Southern hip-hop is finally getting its due: Irresistible offerings from Juvenile and the No Limit family have forced New York hardcore-heads, California diehards and everyone in between to grudgingly acknowledge the power of Southern bounce. New albums from Houston's Lil' Troy and New Orleans' Hot Boy$ are the latest sparks in the explosion.

Lil' Troy is H-town's answer to Master P, a veteran of the local scene with his own label, Short Stop. He rhymes on only four songs on Sittin' Fat Down South, but Troy puts on some of Houston's best rappers: Willie D. and Scarface of the Geto Boys and lesser-known MCs like Big Ced and Nattie hold their own over straightforward beats and soulful, catchy choruses. Highlights are plentiful, but "Wanna Be a Baller" is the collection's defining track, a laid-back roll through the humid Texas hood that hinges on a heavy R&B refrain.

The second LP from the Hot Boy$ - Young Turk, Lil Wayne and solo superstars Juvenile and B.G. - is both rowdy and refined. Mannie Fresh, Cash Money Records' resident producer, conjures seventy minutes of his signature rubber-ball thumps and triple-time rhythms, which mesh magically with the Boy$' nonchalant, twangy lyricism. The group's most notable gifts are its dead-serious singsong flows ("Ridin," "Tuesday and Thursday") and a remarkable ability to make relentless repetition sound inventive ("We on Fire," "I Feel," Juvie's "You Dig"). Those still resisting Southern rap may well be seduced by Sittin' Fat and Guerrilla Warfare. (RS 822)

KATHRYN FARR

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(Posted: Sep 30, 1999)