Review Summary: Keep It Pimp & Gangsta follows the classic The Pimp & Da Gangsta and is almost on par with it. Pretty impressive.
How exactly can you follow-up a classic hip-hop album? Most groups would probably crack under the pressure and end up releasing a mediocre attempt to re-create the sound that was displayed on said classic album. Well Dirty knows exactly what they're doing. In 2000, the group from Montgomery, Alabama released their first breakthrough album,
The Pimp & Da Gangsta, which is an unknown classic in not just Southern hip-hop, but in hip-hop all over the world. The question that fans of that album would probably ask themselves is can Dirty keep the momentum going that they had on the previous album? Let me answer that question for you, hell yes they can. Three years later in 2003, Dirty released this album,
Keep It Pimp & Gangsta, and they definitely don't let up. This album actually had more commercial success than it's predecessor and pretty much solidified Dirty's spot as one of the best groups in the modern hip-hop scene.
Keep It Pimp & Gangsta isn't really all that different than
The Pimp & Da Gangsta. One thing that is much more prominent on this album, however, is the usage of guests from other artists such as Mannie Fresh and a lot of unknown artists such as Lil Burn One and Mr. Blue. Most prominent of these guests is another Southern rap artist, Pastor Troy and he appears on the second track on the album and my personal favorite, C'Mon. This track is basically your straight-up gangsta, killer, murder track. Pastor Troy is heard first on the track and his presence alone gives the track so much charisma. His gritty and violent delivery just pumps you up, saying things like, "I hit up the gangsta to see what was poppin' off, killin' these weak ass mutha***as like the holocaust." Now that's a powerful line if I've ever heard one. Both Mr. G. Stacka and Big Pimp keep the mentality of the song with G saying things like, "A couple shots to ya legs got you squeakin', a couple shots to ya back got you leakin'." and "See I just came to kill one, but if you got guests then I'ma kill the whole room." If you didn't know, G's delivery is rather high-pitched and he has the best flow out of the two in the group, spitting rapidly and efficiently. Big Pimp's delivery is deeper, but still rather fast just like G's, spitting off lines like, "All ya'll niggas just mad you can't hang with us, you sell don't sell dope you can't slang with us, you don't claim folks you can't bang with us." The whole concept of violence, sex, and drugs is pretty much the mentality throughout the album.
Production and beat wise, this album is also pretty similar to it's predecessor, which is a very good thing because some of the beats on
The Pimp & Da Gangsta are some of the beats in hip-hop history. Yes, they're that good. And they're almost as good on this album too. The beats represent the overall theory of the album. You get a lot of upbeat and gritty sounding violent beats, such as on C'Mon, as well as some slower and sexual beats, such as on Think About You and Lost Control, which is the follow up to Candyman from the previous album. All of the beats are very memorable and catchy and you'll definitely catch yourself bobbing your head along with every single track here. The mix of the fantastic lyricism of both Mr. G. Stack and Big Pimp and all of the extremely catchy beats makes for another near classic album. The Dirty boys produce some of their own beats here, as well as getting production from other producers, the most well-known being Mannie Fresh of course.
So pretty much, with
Keep It Pimp & Gangsta, the Dirty boys prove that they deserve every bit of the attention that they get, which sadly, isn't nearly enough. These guys are definitely one of the best hip-hop groups not only in the South, but in the country. They deserved to be mentioned with the likes of UGK, Outkast, and Goodie Mob, at least in terms of Southern rap, they're that good. If you're into the more hardcore side of hip-hop and lyrical themes, then there's no reason that you wouldn't enjoy this album and this group in general.
Anyone who wants to check out a song or two, my top 5 is:
1. C'Mon
2. Sholl Iz
3. Ghetto Opera
4. Ackamonkey
5. Where Da Luv
