Redman

It’s been six years since Redman last graced us with his musical presence. Since then, he’s had a failed television show with partner-in-crime Method Man, roles in multiple video games, and a spot in a Nickelodeon cartoon. He’s changed since his days as a member of Def Squad and moonlighting as Wu-Tang Clan’s honorary member. Right?

Judging from his latest release, “Red Gone Wild,” the answer is clear: absolutely not.

And that’s what both plagues and fuels Redman throughout the album, nowhere more than on the Timbaland-produced single “Put It Down,” where the Funk Doc takes us on a blast from the past.

“Look in my eyes nigga, you see a great ball of fire nigga / My trail is blazin’, I Stoudamire nigga,” Red spits, paying homage to NBA point guard Damon Stoudamire.

It’s the kind of irreverent, pun-heavy rhyme that has sustained Redman’s fan base throughout his six solo efforts and two collaborative albums.

But there’s a big problem: Stoudamire doesn’t play for the Portland Trail Blazers anymore—he’s been in Memphis for the last two years, and is no longer much of a cultural touchstone.

Redman sounds dated this time out, struggling for relevance on an album that would have sounded much better had it dropped a decade ago.

On opening track “Fire,” the Doc digs deep into his bag of pop culture tricks from yesteryear: “It’s like your Black Hawk Down, I blast like a skinny / Roll up to the jam and party like Little Penny!” Little Penny? Really?

It’s when he remains timeless that he’s at his best. The album’s finest track, the bare-bones “Freestyle Freestyle,” is vintage Redman. It’s no surprise that it comes from all-star producer Scott Storch, a contemporary leader of his craft.

Red’s flow is silky smooth, and when he matter-of-factly proclaims on the chorus, “And everywhere I go, I kick a freestyle / And every time I move, these women freestyle,” it takes you back—in a good way—to the rapper’s heyday in the late ’90s.

The album’s successes and pitfalls aren’t all predicated on their moment in time, however. Redman shines when he reunites with his old crew, as he does on the Def Squad-featured “Walk In Gutta.”

Battling a bland chorus, Erick Sermon lays down a grimy beat that meshes perfectly with his equally gutter verse.

Redman is exactly right when he declares later on: “Erick Sermon back / Homie never left.”

Unfortunately for us, he does leave. And his departure makes way for Redman’s new crew, the oft-mentioned Gilla House.

Praise for the new posse dominates a large portion of the album, and they finally try their own hand at the mic in the crowded “Sumtn’ 4 Urrbody,” which wastes a great Southern beat on bland rhymes.

One of Gilla House’s minions (they’re hard to tell apart) is particularly uninspiring: “My bitch be like, ‘damn nigga, wash yo’ feet’ / She say the hair on my chest look like taco meat.”

Redman puts a misguided amount of faith in Gilla House—as prominent rappers tend to do with their often lackluster crews—that holds back an album that, with the help of Def Squad and Method Man, could have been a triumphant return.

But if you’re able to tune out the presence of the new guys and party like it’s 1999, “Red Gone Wild” might be just what the Funk Doctor Spot ordered.

—Reviewer Malcom A. Glenn can be reached at mglenn@fas.harvard.edu.