Today, one of the biggest artist, with what I feel was the biggest single and remix of the year 1994 is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his album release…Well he actually probably isn’t but I will touch on that later. The Person is Craig Mack and the album is Project:Funk Da World.

From a PR and Mainstream exposure perspective Sean”Puffy”Combs is a genius. Why? Because in 1994, he was considered the man that took two of the ugliest rappers he could find and made them superstars for if nothing else one year. Now, one of those guys ended up being one of the greatest rappers EVER but, you can’t rap sight unseen for too long so it’s clear Puff made it work. Two of the biggest Records, possibly the greatest remix of all hip-hop’s time and two guys who’s albums couldn’t have been more anticipated just off of 1 single alone. That’s unheard of in 2014.

We already know what Mr. Wallace did…So let’s get to “Project”.

Hip-Hop was set on it’s literal ear when “Flava In Ya Ear” dropped. It was an unlikely but undeniable big record. It also is the record that solidifies Bad Boy as a functioning hip-hop label. Maybe that record wasn’t supposed to be that big. Maybe that was just a litmus test turned lightening in a bottle. I say that because the album “Project: Funk Da World” is kind of terrible. It’s only 11 tracks and as I look at this track list…I only remember 4 songs. “Flava In Ya Ear” [of course] “Get Down” and “Making Moves with Puff”. He had videos for all 3 songs which I will admit made me like the album a little bit longer because the visuals won me over. However, you can’t deny that they basically had him rapping over the same beat 3 times. It’s just different elements.

The other song I remember was “When God Comes”…to be honest, I don’t remember the verses. I just know the hook sounded a lot like Flava In Ya Ear’s hook. So to sum up my memory. This album is very repetitive with overused concepts and it’s forgettable.

No, The Flava In Ya Ear Remix is NOT on the album and there was no deluxe editions back then. That was the era of “Maxi Singles”. I should have known then that the album wouldn’t leave much to the imagination. The Maxi had 4 different versions of Flava in your ear on it. The Original, The Remix, and Two versions where it appeared all he did was give a rougher delivery on a beat not as good as the original. To avoid pointless slander let’s just move forward.

Project: Funk Da World might be the most disappointing album of the 90’s. It definitely is the darkest moment of the 90’s Bad Boy Era. I honestly wonder who cares. I wonder if blogs will be posting about AT LEAST the song that made Mack famous. I wonder if anyone is going to really pay some sort of homage and knock a little “Funkalicious Fat Funk Flav BOYYYYY! HAAAAA!”

It’s confirmed that Craig Mack himself doesn’t care but, he’s abandoned hip-hop as a culture and an expressive outlet altogether. Last time I seen him he was testifying before a religious cult in the Carolina’s.

See…However, with all the above stated, I am still going to try and give this album a listen today. Just to see if my early teen ears turned Golden Era OG ears feel the exact same way about this album.

I feel Craig Mack is the reason labels put out singles. Sometimes the world doesn’t really want to hear everything you have to say. Some artist are only meant to give you a hit or two. There’s noting wrong with that. There are MILLIONS of people on earth with absolutely no musical ability and there are even more millions of people that swear they have a hit on their hands and nothing could be further from the Truth. At least for about 5 minutes Craig Mack stomped his Timberland on raps pavement and it made a crack. Not many can ever say that. So respect to Craig Mack…At least you gave us something we will never forget.

Yes. I purposely posted the 3rd Single from the album because I talked about the lead single enough. If for some reason I fall in love with this album today, I will add an update to this post or possibly create a new one.