Travis Barker – Give the Drummer Some

Travis barker recently made a statement calling his fans a bunch of Nazi’s for putting his solo music down before even hearing any of it just for the fact that it features hip-hop artists left right and centre and I have to agree with Travis with his statement, just because he is the drummer in one of the biggest pop-punk bands in the world it does not mean that he has to make a pop-punk album when it comes to his solo material, Travis has never kept it quiet that he loves hip-hop and dance music alongside pop-punk and it is no surprise to me that his solo album ‘Give The Drummer some’ is packed to the brim with well know hip-hop artists.

‘Give The Drummer Some’ features collaborations with some of the biggest hip hop artists in the world from Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Cypress Hill and not to forget a couple of rock superstars such as Tom Morello and Slash, so all in all it is a massive superstar affair, but is it any good?

On the first listen of ‘Give The Drummer Some’ I really wasn’t sure what to make of the album because to me it sounded like a massive hip-hop compilation album, like the Now compilation of the hip-hop world but after listening to the album over a few times I have realised that despite being so different from what I was expecting it is actually a solid release and really does prove that a drum beat from a talented drummer is so much better than those false beats most hip-hop records feature.

The album opens with ‘Can A Drummer Get Some’ which features Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Swizz Beatz and Game, so yeah it features a fair few artists but each one takes there turn and churning out their signature hip-hop vocals, the drum beats from Barker are really heavy and helps give the track a stand out beat, the only downside to the track is that it is a tad repetitive with the rolling vocals of “Can a drummer get some”.

Each and every track on the album Barker manages to shine with his drum beats which are constant throughout and so different on each track, my favourite tracks on the album are ‘If You Want To’ which flows so fast instrumentally and vocally, ‘Carry It’ which features that whole rage Against The Machine vibe thanks to the fuzzy guitar work from guitar legend Tom Morello, ‘Knockin’ for the opening drum roll and gangster vocals from Snoop Dogg and the album closing track ‘Beat Goes On’ which features my all time favourite hip-hop band Cypress Hill, the drum beats here are tasty and the vocals have that traditional Cypress hill feel with B-Real name checking Barker over and over.

It is pretty obvious to say that ‘Give The Drummer some’ is not going to be a must have buy for the majority of Travis Barker and Blink 182 fans, but if you are a generally open minded music fan then you really should give this a listen as a lot of effort has gone into creating the album and each and every track is solid in its own way with the way that Barker shows off various different drum beats and keeps up the pace throughout and each and every rapper seems to be at the top of their game and that is enough to reinstall the faith with me that hip-hop music can still be fun and worth a listen.

4/5

Review by Trigger