Only Time’ll Tell

Artist: Triple SeisTitle: Only Time’ll TellRating: 2 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Paine

Triple Seis is one of those many artists lost in the shuffle of bad breaks. In terms of talent, Seis has proven himself from his work dating back to Terror Squad’s self titled underrated debut, strong work on the Beatnuts’ Musical Massacre LP, and a handful of other efforts, Seis managed to build himself the hype it took to break an artist at the turn of the millennium. But the original Terror Squad family splintered after Pun’s untimely passing. Triple Seis immediately left the group in 2000 to rebuild. It’s been a long time coming, and almost five years later, Seis has lost the hype and lost his group, but has delivered his debut Only Time’ll Tell (Madd Records).

For all the Terror Squad and Big Pun fans, this album doesn’t ignore Seis’ past. In fact, this record links the then and the now nicely. The only missing link is Fat Joe. Big Pun, Cuban Link, and the Beatnuts family all help accent this record with that lost family vibe. “Harsh Reality” features Pun, and relives that chemistry that Seis and his partner shared. With an expectably strong hook, Pun and Seis trade verses on the depth of their friendship. This track is far from a “left-behind” and in fact captures one of Pun’s most emotional moments in his short career. The lead single, “Krazy” grows on the ear. The track lacks depth in terms of content matter. But for a glamorous life memoir and a club track with a well-sung hook courtesy of Veronica, the track works. Seis maintains his fast delivery packed with words even in the more flashy moments of his album. Despite his mass appeal in the single, Seis does reveal some things in “Love Put Me.” This tracks somber strings captures a mood of the sacrifices made, and Seis cites his mistakes in retrospect. There is a balance on the record between street and club. While its intentions may have been street geared, “Coast 2 Coast” with Ice-T is arguably the best club track on the record. Despite his over saturation of work, this is one of Ice-T’s best verses in ten years. Ice-T not only reps his gang roots, but also approaches the mic with a real vengeance. Seis does his best to hang with the legend, and does well though he rides the beat differently.

Despite its interesting lyrical quality, this album stumbles in production. The record is very up-tempo. That’s fine, but not when Seis seems like he’s really struggling to keep up. The Beatnuts’ Psycho Les manages to slow it down with an Eastern string arrangement, but considering it’s the lone Beatnuts donation, more was expected. Rising producer, Cochese fails on “Love on Me” with a tiresome soul vocal sample. Luckily Seis covers it well with a strong verse. Just Blaze swings through to remix “Skully” from the 24K album but unfortunately his efforts don’t distinguish themselves from the majority of the album – strip club sounding beats with heavy up-tempo percussion. Seis should’ve taken a page from the Terror Squad’s first album and rocked over slower paced beats that allow him to deliver his bars at a slower pace and allow his strongest hooks to resonate.

As a member of Terror Squad, Triple Seis was somewhat lost in the shuffle. Five years later, this album reveals the quality of a writer that Triple Seis truly was. It’s no wonder that Pun trusted his partner to write many of his best hooks, and featured him prominently. Seis manages to provide a fair variety of content but poor production, and an outdated, wounded, sound are hindering this record. Credit is due however, for Seis’ attempting to backlash the sound that is filling the market. This album needs an audience, but only time’ll tell if this record will attract those listeners.