**1/2 Trick Daddy
BOOK OF THUGS: CHAPTER A.K., VERSE 47
(Slip-N-Slide/Atlantic)
One day last fall, I was watching a
college-football halftime show on BET. The marching bands were as ragged as the
teams, and I was about to give up when I heard a familiar sound. I cranked up
the volume; sure enough, the band were ripping through "Back that Azz Up" and
the rest of the Cash Money Records catalogue. Last week, the other shoe
dropped. I was listening to Book of Thugs: Chapter A.K., Verse 47, the
third disc by Trick Daddy (the guy responsible for the sublime 1998 single
"Nann Nigga"), and halfway through, I heard him say, "We gon' let the band deal
with this." Before the words were out of his mouth, the Miami-based MC was
interrupted by a boisterous drum-and-brass ensemble -- it was halftime again.
What makes Southern hip-hop so exciting is the way it expands the universe of
rap music: from marching bands ("Shut Up") to electronic experiments ("Gotta
Let 'Em Have It"), Trick Daddy unites a wide range of sounds beneath his
expressive, down-home drawl. Of course, it wouldn't mean much if the songs
didn't work. But that's no problem on Book of Thugs -- not even when it
comes to the lethargic "Amerika" (a socially conscious collection of
clichés), which is saved by those artificially high-pitched voices that
chant the chorus.
-- Kelefa Sanneh
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