Paying tribute to The Beatnuts’ “Take It Or Squeeze It,” two decades later
You generally know what you’re getting when you play an album by the Beatnuts: 1. Banging tracks and 2. Raps about general debauchery and mayhem. And that’s not a bad thing, but The Beatnuts are amongst the greatest in hip-hop at delivering both. Jerry “JuJu” Tineo and Lester “Psycho Les” Fernandez might not be the strongest emcees on the planet, but they aware of the strengths and know how to craft a banging album around them. Take It Or Squeeze It, released 20 years ago, shows the group can always put on interesting spin on getting blasted.
Take It or Squeeze It is The Beatnuts’ fourth full-length, came out about a year and a half after Musical Massacre (1999). Massacre was the group’s most ambitious undertaking, but it still felt like a Beatnuts album. It’s their best-selling album, and spawned their biggest hit, “Watch Out Now.” Fortunately, the crew does not make the mistake of comprising their musical identity by chasing further commercial success. Take It Or Squeeze It is a Beatnuts album to the core.
Though it’s by no means their shortest album, Take It Or Squeeze It moves at brisk clip. There are virtually no interludes, so it’s economic in its pacing. As a whole, The Beatnuts move back slightly towards a more “underground” direction with this project. Take It Or Squeeze It doesn’t break much new ground, as the crew rap about smoking weed, chasing women, and wreaking all sorts of havoc. However, it’s still an enjoyably madcap ride.
“No Escapin’ This,” the album’s lead single, is in the same quirky vein past successes like “Watch Out Now” and “Off the Books.” Sonically, it’s even more manic, churning like a circus soundtrack, as the group loop up a vocal and flute breakdown from Enoch Light’s “A Little Fugue For Me and You.” Lyrically, the duo is as rough and confrontational as ever, with Les proclaiming, “Y’all against the Nuts? You got a good chance of losing.”
“Let’s Git Doe,” the album’s second single, is lighter and more overtly “accessible.” JuJu and Les deliver their verses over a simple but funky guitar loop and a snappy drum track. The overly bombastic Fatman Scoop gets to be a little much while providing the song’s hook, but it doesn’t dampen the fact that the song is a lot of fun. It’s their best pass at making a straight-forward club friendly track.
Greg Nice is energizing force on two songs on Take It or Squeeze It. He provides ad-libs on the aforementioned “No Escapin’ This” and lends his unique personality to “Yo Yo Yo” as well. The bouncy, piano heavy track features a spirited chorus and verse from the old school legend, who professes to “do it for the kids like Kenan and Kel.” Les sounds pretty spry on his verse, stating he sports a “Platinum head like Destro, busting shots in your projecto.”
The duo team with old friend Tony Touch on “Prendelo,” a slurring ode to getting stoned and wilding out, fueled by a catchy synth loop and strains of orchestral strings. “Who’s Coming With the Shit Now,” featuring Willie Stubz, is one of the best songs on the album, as The Beatnuts creating an endearingly weird beat that samples what sounds like a Theremin. Ju-Ju leads off the track strong, rapping, “My glock will make the whole fucking block rumble / Y’all n****s need to watch who you approach in this jungle.”
Al Tariq/Fashion also re-enters the fold on Take It or Squeeze It. He had left the group after the first full-length, for reasons that aren’t quite clear. He recorded his solo album, God Connections, and soon after joined Black Attack and Problemz to form the group Missin’ Linx. Tariq doesn’t rhyme with Les or JuJu full-time on the album, but makes an impact each time he touches the mic.
Al Tariq first appears on “It’s Da Nuts,” another stripped-down entry to the project. All three emcees flow smooth to the basslines and drums from Andy Loore’s “Mixed Drums,” with some percussion taken from Johnny Pate’s “Shaft in Africa” tossed in as well. JuJu warns adversaries to “catch me in the club, sitting in the shadows / Bottle of J.D., surrounded by some bad hos.” Meanwhile, Al Tariq boasts that his “drip flow that be sporadic, strictly bombs and such / How much for these fanatics want the dome and the gut?”
Tariq appears again on “Hammer Time,” an aggressively swift posse cut dedicated to causing a ruckus and eliminating enemies. JuJu and Les also enlist Marley Metal, Moonshine, and Problemz to assist in their assault. Problemz comes the nicest over the solid piano loop, rapping, “Hurting they raps with powerful paragraphs of punishment / Believe me when I tell you, you don’t want none of this.”
A few songs on Take It & Squeeze It at best feel out of place and at worst fall completely flat. “If It Ain’t Gangsta” disappoints, as the enjoyable piano-driven beat is over-shadowed by the annoying use of vocoder/autotune, which dampens the vibe. I’m not quite sure what purpose “Hood Thang” serves, as it was too raunchy to receive any sort of airplay and not particularly catchy enough to be a successful club jam.
Take It Or Squeeze It ends with the “Se Acabo (Translated Remix)”, a throwback to Musical Massacre. The song with first released on a 12” back in 1999 a few months after the original album was released. As the name suggests, JuJu and Les flow in English this time out. Somewhat strangely, it’s guest emcee Method Man who sprinkles a little Spanish in his rhymes. Musically, it’s a slight re-working of the originally, feeling a little sparser in this incarnation. Method Man delivers a solid enough guest verse that, while not amongst his best, still shows why he was still such as sought-after artist in the early ’00s.
Take It Or Squeeze It did not meet with the same level of commercial success as Musical Massacre. Truthfully, it didn’t sell that well at all, and ended up being The Beatnuts’ final album with Loud, or any other major label. It’s a shame that it didn’t get more acclaim. Take It Or Squeeze It might not have been their best release, but the Beatnuts knew their audience, and gave them high quality product.
