like I hate on loot / copped your CD it sounds great on mute / words turn 'em to dust, makin emcees disintegrate / my name get traffic like the California interstate”. “Running Game” has an old bluesy feel, due to the beat that’s laced with an electric guitar loop and a harmonica loop. Both Cena and Marc spit their game about the ladies they get, all while staying lyrically dope with lines like “She called my dick ‘Frank White’ cause it's ‘Notoriously B.I.G.’” and not reverting to clichés that you hear on the radio. “Summer Flings” takes the similar route, and ends up being just as good. Backed by some rugged production, Cena and Marc spit about picking up ladies. “Make It Loud” is their attempt at a club song, complete with a funky horn-laced beat and more dope lyrical work.

But don’t think that all Cena and Trademarc can do is brag about how ill they are or how many girls they can get. The light-hearted “Right Now” has Cena and Trademarc being thankful to the people who have been there in the past: their family, their friends, their lovers, and their fans. Both of them are about the same lyrically over the uplifting soul-sampling production. “Just Another Day” has Cena and Marc explaining their different lifestyles: Cena, a famous professional wrestling star who’s on top of the world, and Trademarc, an broke up-and-coming emcee who barely has anything, struggling just to get by. The third verse has Cena and Trademarc trading lines, really contrasting each others’ life style: “[C] Shakin hands with some fans by the thousands / [M] My place so poor, looks like public housing / [C] Gettin the Porsche when I shoulda got the CL6 / [M] My ride broke down, I'ma kinda between whips. Both emcees work well over the light-hearted beat. The album’s final track is also the best one, and even though “If It All Ended Tomorrow” has an overdone concept, living life to the fullest, Cena and Marc flip it fresh and give us a really dope verse. Marc goes first, reflecting on his life, and says that he’s content with what he’s done, even if he isn’t as well known as he wanted to be. Cena goes next, and tells a story; he talks about how he learned to live life to the fullest after a dude came to his house and tried to kill him for sleeping with his girl. Apparently, he couldn’t go through with it and Cena was a free man. Whether or not that story is true or not, his verse was still dope. The production was dramatic, featuring a piano loop and some orchestral synthesizers. Overall, the track was dope, period.

Overall we have a pretty good album from John Cena and Trademarc. Would you call it a classic? Hell no, but it isn’t bad either. For the most part, Cena and Marc were on point lyrically, and the production is great for the most part. Even though some of these songs were straight up horrid, production wise and lyrically (“Flow Easy”, “Keep Frontin”, Chang Gang is the Click”), Cena and Marc make up for it with the tighter tracks later on in the album. The real surprise here is Trademarc; this diamond in the rough outshined Cena on many tracks on this album. Hopefully, we’ll get to hear more of this guy in the future, without Cena. Bottom line, even though they’re pro wrestlers and it might seem like a gimmick, the album is still worth your time. Cena and Marc were right, their time IS now, and that time will be more than just the obligatory fifteen minutes.

FINAL RATING: 3 1/2 Stars