Goodie Mob: World Party : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

There's an old joke that goes, "What's the difference between a Northern fairy tale and a Southern fairy tale? A Northern fairy tale begins, 'Once upon a time . . .' A Southern fairy tale begins, 'Y'all ain't gonna believe this shit.' " Goodie Mob - the Hotlanta rap foursome who've been out front of Southern hip-hop's reverse Sherman's march ever since their rough-and-ready 1995 debut, Soul Food - excel at this kind of storytelling. The bawdy bounce of their new World Party is stacked with high-stakes living, light episodes and heavy dramas played out in clubs and on street corners, where cash, love and life are just inches from whirling down the drain. The moral of the story is never far - MCs Cee-Lo, Khujo, T-Mo and Big Gipp take turns laying down bread-crumb trails to righteousness - though ideas like, "The world would be a better place to live if there were less queers," on "All A's," make you wonder who appointed them Fairy Godmother. The real lesson here is the music: fifty-two burning-hot minutes of molasses-thick grooves which prove yet again that, between Goodie Mob and their producers at LaFace, there's no place like the South to throw a party. (RS 827)

NATASHA STOVALL