You may recall HipHopDX’s recent review of Put It On The Line by Trife Da God and Ghostface. If you need your memory jogged, it began something like this:

“You know the drill; rapper makes it big, rapper puts his crew on, rapper’s crew sucks, rapper’s fans wonder why he put his shitty boys out. It has happened hundreds of times and will continue to happen.”

While that did not apply to Trife and Ghost, it certainly applies to Ludacris and the DTP fam. It’s not all bad. the album begins with hope. The beautifully flipped Georgia borrows Jamie Foxx for a reinterpretation of a Ray Charles classic. Sure, it sounds way too reminiscent of Kanye’sGold Digger, but the sample is just too nice to dismiss. Luda does his usual comical yet strong delivery as he adorns his verse with some witty wordplay. Plus new members Fieldmob represent GA on this track and album as well. Sounds like the album has potential, right?

HipHopDX | Rap & Hip Hop News | Ad Placeholder
AD

AD LOADING...

AD

Sadly, things don’t really stay consistent. The DTP members simply seem to lose steam anytime Luda’s not around. Only a few of the squad’s representatives actually make an impact when they perform on songs. One that can really stand on her own is Shareefa with her singer/rapper concoction. I’ll Be Around is a testament to her strength and skill. Fans already know about Bobby Valentino, and he manages to mellow things out for Table Dance. Aside from these two, nobody truly shines without Luda. Still, that isn’t enough when it comes to such a large group. The few standouts do not make up for the overall dullness of the whole.

While Shareefa claims people must be taking the group “as a joke,” it’s hard to think otherwise. Lyrically, no one in the group manages to impress. Simple similes are thrown around regularly with such horrid punchlines as: “My ring look like I peed on my pinky.”

Still, most fans can expect a lot of hard hitting production. Gettin’ Some borrows Too $hort’s voice for the hook and it has a nice bounce. The Stat Quo-assisted Smoke takes a Middle Eastern sample and flips it to sound like some ill ATL music. The flavor it lends to the track is a great change of pace for the album. The aforementioned I’ll Be Around creates a nice smoothe atmosphere and so does Table Dance. For the most part, the album’s sound is very representative of the South. While it takes some detours, it still feels very Dirty and that’s meant in a nice way. But even the beats are inconsistent. Right when they give you a Southern flavor, you get hit in the head with some insanely loud rock music. While that’s great in terms of diversity, the track Blood in the Air is extremely out of place on this compilation. Many of the tracks also sound repetitive and the redundancy is not favorable.

HipHopDX | Rap & Hip Hop News | Ad Placeholder
AD

AD LOADING...

AD

Just like Luda’s presence, the beats don’t do enough for the album. Although there are some spots that are enjoyable, for the most part, the album seems disorganized and weak in comparison to Luda’s catalog. The emcees lack variety (in terms of subject matter) and don’t display any proficiency with their rhymes. The beats create an intensely crunk mood, but it leads nowhere. As a whole, the members of the crew just fail to create an impact. If anything, this would make for a nice mixtape to get the DTP word out and showcase some of their artists, but sadly…this is their album.