Fiend – There’s One In Every Family (5-5-1998)

Posted on May 19 in Rapaveli Retroby adminPrint

In May of 1997 Master P introduced the world to a slew of hungry street hustlers turned New Orleans bred rappers on the multi-platinum certified I’m Bout It Soundtrack. It took Fiend exactly one year to climb the corporate ranks and see his No Limit debut There’s One In Every Family hit the streets in a firestorm. Unfortunately for me I only had about $14 and it came down to buying the all important Mother’s Day gift or Fiend’s album. I did what any good son would do and bought my moms the Uncle Sam CD and a card. So basically I’ve never owned the real copy of this one but it still turned out to be one of my favorites.

Unlike some of the No Limit CDs that preceded There’s One In Every Family Fiend starts his disc off with the extra somber “Take My Pain.” Though some may debate it I feel like Fiend may have been one of the No Limit click’s most persistent lyricist. On the likes of “Do You Know” and “Big Timer” Fiend displays some of his deep rooted New Orleans swagger. Nowadays when I often catch myself trippin on life I can usually listen to “Only A Few” and the words of Fiend, Big Ed, Silkk The Shocker, and Master P help to keep things in perspective when sorting out who to trust outside of thyself.

How many rappers can actually boast about laying down a smoker’s anthem next to Snoop Dogg? “Who Got The Fire” will defiantly go down as one of those cult classics for years to come. Fiend’s aggressive delivery saves some of the album’s sleepers such as “Going Out With A Blast”, “All I Know”, and “The Streets Aint Safe” from falling to obscurity within the 21 track effort. The C-Murder and Steady Mobb’n assisted “On A Mission” used to be my favorite track on the album but a decade seems to cause some of us to grow a little older and outlooks tend to change.

In a very rare instance UGK actually showed up on a just average effort. The late Pimp C and Bun B add a little something extra to “Slangin” but nothing too spectacular. The highlight of all No Limit albums used to be the crazy amount of guest spots they each featured. In this case the big click effort had to be the Mac, Kane & Abel, and the late Soulja Slim assisted “What Cha Mean.”

Fiend’s debut No Limit album ranks highly amongst the label’s nearly 30 releases in 1998. From hearing him for the first time on the I’m Bout It Soundtrack a year earlier I had no idea that he would be able to put together one of the year’s most consistent pieces. Of course a year later as the tank started to fade so did Fiend. Unlike most of his fellow former No Limit soldiers Fiend has managed to release a respectable amount of projects following his stint with the label proving that he may be a fiend but he sure ain’t no dummy. Ambition-1 All Day