Redman's Dare Iz A Dark Side is one of the most underrated albums I have ever heard. This album makes your dreams come to life. It doesn't sugar coat and it doesn't manipulate your emotions. What it does do is take you to a special place that is indescribeable. Yet the feeling never seems to wear off. It takes you there every time you listen to it. The reason many people have not heard this album is that the music just doesn't have mainstream appeal; it's strictly for hip-hop sophisticates to enjoy only. Another thing that is special about this album is that there are only a couple of guest appearances. The album is mostly Redman expressing himself, which is fine with me. I've always wanted to hear expression and this album certainly represents freedom of expression.

The highlights on this album include the bouncing "Bobyahed2dis", which features a narration from Jeff Stewart and a great performance from Redman, "The Journey", a mind-blowing laid back song with dark melodies and harmonic loops, "A Million and One Boodah Spots", which has an original beat and lyrical choice, "Cosmic Slop", a track where Redman joins partners Eric Sermon and Keith Murray for an original and interesting jam, "Green Island", one of the most superb tracks on the album as it has that Hawaiian guitar loop and an amazing concept, "Can't Wait", an uplifting song with a gently bouncing beat, "Slide and Rock On", a well crafted track with a strange ending, "We Run New York", a swinging track that features the then obscure Hurricane G, who now, five years after this was recorded, is now well-known because of her small cameo on Puff Daddy's hit that took an obvious major jacking of Public Enemy's "Public Enemy Number One", and "Tonight's The Night(Remix)", a great remix of the original hit on Redman's first album. The best track on this album is, though, the intimate masterpiece "Sooperman Lover(Part II)", which is the best recording of the song Redman ever did. It is some of the best storytelling I have ever heard. All the tracks are really excellent though and they all shine in their own special ways.

To conclude my review, I would like to say this is one of the most special and original albums of all time. I really loved it because it is good to just have an hour or so to just relax and blow your mind to an album like this. I found it original and thought-provoking. It filled me with many ideas and theories about life. It doesn't make you feel like you have to fit in and doesn't make you feel bad about yourself. It tells stories of all sorts of things ranging from boastfests to women to ghetto stories. I would recommend this to any true hip-hop fan, especially if they like the East Coast, Redman, or anyone else in that category.

I still don't get what he said, but this was one of the memorable lines from this classic album. Like an earlier reviewer said, 94 was a great time for hip hop, most likely we will never see a year like that again. Too bad. 94 was a year where almost any album put out was guaranteed to play all the way through. I remember actually pulling off the Parental Advisory sticker from the cover so my parents wouldn't think that there was cussing in this CD. (Which there is plenty of) This was the year after Wu-Tang Clan emerged with their classic CD "Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers." Many classic albums came out of the East Coast that year: Method Man blessed us with Tical, Gang Starr dropped Hard To Earn, Slick Rick dropped the Rulers Back, Public Enemy with Fear of A Black Planet, Keith Murray with The Most Beautifullest Thing in this world, on and on, too many to name. Bottom line is this was back when hip hop was hip hop, before the game was saturated with people of no talent whatsoever. 92-96 was the years that if you had a song like "Laffy Taffy" or "It's Goin Down" you were clowned and dismissed quickly. Artists did it for the love of the music, not just to make a quick buck. This was before corporations got a hold of hip hop and destroyed it.

Redman is truly an artist who will never get the real shine he deserves until he dies. He can be credited for putting New Jersey on the map and repping his area to the fullest, like NWA did Compton, Big did Brooklyn, etc, etc, etc. This album is an excellent follow up to his debut, What? Thee Album?, which is also a classic.

Bass soaked beats are the perfect compliment to Reggie Nobles dark, macabre rhymes. The skits are a bit pointless, but no album (back then or today) has good skits anyways. This was before Red hooked up with his blunt brother, Method Man, and still had his afro. Red was hungry and even today, can rip apart half of these so called "artists" that are out right now. This album is recommended for people who need an education in what music used to sound like before it was corrupted. This is one of those albums that I bought on tape as well as CD, remember the red tape? This album is one reason why I enjoyed listening to hip hop back in the days: because of the originality displayed by the artist, and the production was off the hook. This is definitely Erick Sermon's masterpiece. Red's lyrics are devestating on this one, as he tears through each song with so much ease its not even funny. The lyrical maturity really shows from this album from the first one, and Red definitely beats the "sophomore slump."

All of the songs are good, but the top 5 are:

1) Cosmic Slop: Keith Murray rips it apart

2) Rockafella (remember in the video he was in that weird carnival)

3) Green Island (classic line "Verbally you never heard of me")

4) Can't Wait (with the other classic line, Switchin speeds like Bruce Lee ridin a Fuji in a movie)

5) Sooperman Lova II (Do Superman got a gun? NO! BUT THE SOOPERMAN LOVA DO!)

Bottom line: If you remember when hip hop sounded good and you could actually play an album all the way through, listen to this or buy it for someone who claims they know what hip hop is. This is Redman at his peak, if you listen to his newer albums (which are good as well) you probably won't get the lyrics or even like this one. 94 was an amazing year for hip hop, and this album proves it. Highly recommended.

Redman's best, without any doubt. Possibly one of the greatest hip-hop albums ever, despite being so god damn slept on. I mean, yeah, this is a stoner album as others have said, but that'd be missing most of the point. Redman stomps all over the lurching smoked-out-of-the-mindframe beats, steeping the album in some unspoken paranoia. This would NEVER get on the top 40. Hazy and raw, what more could you ask for?

I've said many times that 1994 was a fanstastic year in hip hop, likely never to be that awesome again. Redman emerged again, two years after dropping his first classic album, Whut Thee Album. Dare Iz A Darkside, Redman's second, is so AWESOME that you just wondered how DARK this guy can get, and he displays that in this album. Some things MIGHT fly over your head, but there's no doubt that Redman kept you listening to everything he says, as you have no choice but to listen, and press rewind if you have to. Here's the review;

Album Highlights: Well, it's a tough choice. All of these songs KNOCK, but songs like "Wuditlooklike" and the song with Hurricane G are hype lyrically, but suffer from a somewhat lackluster track.

Production: Thumbs up. Erick Sermon shines here, as we get introduced to some production from Red himself and the upstart Rockwilder.

Lyrics and Subject Matter: Thumbs way up. This guy's lyrics and unbelievable.

Originality: Thumbs up, but SLIGHTLY.

The Last Word: I want to give this album 5 stars, but from an overall standout. I can't(see album highlights up top). But you can't argue with this release, possibly the album in Redman's catalog that got the heave ho from most fans. But for the true hip hop heads such as myself, this album is AWESOME, and it represents Redman at the top of his superior game. Listen, and you'll be shocked and amazed. Highly recommended.

I remember about 10 years ago listening to this album waiting for the bus to go to school. Remember he had it out on the tape that was red as well. Every track on there is slammin still. At this same time, the box and bet was showin "MOnth of the Man" commercials and all that. That was a great time for hip hop. You ain't no real redman fan unless you bought this album on tape when it first came out. Since then, I've bought this album like 5 times. go get it if you like real music