Shwayze: Shwayze : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Cisco Adler, leader of Los Angeles sleaze rockers Whitestarr, is famous for his well-connected dad (producer Lou Adler), ex-girlfriends (like Mischa Barton) and his ballsy nude photo, which leaked online last year. His newest hobby is producing tracks (and an MTV reality show) for 22-year-old Malibu chill-hop rapper Shwayze, whose breezy flow is a hybrid of Young MC and Digable Planets' Butterfly. Adler's no beat master, and the tracks on Shwayze all sound like variations on thumb-strummed Jack Johnson tunes, topped with Sugar Ray-style rhymes about weed and women. "Ain't got no soul, like an old pair of Chucks," Shwayze ventures on "James Brown Is Dead" while Adler croons like a hoarse Tom Petty in the background. The same formula applies on "Polaroid," a song about snapping photos of girls so that Shwayze can remember who they are, and "Corona and Lime," a blooper of a tune with a three-note riff and a regretful aftertaste. This pair could really benefit from a swig of some old-fashioned gin and juice.