Search - Daddy X :: Family Ties

Kenneth W. (Eyesore) from TAUNTON, MA
Reviewed on 12/4/2007...

I'm not a huge rap fan, though I do like some. I love the old shit like Run DMC, Eric B. & Rakim, the first two L.L. Cool J albums, etc., I also really dig on the early Nineties rap like House Of Pain, Cypress Hill and Funkdoobiest. Since then there have been very few rap groups that I have even remotely liked. I discovered Insane Clown Posse in high school and because I'm a clown -- no pun intended -- I found them to be hilarious, they lost it in the past few years when they got rid of their long-time producer, though. When the good beats are gone the retarded lyrics are no longer funny because the hooks and verses become weak. Anyway, then there is Kottonmouth Kings, formed out of the punk band Humble Gods, they mix acoustic music, reggae, rock, metal and punk with rap. It's a very unique mix that never sounds like rapcore, it always maintains that rap element as the predominant sound. Kottonmouth Kings have released a lot of music, each CD usually contains around twenty tracks, many times more than that and unlike many rap albums there aren't ten songs and ten stupid skits, these are mainly songs. Sometimes I feel like this is a good thing, and others not a good thing as some songs just aren't all that great, but they're not total crap so it's not so bad.

Apparently the members do nothing but record music (and, according to the lyrics, smoke a lot of weed) because not only have Kottonmouth Kings released nine albums since 1998 -- the tenth coming June 6th -- the individual members have also released some solo/side-project albums. This is Daddy X's second solo album. Like Kottonmouth Kings his solo material is a variation of styles mixed in with a lot of rap, although his lyrics are more introspective and political than those of Kottonmouth Kings who rap more about partying and smoking weed. There are twenty-one songs here and again it sometimes feels like too many. There are a ton of kick ass songs, but there are some slight snoozers that just feel a little thrown together. The lyrics suffer sometimes, too. Have you ever written lyrics to a rap song? You have to write a fucking ton of lyrics! This is no six-line verse, four-line chorus. You have to write like forty-line verses, three of them! It's ridiculous! Anyswayze, in order for rap lyrics to work they have to be well thought out and generally they are here, but sometimes they reek of laziness. Still, in the end this is another very good release from the Kottonmouth cam...err...kamp. Give it a chance, these dudes are white so it's not your typical mainstream rap.

Website: http://www.kottonmouthkings.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/kottonmouthkings