Consequence

As both a cousin of A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip and the protégé of Kanye West, Consequence has the blessing and curse of an identity crisis. When he appeared on ATCQ’s Beats, Rhymes & Life a decade ago his earnest, yet average, rhymes disrupted the finely tuned chemistry of the revered group. Redemption eventually arrived with his heartfelt verse on "Spaceship,” off of West’s College Dropout, and it’s evident that Consequence paid close attention to this latter experience. Even the casual listener can detect that Don’t Quit Your Day Job is heavily patterned after Kanye West’s debut. Consequence’s rhyme delivery, blue-collar approach and narrative skits are remarkably similar to West’s style. Despite this, Don’t Quit Your Day Job has several worthwhile moments. Opening salvos "Job Song” and "Don’t Forget ‘Em” expose Consequence’s humility, while the lovelorn "Feel This Way” with John Legend is surprisingly potent. However, the narrative of Consequence as a security guard by day and MC by night starts to lose its way near the end and the appearance of a dope yet widely circulated pre-College Dropout duet with Kanye ("The Good, The Bad, The Ugly”) takes the shine off an otherwise endearing effort. However, when all is said and done you’re still left wondering if after all this time you’ve really got a sense of what Consequence, devoid of all of his influences, is all about.