8Ball and MJG: Space Age 4 Eva : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

8ball and MJG's seventh album doubles as a maturity guide for hustlers: Typical Dirty South rhymes ("flippin' in my Cadillac, sippin' on some cognac") are balanced with plugs for safe sex and education. "Better go to school and learn it all," 8Ball drawls on "Thingz," a song reminiscing about the innocence of youth, "Learn to count your money before you learn how to ball."

Where the duo's earlier albums evoked the vintage soul of the group's Memphis roots, Space Age 4 Eva, as you would guess from its title, is all about cosmic funk. Space Age doesn't take as many chances as OutKast's Stankonia, but its heavy, bumping synth aesthetic (produced by MJG, Swizz Beatz and DJ Quik) is contagious, especially the vamped-up disco of the title track and "Buck Bounce," a delicious cross between a Timbaland-Aaliyah collaboration and greasy, Southern booty-bass. Taking a cue from the album's first single, these two don't just pimp harder, they pimp smarter. (RS 862)

JOSEPH PATEL