Search - Project Pat :: Crook By Da Book: The Fed Story

I guess Pat didn't get the memo!

Rick Johnson | Virginia | 12/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Obviously Project Pat never received the memo that he went to jail, or that it had been nearly 4 years since his last release (Layin the Smack Down) hit stores. He apparently wasn't in attendance at the meeting where it was determined that all new Gangsta Rap had to be the same watered down unauthentic mix of poor rushed production and lack luster lyrical content and flow, and most certainly someone forgot to tell Paul and Juicy that once you win an Oscar and produce for pop acts such as Paris Hilton and Justin Timberlake, your production quality should intuitively decline. Clearly we all believed it to be true with Crunchy Blacs first and last project which, for lack of better words, seemed hurried and lazily put together.

What you get when you insert Project Pats latest album is very reason most southern hip hop heads have been eagerly pacing back and fourth awaiting atonement for the latest rise in snap music and chains hangin' low, which no doubt has gave the New York heads ample ammunition to point the finger at their country cousins. What you get on this album is more than gangsta rap consisting of an avergage MC with beats from 40 different big name producers, all of whom have probably never met the artist a day in their life. What you get with the combination of Pats gritty, yet bouncy and boisterous flow mixed with the production of arguably the most meticulous duo of producers since the Outkast/Goodie Mobb- Organized noise era is fluidity, something sorely lacking in today's age of jigsaw album making where the premiere credo is--"Do whatever that last guy did."

This album is 19 tracks of pure mood music, and if you've yet to cop it, you will know exactly what that means when you do. From intro to outro, the album flows so effortlessly that the feeling it invokes upon listening is almost visceral. Even the commercial try, Googly Moogly fits with the eb and flow of the work as a whole. There are no disappointments or production short-comings, and the album is so good, that it is honestly difficult to pick out a favorite track. Paul and Juice still remain the only producers, save Timbaland, who consistently tweak and prod with drum patterns and melodies throughout a track, and being as good as this collection of beats are, one would assume that the music alone could upstage Pat, but it never does. What makes this work so amazing however is that both Pat and the musical work match up so well that (Aside from Beanie Sigel on the song Purple, who obviously is an amazing MC, but who succeeds in sounding extremely out of place, and further proving that flowing over southern beats is hardly as easy as it "looks") you find yourself overwhelmed at times with exactly what you should be listening to and for; on Crack a Head, just as quickly as Pat switches from his traditional flow to his sing song stop and go style Paul and juice toss in a synthesized keyboard and that eerie whistle from Frayser Boys Intro track on Me Being Me.

I wont get into the review of individual songs because honestly the majority of them are entirely too layered to verbally do them any justice, but overall HCP and Pat have created a masterpiece on this one, and arguably hip hops best album of 06.' Pat does more than make it clear that he and the boys from Memphis ten aint going anywhere anytime soon, he solidifies his spot as one of the most authentic MC's on the southern hip hop scene and gives those southern cats another reason to look up top and say "Hip Hops not coming back that way, just yet!!"

"

ALL BOW DOWN TO THE CROOK................HE'S HAS RETURNED

Columbus Davis | Bronx, NY | 12/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Project Pat does it again.........matter of fact DJ Paul and Juicy does it again. First and for most I like to Thank the Super Producers for staying true with their music. After becoming Oscar winners Juicy J said in an interview that this award may open alot more doors for them but it will not change the way they do THEIR music. I wasn't sure after hearing that they were producing songs for Paris Hilton and Justin Timberlake but this ablum reassures everyone that these guy are 15 years strong without losing a step. Project Pat last left us before the mixtape with Layin the Smackdown. Which for me, towards the end it felt like the song were forced out songs because of Pat going to jail. On this one he tells with is his second track that he is not going back to jail and is picking up where he left off. Project Pat is unique and flawless. It will take forever for me to disect every track on Pat's unique versatility (sorry Koopsta Knicca but until you stop using ryhmes you said when you was part of the "6" and putting them out as new songs, you will never be as versatile as Pat or Lord Infamous) and how come Paul and Juicy are so consistant with there production to show the hip hop/rap world that snap music is not what the real south is all about. This album is gritty and a must have for your collection."