25% thug, 75% matrimony

Trick Daddy’s “Thug Matrimony: Married to the Streets” is great, but for a guy who’s first hit was titled “I’m a Thug” and who has had the word “thug” in the title of every album except his first, he’s not really that thuggish here. I don’t know if he has mellowed with age, but thuggery only fills about a third of “Thug Matrimony,” largely at the beginning and the end. That album begins with the Ozzie-sampling radio staple “Let’s Go,” the moody “Gangster Livin’” and the absolutely insane T.I.-powered “Fuckin’ Around,” which is so hot I burned my fingers on the stereo trying to turn the volume up. You can hear that last track as long as Serg keeps it up in the Nov. 10 post.
After those first three tracks, Trick goes into a three-song suite about making a better world for future generations and the importance of children believing in themselves. I guess he wanted to make good on the “Trick loves the kids” catchline. It doesn’t stop there – the last part of the album is largely made up of loverman croons (Ron Isley guests) and sex jams (Khia of “My Neck, My Back” fame also appears).
That said this is an excellent album with a staggering list of guests – T.I., Twista, Lil’ Jon, Ludacris, Cee-Lo, Dirt Bag, Trina, the Ying Yang Twins and the aforementioned Young Jeezy – again demonstrating the heavy collaborative network of southern rappers in 2004.