Various Artists – Subnoize Souljaz: Droppin’ Bombs
Suburban Noize Records (released Aug. 29, 2006)
Rap/rock/punk
Last week I reviewed an album by a rapper named The Dirtball, which can be found here. In my review, I said…
Seeing as this particular sound seems to be selling, it’s probably good for Suburban Noize to have one of these on their roster, which contains a whole slew of different styles and characters. The Dirtball is not something that particularly appealed to me, but there wasn’t anything on here that was painfully bad. For fans of that damned Southern rap, this would be an improvement over a large majority of what you like to request on your favorite radio station. For fans of the Suburban Noize family, you’re probably going to go out and buy it anyway no matter what I say, so have fun.
I was wrong, as apparently the main focus of this label is this kind of rap. This is a compilation of Suburban Noize and other related artists, with an average of three to five different artists thrown together on each song in what at times seems like a bit of a fustercluck. The songs hold up well together as a compilation, and if you like the first song, “Here We Go Again”, which sounds like it borrowed a beat from Sean Paul, and features “white trash renegade” Big B, the aforementioned Dirtball, and Daddy X of Kottonmouth Kings, chances are you’ll dig the whole album. More Southern rap action ensues on the second track, a slowed down political number called “Uncle Sam”, with more Daddy X, along with Saint Dog and Judge D. “Get Em Up” features Jared of Hed(pe) with predictable results. “Still Smokin'”, featuring all of the original members of the Kottonmouth Kings, and is predictably about weed, should be loads of fun for their fans, but I would have liked it to be a little more reggae and a lot less like everything else on the album. One track that does stand out completely from the rest of the album is the final track, by punk band Last Laugh (and featuring Richter of Kottonmouth Kings), which is certainly the best track on the album, and the first thing that came to mind was NOFX. I would have liked to see more of a concentration on this style rather than the mediocre rap. Memo to Suburban Noize: Do it.
Rating: 
