Review Summary: A collection of party songs for the socially inept.
One plus none equals one. One plus one equals two. And two is better than none, right? I can't possibly bring myself to say yes within the context of this album. 3OH!3 is a pseudo-electro-rap duo composed of two white kids from the suburbs of Colorado. Their surprisingly somewhat successful album, "Want," was released two years ago, when the humble state of CO apparently had their *** on lock.
Debuting in 2008, 3OH!3 was a product of the MySpace music craze. A large percentage of 3OH!3's demographic consisted of teenagers whose biggest problems were deleting the endless flood of comments from spam bots off their profile page. These kids had no reason to not trust a ho'. All they wanted to do was re-post a bulletin so a dead girl would hesitate to devour them at night. And 3OH!3 was the perfect soundtrack for their Mountain Dew and Fun-yun fueled internet-scapades. This is what Want is, a collection of party songs for the socially inept.
The majority of the album's drive are built off of a dual vocal attack resembling a child custody case between a wolf with strep throat and a castrated Peter Griffin. If the vocal quality wasn't bad enough, each song has an extremely predictable structure. Voices start 'rapping', voices stop, voices sing, voices start again, voices stop. There is no discernible flow to their delivery. It seems as though they allow the beat of the song dictate their flow, instead of taking charge and possibly making the album slightly more interesting. As much as a tweaked vocal delivery could minutely improve the album, it is virtually impossible to amend the lyrics. Each song belongs to the club of rap that treats cars as 'whips' and women as 'bitches'. Yet, 3Oh!3 manages to take it a step further and treats dancing like Helen Keller as titillating, hip-shaking dance craze. The sad thing is, you can't help but notice that 3OH!3 might actually be taking themselves seriously. There are other ways to make party songs interesting, but using the words 'beef' and any form of 'vegetarian' just makes me want to hit up the nearest steakhouse. Sorry guys, no love for you here.
Want is not without its merits though. I admit, the album can be catchy, even danceable. Many of the beats that underlay the atrocious vocals are well produced and demonstrate a notable level of rhythmic competency. The bass is satisfyingly low, the treble crisp, and the mids round out the sound. There is one huge gripe I have with the production though. Much like the screeching synth and kettlepot hisses on Snoop Dogg's "Doggystyle" and Public Enemy's "It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back", Want relies heavily on abrasive synths and excessive sub hits. Sometimes it's quite decent, but it can also sound like a sub-woofer being violated by a swarm of African bees. Nonetheless, the beats and the production of the album far surpass the quality of anything else the album has to offer.
We are living in the technology age. An age where society demands efficiency in exchange for interaction. Want is the embodiment of the downside of living during these days. It is a microcosm of modern society. You've got a well produced album without any lyrical merit that rapidly fills your douchebag meter. The same way we have the marvel of technology, which in turn deprives us of personal interaction, social standing, and our souls. Well, maybe not that last sentence. Yet, 3OH!3 shows us all you need to make a mediocre wanna-be rap album is a skewed sense of the English language, some tar-coated vocal chords, some balls, a decent producer, and MySpace.
