"Trail of Destruction", The Jokerr album review (Digital and physical)

"Trail of Destruction: A Chronicle of Epic Disses"
Well, at least I know what to expect. Wait, no. Actually, let's fix it.
"An Hour's Worth of Bitching: Actually, I'm Sorry I Said All That Shit, Guys"
Rearing its angry head originally in 2012, this album is effectively the Underground Shitstorm of it's time. Spanning (originally) fourteen tracks, this is more-or-less a platform created and used by The Jokerr to diss and upset many artists in the underground scene, some of whom are very well-known, others not-so-much.

*ADDITIONAL NOTE* CDs are as right now being sold with updated album art on the Jokerr's website. If you are interested in grabbing a physical copy then you can actually do that now, check it out: http://www.jokerrmart.com/TRAIL-OF-DESTRUCTION-A-CHRONICLE-OF-EPIC-DISSES--AUTOGRAPHED-PRE-ORDER_p_115.html

     This album fucked The Jokerr up. He took a lot of shit for this, but he also gained a lot of publicity for it, which is probably a positive thing financially. After the damage had been done, he released a song entitled "Dead Horse" which is basically a song apologizing for how much of a dumbass he is and how sorry he is to some of the dudes he ragged on. Anyway, back to the CDs. Since they are now OOP, you can't find them being sold on The Jokerr's website which makes significantly harder to find. Near as I can tell, there are two printed versions that were released on physical copy. The "Peace and Happiness" version, and the "Broken Dreams" version. I got a version of the Peace and Happiness version on eBay - not too expensive, but I lost the bid on the Broken Dreams version. This is the only CD by The Jokerr that I have, but it's not even sold reliably, so finding a physical copy will require some legwork. But don't fear, intrepid traveler! There are still digital copies being sold by The Jokerr, which I had originally bought before I even knew that physical copies existed. It's a lot easier than finding a physical copy, and it'll keep you waiting less. So grab one if you don't feel like waiting for an undefined amount of time. As a last note, the digital copies come with the bonus track "Dead Horse" which is not included on either of the printed versions. With all that out of the way, I'm going to move on to the next section.

Graphics:
Again, there are two printed copies that I know of. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more, but these are the only ones I know about. The "Broken Dreams" version and the "Peace and Happiness" version. I have the latter, so that's the one I'm going to talk about.
In addition, the digital copies have their own art that I'll be posting below.
Peace and Happiness:
This version features a lot of beauty. There's flowers and a bright blue sky, with the words "Trail of Destruction" in nice cursive writing. On the back cover is the track listing, in the same stylized writing, along with a bit of licensing shit and something about "Corvix having a secret penguin sex fetish", whatever that means. The front cover is just a slip, and on the back of the slip is a little poem with a blue sky and sunflowers.
Lyrical law #2
"Carry yourself humbly,
Brag when you're spitting,
Rap how you act,
But never act how you rap."
I'm guessing that on different versions of the CD, Broken Dreams for example, there would be another lyrical law with a separate poem or some shit like that. But I don't know since I don't own it, and I might never own it. There's the CD art, just the title and more blue skies. Nothing in the CD rest - a little minimalistic. That's it for the art. Now to move on to what really matters.

