Cool Breeze: East Point's Greatest Hits : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

After a number of cameos on his friends' records, Cool Breeze -- creator of the hip-hop slogan "the Dirty South" and part of the Dungeon Family, with OutKast, Goodie Mob and Witchdoctor - gets his chance to shine with his debut, East Points Greatest Hit. Enlivening his front-porch Georgia flow with vivid morality tales and B-boy party antics, Cool Breeze taps into rap's less cynical roots and comes up with an album loaded with gems. Produced largely by Organized Noize, East Points is an audio montage of blues-charged guitar riffs, flickering piano chords and a big slab of bass. "Watch for the Hook," featuring OutKast and Goodie Mob, is the joint that will have bodies bouncing right through the summer months. The soulful "Tenn. Points" is a rich meditation on life, rap and unity, and the future. East Points wins because it smoothly paints images of the urban South without worshipping its ills. Only a cat named Cool Breeze could walk that tightrope and not fall off. (RS 809)

KEVIN POWELL