Who is Charlamagne Tha God [click to read]? Sharing the name – and not to be confused with ’90s underground Hip Hop alum, this Charlamagne is best known as the co-host, sidekick or attack dog on the nationally syndicated radio show, The Wendy Williams Experience. On the air he’s consistently hilariously, blunt and knowledgeable about Hip Hop, specifically from the south of the Mason-Dixon. Hailing from South Carolina, Charlamagne has organized a compilation of the southern’s finest and upcoming talent, themed after his mixtapes of similar composition with South Crack: The Album. Like a drug, he’s compacted and loaded the CD with South Carolina’s finest offerings, pure and straight off the street, with EMI distributing the shine from the rarely-heard state.
As a product the album is high end when it comes to captivating you and making you move, but when it comes to originality a lot of the new talent fully utilize the substance of successful southern hit makin’ predecessors. “Hood Hard,” the second song on the CD features Lil Ru, and Crime Mob breakaways Diamond and Princess, along with Mac A Don. This sets the tone for the entire album… Come hard or go home. The song is possessed with rhythm, energy and the soul of production a kin to a classic Lil Jon invention, accompanied by the patented and mandatory call and response hook. While, “You Know,” featuring Mr. Flip, at times hits you with a flow and delivery reminiscent of Mystikal and the standout super funky dance called “Elroy” by StateHouse… positively channels Andre 3000‘s [click to read] vocal cadence and skillful transmission.
Charlamagne, via conversation and ringleader boasting, occasionally outros and intros some of the singles, as he guides you through this energized, “Duracell album.” Self-inflicted neck injuries from all the head bobbing and the continuous desire to jump up and down on beat continue with the sinister, “Fish Head” featuring P.I.M.P and the angry, but I’m funky “Boot Up” featuring Pure Werk and Donna. The sexy and invigorating main single, “Mirror Dance” by Mr. Taylor continues the neck abuse even with its sexy, flirting female voice cascading on the hook.
Tha God‘s must in fact be crazy, because Charlamagne couldn’t have picked a more perfect title for this album. Like a crack head, every track keeps moving and doesn’t sleep. It just keeps building and building hooking you with its energy as you fiend for the next track. You definitely will enjoy the high, but you might not want to become addicted. It took years for some of America to awaken to the crack epidemic. Long overdue on the Hip Hop radar, South Carolina is in its own early stages of South Crack.
