UGK - Underground Kingz

this is probably the best rap album this year though, and maybe even of the past couple of years. which doesnt say much about modern rappers when the only guys still putting out great albums are the older ones.

I got this for $9.99 at Best Buy. Worth every penny.

Wait, Lil Jon produced the original version of "Like That," the version I prefer?

My world is shaken. I need to sit down for a moment.

I think I've switched my loyalty between mixes of "Like That." Probably the ideal solution is a beat-switch version with the Lil' Jon Beat while Bun is rapping, and the remix while Pimp is rhyming and on the chorus.

I must be getting old as I don't get all the worship this getting. Some of it I like, but too often it's just lazy rhymes about "bitches" over southern soul beats utilized in a cliched manner.

"this is getting"

The original "Like That" is a better song, but "Like That (Remix)" fits in the flow of the albums better, which is why it's on disc one.

I am listening to disc two very softly on my computer speakers in my cube right now. This is far from ideal, but I somehow think that if I played it at the volume I wanted (and it deserves) I would be fired with cause before the end of track 3.

Steve: Listen to how the songs are constructed, and to their internal logic; there's a lot to these guys as composers and sound technicians, and their relationship to thug life is by no means without nuance. But yeah if you can't get past the word "bitch" then you had better give up.

southern soul beats are so great

Absolutely. Lyrical content issues aside (and I have a few, but not that many, really) this is one of the best sounding rap albums I've heard in ages.

ok i never realized how awesome the strings and piano are on "like that" rmx. i like that one the best.

my candy

this album is so good i kinda never listen to it

"this album is so good i kinda never listen to it"

ditto. one time was enough. plus, i prefer putting on one of their previous 4 albums.

I made a one-disc edit that I play pretty frequently, I can't do the whole deuce disc thing.

the problem with a one disc edit is 1. i dont listen to 'discs' and 2. you eliminate great tracks

i haven't listened to this in awhile, but more because i played it so much when it dropped that i needed some time to myself. still a great album and im sure i'll pull it out again soon.

"you eliminate great tracks"

if theyre eliminated, theyre not that great. hence, the one disc (or short ipod playlist) edit.

i don''t do this explicitly but it just ends up that most of the time i listen to the first disc, then i have to go do something or w/e and then i come back and listen to the second disc, almost like two separate albums. i tried editing it down to one disc but i kept going back to the songs i hadn't chosen cuz i thought i might have been missing something w/ those.

"you eliminate great tracks"

if theyre eliminated, theyre not that great. hence, the one disc (or short ipod playlist) edit.

-- titchyschneiderMk2, Thursday, November 8, 2007 2:49 PM (44 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

i think deej is saying that to edit it down to "one disc" you are begrudgingly forced to leave off great tracks.

I'd really like to edit "Two Kinds of Bitches" so there are no britishes on it. Well, at least only one. But they guy who just rambles without rapping really needs to be on the cutting room floor.

Dizzee?

Lemme check - I think he's called "Pimpin' Ken."

Yeah...from ohhla

Chorus

LOOOONG Outro of Pimpin' Ken ad libs

Pimpin' Ken /= Britishes

Wherever he's from, he ruins one of the best beats on the album with his pointless horseshit.

i kinda love NUHD'IM TALKINBAHT though

strokes and folks, I guess

well i mean the rest is obviously horseshit, but he repeated NUHD'IM TALKINBAHT enough times that i was laughing by the end

I can even tolerate the Dizzee Rascal verse if I just pretend it's some Jamaican dude.

