tha boss

So everyone was afraid this album was gonna suck, be full of cautious Neptunes beats and boring stories about Slim Thugga partying with trendy east coasters and jet setting off to exotic locales with Pharell, and I was afraid too because the leak was pretty iffy. Shockingly I think this album is pretty great! Lots of low end, and a fair number of Neptunes beats that don't suck, especially the weirdo video game funk of "Playa You Don't Know" that features Pharell without making me mad at Pharell and "Click Clack" with one of the cats from the Clipse. Sure its got its fair share of great songs you've heard a million times (3 Kings, Like a Boss) and OK songs you've heard a million times (I Ain't Heard of That, Incredible Feeling) but the soul diamond in the rough of ruggedy h-town production is "Miss Mary" produced by *it* producers Cool and Dre, and it is a gorgeous follow-up to "Hate it Or Love It." Then there's the slow, slower than Ciara's "Oh"-slow "Diamonds" which features Thugga less flowing and more teetering in between Screwed and unscrewed over Heavy. Fucking. Drums with an S&C UGK hook for a chorus. And the Biggie-ish "Ashy to Classy" which is Slim's "Juicy" but sounds musically like "Everyday Struggle." And the final two tracks are on some heart-rending real talk shit. I haven't listened to the bonus CD yet, but aside from the generic "pimp" track I forget the entire name of the album is great and you should check it out.