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8 Ball & MJG Album Review: RIDIN HIGH

“I ain’t gotta have the ring, I ain’t gotta have the belt, I ain’t gotta have the crown, [CAUSE] I STILL LAY IT DOWN… “, MJG – “30 Rocks”.

Pimp Tight!!!! Aka Marlon Jermaine Goodwin aka MJG and that man they affectionately call Fat Boy aka Premro Smith aka Eightball are back in our music sphere again backed up by the ubiquitous P-Diddy. The Living Legends that brought you COMING OUT HARD on Suave House Records THIRTEEN YEARS AGO come back harder than ever with their TENTH album and Second Bad Boy Entertainment label offering entitled RIDIN HIGH. If someone put a gun to my head and told me to name a group that represents what Down South Hiphop is all about I’d have to say it’s all about Eightball and MJG. Literally hundreds of rap groups have come and gone but Eightball and MJG are just building up steam and bubbling with more potential than ever as unlike their counterparts they stay true to themselves and their original fan base. While other artists are trying to be KINGS and Rap Heavyweight champions, Eightball and MJG let their creativity and outstanding hardcore funk do their talking for them. Ironically because they never tried to be THE group, they end up hanging around the longest and becoming literal living legends in the game.

Their major deal with Bad Boy Entertainment in 2004 seemed to energize them even more and they’ve really buckled down and put that good honest effort into making an even better product that so far has yet to dissatisfy. Their genius is not only making sure their concepts and music is tight but the duo presents a dichotomy of styles on every record as the smooth voice of Eightball is countered by the frantic, hard edged, rapid fire, pimp lyrics of MJG. This duo is a classic one just like EPMD was back in the day. Perhaps the only duo to rival their longevity and positive chemistry are Mobb Deep. Obviously Outkast was THE DUO but their magic only lasted for about four albums before they just went off in tangents to the point where they’re both really solo artists more than a duo. While Outkast and the Dungeon Family were the true Down South Trailblazers that changed the way the South was thought of forever, no group represents more of the heart of the people than Eightball & MJG. Go anywhere Down South and you’re more likely to hear someone dissin their own mama than dissin Eightball & MJG. They are the GOLD standard of not just Down South rap but hiphop in general. A blend of new age rapid fire, hiphop creativity mixed with that old school, Memphis Blues influenced mentality. As we delve deep into their latest album realize this is a group that’s been out there for THIRTEEN years still putting out innovative music….Living legends indeed…

Their first single “Relax and Take Notes” has P-Diddy showing his influence as Eightball & MJG come out rhyming hard to a classic Notorious B.I.G. verse….Peep the smooth vivid lyrics of the genius known as Fat Boy – “Embassy Suites, sitting on the bed counting money, illegal hustlin’, dirty money muscling, spend it like I never saw a day of pain and suffering, Look at my face and you can see I seen BOTH OF THEM, I stick and move, do my business, get the dough and dip..my money’s big so my airplane’s little bitty..Major visibility, Bad Boy lieutenant, Black PHANTOM with the black guts and I’m in it…”. As a plus one of my cult favorites, Project Pat, concludes the song with that patented Project Pat flow. They follow that up with more P-Diddy influence as he’s all over the “Ridin' High” chorus which is a timeless cut that is a mix of old school bass and new age grittiness. This is probably the first song that really grabbed me and let me know “Pimp Tight” and “Fat Boy” were back and taking no prisoners. P-Diddy makes another cameo on another FILTHY track in “30 Rocks” that is an incredible track with the only negatives coming when P-Diddy tries to rap. Can someone tell me why this dude is always trying to rap? I mean he literally is rhyming “Cat” with “Hat” and “Bat”, etc…My little pre-school nieces would give this dude a run for his money on the rhyme tip.

Thankfully P-Diddy only terrorizes our eardrums once with the rhyming while the Memphis duo proceeds to give us what we crave which is that Down South dirty dirty, gritty gritty, raw, hardcore flavor that ONLY they can provide. Leading off their string of patented flavor is “Hickory Dickory Dock” which has a dangerously juvenile chorus but they end up doing the impossible and making the chorus work because the track is built for the club and immediately has your neck snapping. Plus the lyrics are on point as MJG gives us more of his patented pimp rhymes. After all his nickname is “Pimp Tight!!!!” Next up we get a treat when Yung Joc cameo’s on “Clap On” which is classic dirty dirty funk. We get warned about what how a night out can turn into a shooting incident disaster in “Get Low” which MJG does a good job of vividly painting us a picture of a night out gone wrong. “Stand Up” is a nice Down South Anthem as the duo bluntly tells their haters to “F” off. Another classic hit occurs on “Watchu Gonna Do” that is sure to have fools doing the patented rowdy bouncing on the dancefloor as Pimp C adds to the A-list cameos on the album (Partying down South at one point was ridiculous as without fail 100 dudes would commence to bouncing and taking over the dance floor scaring the chics away…I’m glad that trend is dying down!!). “Worldwide” is another classic banger that has the duo pimpin' and ridin' in Cadillacs. What’s up with Black people and Cadillac’s anyway? Oh wait..I can’t talk…Benz0 driving the ESV Escalade his dang self. I blame it on too many Down South musical influences…Honorable mention is “Turn up the Bump” that is another typical hardcore Eightball & MJG track.

But Eightball and MJG have another dimension to them as well besides the no-holds barred street-funk as they have a knack for giving us those Blunted out, surreal smooth tracks as well. Leading the pack is the incredible “Memphis” which should have been made into a single release. The song of course has the duo relating how much they love Memphis but also has them just reflecting on everything they’ve been through in their career. “Running out of Bud” is another winner as the duo once again gives us a nice ode to that stinky green stuff. The chorus is hilarious – “My (chronic) is smoked up..My (chronic) is smoked up..Nobody’s left around..Nobody’s left around…”. Guess this is “Stay High” Part II or something? Juvenile rises from the dead and adds his unique flavor to the sultry “Pimpin Don’t Fail me Now”. Good to hear from Juvenile who used to be one of my favorites. Probably taking “smoothness” a bit too far for my taste is “Take it Off” that will be a winner with the females for sure but I only accept it cause MJG mentions on the song that on his next layover he’s hitting the strip club which is reminiscent to Benz0 hitting Club Nikki’s on his layover headed to Daytona Black Beach weekend back in the day.

I draw the line though on “Cruzin” which is just straight R&B and features of all groups 3-6 Mafia. That’s like enlisting Vin Diesel to do a love ballad with Justin Timberlake. Also Alcohol P**** and W***” does succeed in having too juvenile a chorus. When it comes down to it though only two tracks out of 16 (3 are skits/intro's) turn me off. That gives us FOURTEEN solid tracks that all bump. Not even Young Jeezy can boast that on his second effort. So far I’d have to put this Eightball & MJG as the top offering Down South, then Young Jeezy’s latest (Not that U.S.D.A. crud though…That album is Terrible with a Capital T…The success has finally gotten to Jeezy to release garbage like that) and then Lex Denero. But the summer is upon us so we got T.I.P. about to come out and another offering from Young Joc as well plus 50 Cent and many more. I’m going to take a wild guess though and predict that this Eightball & MJG will easily remain in the top 5 of hiphop albums this year.

Benz0
Contact Benz0: BenzWritings@Hotmail.com