Redman prod. DJ Shocca – Red Bull 64 Bars

Redman does not use his appearance on Red Bull 64 Bars to tell one neatly contained story. The point is simpler: 64 bars, no hook and a veteran emcee reminding everyone exactly what happens when the format strips rap back to writing and performance. Produced by Italian Hip Hop mainstay DJ Shocca, the session was recorded in Los Angeles and marks the first time the Italian edition of Red Bull 64 Bars has traveled to the United States. More impressively, Redman performed the entire thing live in one take rather than rapping along to playback saying that the approach gave him more freedom to deliver the bars with his body and hand movements.

And the bars are the attraction. Redman spends much of the performance doing what Redman has always done exceptionally well: stacking punchlines, double meanings, ridiculous imagery and references without sacrificing personality. He jumps from Jenga and Listerine strips to MC Hammer, MF DOOM, Illmatic, Karl Kani and Jaron “Boots” Ennis, while repeatedly circling back to his longevity and competitive standing. “My career over my bedroom, I’m still attic/at it” is exactly the kind of deliberately corny-but-effective wordplay he can sell because another line is already coming before you finish reacting to it. There is a little more underneath the jokes, too. Redman tells younger artists to put the guns down and box their opposition instead, talks about remaining outside the industry machine, and makes it clear that decades into his career he still approaches the microphone as competition.

DJ Shocca understands the assignment. His production is deliberately uncluttered, leaving enough room for Redman’s voice and dense writing rather than competing with either. Shocca described hearing Redman on his production as a “match made in heaven,” while Redman said receiving the finished beat made him feel that the Italian producer understood him. Redman also revealed that he accumulated ideas while touring and only finalized the lyrics a few weeks before recording once Shocca’s definitive beat arrived. That process shows in the finished performance. The references come from everywhere, but the delivery holds them together with the loose, animated cadence that has made Redman immediately recognizable for more than three decades.

Redman is a respected pen in Hip Hop for a reason, and 64 Bars is almost an ideal format for demonstrating why. There is no elaborate concept required and no chorus waiting around to rescue the record. It is an emcee, a producer and enough open space to see whether the rapper can actually command it. At 56, Redman sounds hungry enough to close by challenging anyone’s top ten, whether the competition is an OG or a young rapper, before delivering perhaps the most appropriate instruction for the entire exercise: “Don’t wanna hear your life story, shut up and rap.” Redman followed his own advice.