Content:
     Speaking in terms of pure production, this album is actually pretty good. Great production, good beats, good lyricism (Most of the time), but not as well executed as it could have been. The idea of an album that is "An Epic Chronicle of Disses" sounds promising and refreshing considering that battle rapping is a dead art, and maybe The Jokerr is bringing something unique to the table, but unfortunately it isn't pulled off well enough to be truly great. My personal feelings of The Jokerr aside, I really have no idea what he was thinking when he dropped this. It brought him a lot of heat and fucked him up quite a bit. Then he tried to take the words out of the air, but it's like pouring out a bottle of shampoo and then trying to put it all back in with your hands. It ain't happenin'.
     On top of that, some of this shit is really petty. Often times The Jokerr runs out of legitimate disses for the artist he wants to crack on, so he goes middle school mode. He makes fun of physical appearances, says irrelevant homophobic shit, stuff like that. The idea of having a CD containing only disses seems promising, but Jokerr manages to mess it up with his childish attitude.
    The track list is okay, but it sometimes feels as though The Jokerr is just saying hateful shit but not actually directing it towards anyone in particular. Since he wanted this to be a full album, he just made a rambling track to fill in the gaps between actual disses to try and keep the listener entertained. It kind of works, but you can totally feel the fact that he's just trying to fill in gaps to keep the album length.
     On a more positive note, some of these disses are very heated and smash, aimed at specific people, and are very well-produced. Examples would be "Sidekick", "Permanent Enemy", and "The Maestro". I will also note at this point that there are two versions of the song "Sidekick", the studio version that has a really slanderous phone call between The Jokerr and Hopsin at the end (Which was torn down from YouTube), and then the current YouTube version that's up right now. These tracks are really good, but I also can't help feeling that they outshine other tracks on the list that are less extravagent. Regardless, while the gems outshine the other tracks, most of the CD is actually good. The beats bounce and hop all over the place, and there's a lot of variety lyrically and musically throughout the album. Some of the tracks are really orchestrated too, like "Sidekick" and "Dead Horse" which feature classical instruments that really define the songs that they're in.
      Again, "Dead Horse" is only on the digital version since the printed CDs came out before the track did (The new CDs actually have this track, as well as another bonus track). It's weird to hear Dead Horse after all the other tracks since it's very apologetic, when just a few minutes before he was dissing those same artists. While The Jokerr's demeanor leaves something to be desired, the CD is very much solid musically.. I have to mention the long monologues about his personal hatred for the artists he disses, where he goes on and on about the record labels are evil and the rappers are hypocrites. It's cute, but as a consumer who doesn't even listen to the artists he's flaming, I really do not give a single fuck. On top of that, it makes The Jokerr look like a douche because these monologues are just accusations and laments about things that have nothing to do with him artistically. It's just extra bullshit that makes The Jokerr look foolish.
     I'm going to get wrapping up on this and end with a few last things. You don't need this, especially if you're looking for the physical copy. It's too annoying to find and the digital copy is the definitive one, whereas the printed copies are more like drafts. If you feed off hatred, get this album. If you're not interested in dramatic bullshit between artists, save your money and just go look at the cool songs on YouTube. Most of the good songs on this album have videos up for them anyway. While Trail of Destruction is blessed with good production, Jokerr's petty attitude, inflated ego, and inane monologues drag the rest of the album down in the muck, creating a layer of grime that can't be scratched off even with the added Dead Horse track. There are really only a few songs I know I'm going to be coming back to, and this album doesn't make me feel any better about The Jokerr as an artist. With that final word, I conclude this review.

JRH gives "Trail of Destruction: A Chronicle of Epic Disses" by The Jokerr a: 2.3/5

Strong points:
- Strong production
- Few gems on the album that are really impressive
- Good lyricism, good singing
- Cool art for the printed version

Weak points:
- The fact that he took down the CDs and made modifications to the tracks just brings light to the fact that this album is tinged with bitter regret about the shit he said
-All of the filler breaks up the flow of the album
- While The Jokerr is a skilled rapper, his creativity on this album is often constrained to petty insults and quips
- Annoying egotistical monologues breaks up the flow of the album

That's it, ninjas. You don't need this shit, but there are some nice bits on it. Now for the art:

This is the version that I have. Notice that the quality isn't great - I couldn't find an actual scanned digital copy of the cover art. If a ninja can hook me up with a picture, I'll toss two whoops your way and give you some credit.

This the the Broken Dreams cover, present on the other pressed copy of this album.

This is the digital art that I got with the downloaded version of this album, from his website. Might have been his Bandcamp, I'm not entirely sure.

This is an alternate cover for the album. I'm not sure where it was used - promotional, printed copy, or otherwise. But it's out there, for whatever reason.

Another alternate cover for the album. Again I am not sure what it was used for exactly, but if anyone has details on it, I'll be happy to include some more detailed information on this review.

This is promotional art for the diss track "The Real One" aimed at Tha Joker; the tenth track on the CD and digital copy. It's not the cover art for any version of the album, but it was cool art so I figured I'd add it to the review.