Supergroups can either go one of two ways: they can take off like a rocket and exponentially increase the potency of all members involved, or they can come off as a major disappointment. Aside from their obvious similarities as far as skin pigmentation goes, the artistic tendencies of LCN’s three MCs seems to skew in very different directions. If you had told me 5 years ago that Ill Bill and Everlast should form a group I would have kindly asked you what you were smoking and proceeded to tell you what a horrible idea that was. Now that it’s happened I feel that the results are mixed.
Conceptually, La Coka Nostra has managed to forge a decent level of cohesion. With his newfound brethren, Everlast manages to get a little more down and dirty on tracks where he would normally take the higher road. The one thing that he has in common with Slaine and Ill Bill is his subversive spirit. Even with a blast of irony, the old Irishman rapping about coke and whores seems a bit out of place. This is especially true when you have a firebrand like Ill Bill putting everyone else on tracks with him to shame.
As I said, the concepts are there but they are a bit shaky – musically and lyrically. With the exception of Bill’s verses, it gets tiresome and preachy to hear track after track about how corrupt America is. Additionally, LCN seems to suffer from split-personality disorder when it comes to their sound. The album opens with two lackadaisical rock-rap tracks that come off sounding un-inspired. It’s good to hear Everlast return to his soul roots on the hooks for ‘The Stain’ and ‘Cousin of Death,’ however it seems out of place on an LCN album.
On the flip side, the tracks that shine most are the ones featuring Ill Bill’s gothic boom bap production. This allows for the three MCs to abandon heavy-handed concepts and simply do what they do best: spit. Unfortunately there aren’t too many of these gems on the album, a few exceptions being ‘Bang Bang’ and ‘Brujeria.’ Had these been the focus of A Brand You Can Trust they might have come away with a very good piece of work. As is the case with most so-called ‘dream team’ collaborations, they should stick to their solo careers.
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