-- Alex in Baltimore, Wednesday, August 15, 2007 12:37 AM (2 months ago) Bookmark Link

Pimpin Ken is like one of the 20 best things about this album

i have a skip button so i'm not going to bitch about pimipin ken, but that shit is totally insufferable.

i do like this, but it just seems to lack the impetus of their earlier work. pimp c is still on form and bun b still has it, but they dont seem to have that tag-team dynamic they used to have... or they just dont sound like theyre really going for it *together* like they used to. this is obv still better than most rap albums this year and as good as you should probably hope from a rap group thats been going for this long, but still, i just dont get that same ferocity i get from ridin dirty or super tight.

also, like i said in the freeway thread, the beats dont sound as thick as their earlier work. that might just be the bad rip i have, or my speakers, i dont know, but anyone else think this? there are also some crappy choruses like swisha and dosha on here, that sound like IMPRESSIONS of what an old school southern hook should sound like - that sub-sleepy brown blaxploitation type of voice.

I was watching some making-of thing on youtube, where Pimp C was saying that he and Bun rarely saw each other while making the album, since he likes to work at night and Bun works in the day. I think the beats sound great, though, and I like the chorus on Swishas and Dosha.

there are also some crappy choruses like swisha and dosha on here, that sound like IMPRESSIONS of what an old school southern hook should sound like - that sub-sleepy brown blaxploitation type of voice.

-- titchyschneiderMk2, Sunday, November 25, 2007 5:48 AM (Sunday, November 25, 2007 5:48 AM) Bookmark Link

Their choruses have always sounded like this. Point in their favor.

yeah wtf. pimp c probably invented the smooth southern rap sung chorus as much as dungeon fam or anyone else.

yeah wtf. pimp c probably invented the smooth southern rap sung chorus as much as dungeon fam or anyone else.

either way, the hooks are worse than before.

IMO.

i still need to hear this whole thing one day from start to finish.

Hooks are less important to me than beats and lyrics. And I really feel like lyrically especially time and hardship have really gotten these guys stepping their game up.

honestly i think its just a proximity thing - this is only seen as being so good as theyre old timers/influential veterans and everyone wants them to do well. but theres nothing on here they havent done better before. im happy with them just doing what they do but there arent many moments on the album where i think, fuck, this is amazing. its just yeah, this is good cos its just them doing them on a decent level in a not esp great year for rap albums (which makes it seem even better), not being too trendy with the beats, and its bun and pimp back together after being held back for so long and pimp going to jail, etc etc. i do love the romanticism and the backstory and all that but still, this is basically them in the the w/iron flag stage of their career. not a bad thing at all, just not as good as is being made out. but good for them - theyre getting all the props theyve been due for years at last.

I agree with that, more or less. This isn't one of my top ten of the year, as there are other things that are just simply more interesting, but it's a remarkably solid album, even in its length.

I am only starting with my top ten list, but I'm starting with this album. It won't be #1, but it's a lot better than any of the weak criticisms thrown up against it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=66mjGdDDr94 UGK ft. Big Daddy Kane & Kool G Rap- Next Up

yeah titchy is totally off base here. i'm not saying that, like, this is the group's masterpiece, but this is easily on par with any other record they've ever done, plus its twice as many songs as any record they've ever done.

I (genuinely) like the whole "it's a double album so you get more good stuff" angle - it does seem odd that people resent being provided with more good stuff when they're probably gonna rip this to their computer or iPod even if they do buy it on CD.

But my actual favourite thing about this album is the basslines - so warm and resonant and booming somewhere around yr lower intestines.

i enjoy this more now ive got my criticisms of it out the way. but anyway, pimp c absolutely kills this record. bun b is good but he doesnt sound as lethal as pimp on this. sort of like how andre was obviously a few steps ahead of big boi on aquemini (or just not as in sync with each other as they were before).

i like the T.I. track as a stand alone, but as a bonus track it's almost like they realized it didn't fit so they just tacked it onto the end. where it also doesn't fit, imo. but i'm sure it was out of respect for T.I.

i'm sure that it was out of respect for the fact that the beat is unstoppable! i agree that it doesn't really fit with the rest of the tracks (though it probably could have been paired with 'grind hard'). love the dancehall-ish feel.

http://mixunit.com/ProductImages/clothing3/pimpC_fairreh.jpg