Review Summary: All I wanna do is bang Screw.
Big Moe was not just another “Big” rapper. While his lyrical skills as an emcee were fairly limited, he made up for it with his endless charisma, playful delivery, and various different flows. The real seller, however, was his voice. Not only is he distinctive just as a rapper with his low-toned, congested sounding Texas accent, but he also a wonderfully soulful singing voice he uses extensively for hooks as well as in the intros, outros, the background and sometimes mixed in with his rapping. He can easily go from the aggressive and shouted freestyle showcase on the trunk knocking “Maan!” to laid back crooning on the breezy “I’ll Do It.” The hooks here are sweet and simple, with a few receiving assistance from Pop and R&B classics from the 1980’s such as George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” on “Payin’ Dues,” Alexander O’Neal’s “Sunshine” on “Leanin’,” and Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam’s “I Wonder If I Take You Home” on “I Wonder.” Additional contemporary interpolations include R. Kelly’s “Half On A Baby,” Snoop Dogg’s “Bitch Please,” and Jodeci’s “Feenin’” on “Leanin’.”
The production is fantastic, with most songs following a similar combination of vibrant synth leads, bouncy bass lines, and hard hitting drums with a common addition of acoustic guitar and a synth string section. Most of the beats were composed by Blue and Noke D with the occasional track done by Salih and Double D. It’s an album for the afternoon; the soundtrack to a sunny day drive where you feel the breeze flowing right through you. The beats are just irresistible. Houston Hip Hop at it’s finest. No matter how many times I’ve heard them they never get tiring because there’s always something different I can engage with whether it’s the punchy bass lines, the catchy drum patterns, or the various bells and whistles added into the background.
The features are plentiful, with only a few songs falling under two. Those featured include southern heavyweights E.S.G and Z-Ro (with the latter showing up no less than four times), R&B singers Michael Wilson, Ronnetta Spencer and her father Ronnie Spencer, and the rest comprising of fellow members of the Wreckshop Family and Screwed Up Click including Big Pokey, D-Gotti, Lil O, H.A.W.K., Tyte Eyez, Al-D, Wil-Lean, Mike D, Enjoli, D-Reck, C-Nile, Dirty $, and finally, DJ Screw himself. I make a point to include every single guest vocalist because of how necessary they all feel. Despite the large amount of features, they never feel out of place as if they’re just filling up the track. Every individual person is entertaining and warrant a spot on the album. Because of his omnipresence via his singing on the hooks and in the background, Moe never feels like a second thought on his own songs, even when the features count above four on a track. It’s a strength the whole S.U.C. had. Some rappers were clearly more talented than others but there’s something totally charming about all these friends just having fun rapping over some rich and thick Southern G-Funk.
And in the end, that’s the point of the record: to have a good time. It never gets too serious and the mood never dampens even when the subject matter shifts from lean consumption and repping H-Town to more serious topics of lost love and fallen comrades of the streets. Even though it, along with his weight, was a heavy factor in his death, I don’t find his excessive mention of lean as ironic or depressing. Rather the opposite as all you hear on the record is pure jubilation in consuming the purple drank and the happiness he feels and expresses makes me feel just as good he did and I think that’s all he would’ve asked for.
RIP Big Moe (August 20, 1974 - October 14, 2007).
