Search - Pack :: Skateboards 2 Scrapers

The sad thing is, this is only an EP

Anthony Rupert | Milwaukee, WI | 08/15/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The Pack emerged at the height of the hyphy movement with the product placement song "Vans". So why didn't more people buy their album Skateboards 2 Scrapers? Why, even, didn't "Vans" become a hit like several other songs about shoes?



Well, it's like this: let's take Run-DMC's "My Adidas" or even Nelly's "Air Force Ones". Those songs caught on because those brands of shoes are AFFORDABLE for the average customer. Yeah, Vans are more conservative than they were, say, ten to fifteen years ago, but I don't think there are many hip-hop kids that are sportin' those. That's like making a song that boasts, "Check out my Rockports!"



Anyway, the rest of the album isn't that great either. The following track, "I'm Shinin'", is a disposable track about bling, and aside from the obligatory end-of-album remix-of-the-first-single (featuring Too $hort, although all he's doing is talking), everything else is about sex, and while the beats are dope enough, the lyrics aren't: see "Oh Go" or "Ride My Bike" (who refers to their goods as a bike, anyway?). And if you don't have the version of the album that includes "Dum Didi Dum", consider yourself lucky.



The Pack is an adequate name for this bunch because a three-pack of this same album will probably sell for $3.99 in a month or two. Skateboarding rappers might have been cool in 1990, but the concept doesn't hold much weight NOW; that with the unvaried subject matter and dismal lyrics won't make you look forward to the group's full-length.



Anthony Rupert"