Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 20/06/05
Label: Warner

Once a fully paid-up member of legendary underground Hip Hop crew D.I.T.C. (Diggin' In The Crates) Fat Joe should, like all the other artists brought up in this prolific training ground, have credibility to spare and at least one bonafide classic LP to his name. Instead, he has a lot of lucrative J-Lo guest slots and a string of albums patchier than a pissed-on lawn. You imagine that he'd point out his less lucrative homies are the fools, whilst easing another wad into the electronic $50 counter.

So, it's business as usual for the man, somewhat ludicrously, known as Joey Crack. That means another album put together by a couple of workmanlike producers with a few more pricey off-cuts from the big boys to keep the reputation intact. "Hold U Down", the collaboration from J-Lo's last record, is even included to scrape up some extra sales.

The commercial masterstroke is the club-targeted "Get It Poppin'", which combines the surefire dancefloor-filling skills of producer Scott Storch with the ever-bankable Nelly. It's a hooky winner, guaranteeing the hip-hop public will give this album a (ahem) crack. The Public Enemy-sampling "Safe 2 Say", comes through in a frenzy of furious scratching from the dependably ace Just Blaze - a neat choice of beat assistance, since he seems to be whipping-up a storm for everyone from Memphis Bleek to Medaphoar at the moment. Timbaland - who at least coaxes the album's finest vocal performance from Fat Joe - flips 'overdrive' for "Everybody Get Up", another eminently passable take on his trademark sound.

But the album's morbid highlight comes from the cheap thrill of 50 Cent put-down, "My Fofo". Morbid, because it seems people have died for less. The rotund MC unleashes a string of belittling insults, in some ways even more stark than those that sparked the Biggie/Tupac saga. "I see MJ in the hood more than Curtis", he jibes whilst insinuating that 50 Cent is a "fake" who stays home scoffing steroids under the watch of an army of bouncers. It's fairly clear that, should 50 take issue with Fat Joe over this assessment, retribution will be meted out in no uncertain terms. "It's going to be a real ugly summer man", he threatens.

Let's hope they kiss and make-up or both of them could be heading back underground sooner than expected.

    by James Poletti