Closed Casket

After the unholy mischief of his first three albums, Esham took a step back from his satanic rampage and used Closed Casket to focus on a single theme: death. Of course, this had long been one of Esham’s favorite subjects, but here he examines it from every angle. From murder (“My Homie Got Shot”) to suicide (“Mental Stress”) to burial (“The Eulogy”) and the afterlife (“Closed Casket”), Esham explores the entire post-mortem experience. Closed Casket also marks an important point of evolution in Esham’s production. Several songs reference the queasy G-funk of West Coast artists like Cypress Hill and Spice 1, while “Slug Froma 45” ventures further into heavy metal than Esham has ever been before. “Was It Sum’n I Said” is unearthly, atonal street rap along the lines of what Three Six Mafia was pursuing during the same period, but Closed Casket also boats the grotesque, heavy funk that has been an Esham specialty since the beginning of his career. “Therapy,” “24/7,” and the thumping “I Don’t Owe U S**t” are all about vintage, low-end wallop, and the haunting “Make Me Wanna Holla” even approaches poignancy.