A great, fun, shorter track where they wail lyrically on their opponents! Nice obscure sample of Lou Bond's "To the Establishment" courtesy of Organized Noize forming the backbeat to our favorite duo's boasts and truth bombs. On an album that at points can feel a little dry, this is an necessary splash of color and personality. Sadly it seemed to float by many of our constituents' heads without leaving much of an impression.
Choice lyrical nuggets: "Wouldn't I be the wrong one to try / Never eating chicken thighs / Only the twenty piece mojo / Flow zone like Flo Jo / I wanted to figure out / Just how low could your ho go"
+
"Long as you happy then I'm happy / Even if you just hate my ****ing guts go ahead and dap me / Cause I'm gon' dap you anyway / And then go home and pray for your ass later / Cause we might need you in this war I'm wailing on you traitors / Like that"
Overall score: 7.529
# 10s: 2 {Kool_Aid_King, i spit on haters}
Lowest score: 3.5 {Superiore}
Your host's score: 8 {should have been higher}
track #14 off of Stankonia
Once more, I am MAD! "We Luv Deez Hoez" is a slinky, distinctly southern, guilty pleasure with a hook ("HA ha ha HA!") that worms its way into the heart. Not the hearts of the people who weren't feelin this one though. Dre is off trying to save the hoez in question and doesn't make an appearance here, but we're kept more than busy with Big Boi's tongue-twisting exploits re:turkey necks in the pot + lesbians with no tongues, a great verse from the middle guy who I used to think was Ludacris, and Big Gipp who always makes me laugh speaking of "late night pastry, conversation hasty." It is all done in good fun and the ensuing transition to "Humble Mumble" is truly sublime.
Choice lyrical nugget: "So Do Re, blow me, Fa So La Ti Da Ha -- I'm tellin' the truth / You suckin' your tooth you treatin' her like a star, boy / From a Figueroa to a herringbone / From droppin' her off to takin' her home / She tried to pull my rubber off with her ***** muscles; that was wrong"
Overall score: 7.553
# 10s: 1 {i spit on haters}
Lowest score: 3.5 {Superiore}
Your host's score: 6.9
track #6 off of Stankonia
ANOTHER one with no Andre; this time though I'm not as sad to see it leave us. "Snappin' & Trappin'" is pure turnt up sexual aggression run through a back and forth between Big Boi and his protoge Killer Mike. The rapid fire verses are no doubt impressive — all six of them — but I kunt help feeling like they could each be improved upon too; the hook is serviceable but with it coming and going all about, the melody switchups in the verses, that little wub wub wub bubbling back up at sporadic intervals, I get the feeling as a listener that they just threw everything to the wall with this one without checking to see what stuck. Or maybe it's just TOO aggressive.
I mean I'll turn up some of the time just as much but yeah.
Kingfisher calls the production dated doodoo and gotta check that as a valid complaint as well.
Choice lyrical nugget: "***** you stuck like a truck in red dirt, you's in church / And I'm the deacon speakin' while ya tweakin' / The preacher preachin', reachin', teachin', speakin', being, breathin' / You're not, your clock stop, and now you're laying in a pretty box / And now pastor is only talking 'bout the pretty parts of your life / Your brother ****in' your damn wife / You look for the pearly white gates, but you realize your fate / It's too late, cause you hate, you hate / It's too late, cause you hate / Punk ***** ass bitch, game over, who want some?!"
Maybe this is an appropriate ranking -- not by any means a discog or even albert standout -- but still I feel like it's easy to underrate this one. Our THIRD CONSECUTIVE elimination where Andre is nowhere to be found, Big and two friends take over the narrative reins here to paint us a picture of inner city legal wrongdoing. We can see a clear progression from the duo's previous album though, with Big's own concerns as a parent starting to influence his behavior when he's out and about. The hook is a great and funny twist on the existing colloquialism re:fat ladies singing, and though I think earlier on I took a jab aimed @ Big Gipp, really he can be the best thing ever at the right place and right time.
Choice lyrical nugget: "I need to take my ass to the crib and drop the baby off / Cause them ****** at the corner sto' been looking at me for too long /Staring like accidents on highways, high days are better than sober ones / Don't be biased, but I know it has to come / So I put two in the sky to let them know I'm babysitting / Y'all don't know nothing bout Big Boi cause that ***** steady dipping / It ain't over (why that, why that) till the bitch open her mouth up / And sang..."
Dre is back! Fitting in between Wailin' and Decatur on the ATLiens tracklist is this wonderfully chill meditation on the struggle of life. Evidently it didn't click with voters and that's ok cuz it took several listens to worm its way into my own bloodstream, but still there's a lot of truth being served here. From the 4 verses we can pick out both smart one-liners and effective big-picture storytelling, with featured Goodie Thugs T-Mo and Khujo giving up some of their best raps ever. A lot to digest, but if nothing else an effective straightforward reminder to stay in check.
Choice lyrical nugget: "They swan diving / Fit they name be Gretchen von Ivan / Volkoff rushin' to finish their album then you find them / Lost, dog paddling, back stroking, what done happened? / Be rhyming "catch of the day" when the recipe calls for "blackened" / Wrong ingredients / Maybe too much herbs and spices"
Stankonia becomes the first album in our countdown to lose a second track, as this enigma ties out with "Call of da Wild." Just Andre here (this rarely happens), frantically asking the QUESTIONS for which there may be no answers -- at least for the first 45 seconds, before his soul-searching gives way to rhythmic beeping. I wouldn't call it great, but it shows the group at their most outside-the-box, and even if you don't like it, it's all over as quickly as it started. It was sorely missed on my first illegally downloaded copy of Stankonia that only ran 23 tracks.
Choice lyrical nugget: "What can make a ***** wanna fight a whole night club? / Figure that he ought to maybe be a pimp simply cause he DON'T LIKE LOVE"
