Taking five years between albums in Hip-Hop is tantamount to career suicide. In this industry, name recognition and progression are key to long-term survival, and millions of fans are too young to remember the glory days of Nelly and Lil’ Jon & The Eastside Boyz. Not to be deterred by such truths, the Nappy Roots are back with the long-delayed The Humdinger. With a track record of great albums, hopes are high that the group can overcome any rust and stagnation to release an album worthy of their catalog.
Older albums found the Nappy Roots developing their own sound, a southern-influenced, group dynamic that set the group apart from their contemporaries. On The Humdinger, the group too often abandons that model of success, trading innovation for attempts to crossover. “Flex,” is a song aimed at the clubs, but the beat sounds recycled and the MC’ing is sloppy, either falling off beat or failing to rhyme in certain parts. “Pole Position” does not feature the lyrical trickery or humor required to make the track anything more than another tired ode to strippers. Most troubling is the fact that the crew sounds like they aren’t buying into the crossover attempts, and for a group who has blamed label troubles for the albums delays, you wonder who is pulling the strings. Read the rest of this entry »
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